Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan homeowners insurance

Overview

Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan is the insurance arm of the Michigan Farm Bureau Family of Companies, based on West Saginaw Highway in Lansing. Its two property-casualty companies, Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Michigan and Farm Bureau General Insurance Company of Michigan, write home, auto, farm and business insurance, and an affiliated life company sells life insurance and annuities. The flagship is a mutual insurance company formed by Michigan farmers in 1949, and the company describes Michigan Farm Bureau, the state's farm organization, as its parent organization.

The Michigan Farm Bureau Group ranked #76 among U.S. homeowners insurance groups by 2025 direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with $256.6 million (0.14% of the national market). Every dollar of that was written in Michigan, where the group was the sixth-largest home insurer in 2025 with 5.41% of the state's homeowners premiums, behind State Farm, Auto-Owners Insurance, AAA's Auto Club Group, The Hanover and Allstate.

It sells only through its own exclusive agents, about 425 of them in four regions at the end of 2024. Outside farm circles it is best known for two specialty home policies: Lake Estate, for lakefront homes, and Country Estate, for rural homes on acreage.

History

Michigan Farm Bureau was organized in 1919 by county Farm Bureaus meeting at Michigan Agricultural College, now Michigan State University. Its members wanted their own insurer, and in January 1949 the organization hired Nile Vermillion to set up Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Michigan, which opened for business on March 7, 1949, selling auto insurance to members.

A life company followed in 1951. In 1960 the company introduced what it calls America's first farmowners policy, combining coverage for a whole farm operation in one package, and in 1968 it launched group-rated auto plans. The business was renamed Farm Bureau Insurance Group in 1964 and dropped "Group" in 1988. The Lake Estate policy arrived in 2011, which the company describes as the first Michigan policy designed only for lakefront homes.

More recent moves have been on the life and farm side: the family of companies bought Leaders Life Insurance Company of Tulsa in 2016 and Cincinnati Equitable Life in 2019. In 2024, in partnership with Maine-based MMG Insurance, it launched Great Lakes Agribusiness Insurance Company, which wrote its first farmowners policy in Pennsylvania that September. Don Simon is chief executive officer; he was quoted in that role in the company's August 2026 ratings announcement.

Homeowners coverage

The standard homeowners policy covers the dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use for up to 12 months, personal liability and medical payments. Choosing the special form gives open-perils coverage on the house and other structures, and personal property can be upgraded to open perils too. Three coverages come built in: cyber protection, home systems protection (an equipment breakdown coverage that pays for mechanical breakdown of items such as a sump pump) and underground service line coverage. The policy also pays claim-related expenses of up to $250 a day.

For rebuilding costs, Farm Bureau offers Extended Replacement Cost, up to 150% of the dwelling limit, and Extended Premier Replacement Cost, up to 200%. Say your dwelling limit is $300,000 and a fire destroys the house after local construction costs jump: with the 200% option, up to $600,000 could be available for the dwelling (see extended replacement cost). Two packages, Select Plus and Select Premier, add hidden water damage, mortgage expense, collapse due to hydrostatic pressure, business property and other coverages. Under the claims guidance on its site, the base policy pays up to $2,500 for water backup from sewers, drains or a sump, with higher limits for sale; up to $1,000 to remove trees blown down onto a covered structure or across a driveway; and up to $250, with no deductible, for food spoiled in a power outage. Flood and surface water are excluded.

Lake Estate is the distinctive product. It includes the Select Premier endorsement automatically, extends loss of use to 24 months, and adds a lakefront package with fuel spill liability, uninsured boaters coverage, wind-driven ice and wave action from a single storm. Docks, boat hoists, sea walls, anchored rafts and ice shanties are treated as covered property, there is baseline coverage for motorized and non-motorized boats, and the policy can cover a home held in a trust or LLC or rented through a home-sharing platform (see second and vacation home insurance). Country Estate is a named-perils package for rural homes with outbuildings and farm personal property such as tractors. Condo unit-owner, mobile homeowners, renters and personal umbrella policies round out the line.

One detail to check on any quote: the company's claims page explains that property is paid at actual cash value unless you bought the replacement cost endorsement, in which case it pays ACV first and the difference after you replace the item and send receipts. Ask the agent which basis applies to your contents and roof.

Discounts and savings

For homeowners policies, Farm Bureau lists multi-policy, new home (dwellings 30 years old or newer), protective devices (smoke detectors, burglar alarms, automatic backup generators and similar), SmartPay (paying in full or by electronic funds transfer), mature insured (named insureds over 30), FB Advantage, advance signing, affinity group and non-smoker discounts. The FB Advantage discount is based on an insurance score, which Michigan permits insurers to use for home insurance. Lake Estate and mobile homeowners policies carry the same list; Country Estate adds an environmental safety credit for farms certified under the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program.

Since 2024 the company has offered qualifying policyholders a free Ting plug-in sensor, which watches the home's wiring for electrical fire hazards, with three years of monitoring at no cost while the policy stays qualified.

Where it sells and recent market moves

Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan writes only in Michigan, and its recent changes have been about price and coverage rather than where it writes. Michigan has had rough storm years. The company's 2024 annual report says it paid a record number of storm losses in 2023: weather losses were $167 million that year against $47 million in 2024. The property-casualty combined ratio was 117.2% in 2023, meaning it paid out about $1.17 in losses and expenses per premium dollar, and improved to 99.4% in 2024. Surplus fell $61 million in 2023 and rebounded to $788 million at the end of 2024.

The report says the company responded by giving policyholders more deductible choices, more coverage options on roofs and risk-management services to temper premium increases that it says were catching up to inflation. Expect renewal increases and roof-related coverage choices to be part of the conversation with your agent.

Claims

You can report a claim online, through your agent, or by calling the Claim Reporting Team at 877-324-6764 (877-FBINSMI), which also takes after-hours calls. The company's goal is for an adjuster to contact you within 24 hours, though it says that can stretch to two or three days during storms. Claim status can be checked online.

Its optional FB Property Repair Solutions program, run by Sedgwick Repair Solutions, sends a credentialed contractor for emergency tarping, board-up, water mitigation and full repairs. Workmanship warranties run five years on roof, siding and gutter replacement, one year on those repairs and three years on other work. You can still hire your own contractor. In early 2026, Ward Group gave the company a "superior rating" for personal lines claims customer experience for calendar year 2025, the eighth year it has received that recognition.

Ratings and reputation

In an announcement dated August 27, 2026, the company reported that AM Best rated Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Michigan, Farm Bureau General Insurance Company of Michigan and Great Lakes Agribusiness Insurance Company A- (Excellent) with a stable outlook in its 2026 review, the same rating the property-casualty companies have held through the 2020s. The company's summary of AM Best's July 2025 review says the agency assessed its balance sheet strength as strongest, its operating performance as adequate and its business profile as neutral, and credited its relationship with Michigan Farm Bureau and its membership. That operating-performance assessment matches the storm-driven swings described above.

Who it suits

Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan suits Michigan homeowners who want a local agent and a policy shaped to the state, particularly lakefront owners who need docks, sea walls and boats handled in one policy, and rural owners with outbuildings and equipment. It is less suited to someone who wants to buy online without an agent, who owns property in another state, or who wants a carrier rated A or higher by AM Best.

• Strengths: Lake Estate and Country Estate policies built for Michigan lake and rural property; built-in cyber, home systems and service line coverage; extended replacement cost up to 200%; free Ting fire-hazard sensor; Ward Group claims recognition for 2025.
• Weaknesses: Michigan only; sold only through Farm Bureau agents; AM Best A- (Excellent), a notch below many large competitors; a 117.2% combined ratio in the 2023 storm year led to rate and coverage changes.

How to contact Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan