- AFIS is earned through five separate course exams, not one exam with weighted domains.
- Each course exam is 50 multiple-choice questions delivered online through the PIIAC/Big I Nebraska route.
- Individual courses are listed at $169 each; recorded access runs three months but skips state CE credit.
- Farm Property Insurance (AFIS 1) centers on buildings, contents, tractors, combines, and livestock exposures.
One-Page Snapshot of AFIS
If you only have a few minutes before you sit down with the material, this is the page to bookmark. The Agribusiness and Farm Insurance Specialist designation is issued by the International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI), and the exam most candidates start with - and the focus of this site - is Farm Property Insurance (AFIS 1). Everything below is drawn directly from how the designation is structured and delivered, with no borrowed facts from other credentials that happen to share the same acronym.
For a deeper walkthrough of how the pieces fit together, our AFIS Study Guide 2026 and AFIS Exam Domains guide go section by section. This cheat sheet is meant for the day-of or week-of refresh, not the first pass through the material.
The Five Courses Behind the Designation
Earning the AFIS designation requires passing exams for five distinct courses. Confusing these with "domains" of a single test is the most common mistake candidates make when they first look at the requirements:
- Farm Property Insurance - the AFIS 1 course and this site's primary focus
- Farm Liability Insurance
- Farm Auto, Workers Compensation, and Umbrella Insurance
- Special Farm Property Insurance Lines
- Miscellaneous Farm Insurance Lines
Each course has its own examination, its own registration, and its own score. You can pass them in any order that fits your work schedule, but most candidates start with Farm Property Insurance because it maps most directly to the day-to-day work of writing farm policies. For a full breakdown of how these five courses relate to what people sometimes call "domains," see the AFIS Exam Domains 2026 guide.
Key Takeaway
Do not study for AFIS as if it were one exam with five sections weighted by percentage. Study each of the five courses as its own pass/fail milestone with its own exam booking.
Exam Format, Access, and Fees
The delivery route most candidates use runs through PIIAC/Big I Nebraska. Here is what that means in practice:
- Each course exam is 50 multiple-choice questions, delivered online.
- Individual courses are listed at $169 each.
- A recorded-course option is available with three months of recording access. It can count toward the designation, but it does not carry the advertised state insurance CE credit that live delivery provides.
- Webinar instruction time (the length of the recorded or live class session) is separate from the exam itself - it is not an examination time limit.
- IRMI's own credential requirements page links out to WebCE for course offerings, so it's worth checking both the PIIAC listing and the IRMI-linked source when you register.
If you're budgeting for all five courses across the full designation, our AFIS Certification Cost breakdown lays out the math course by course. And if you're still confirming you qualify to register at all, start with AFIS Requirements 2026.
AFIS 1 Content You Must Know Cold
Because Farm Property Insurance is the course most candidates tackle first - and the one this site is built around - your practice time should be concentrated here before you branch into the other four courses. The core subject matter for AFIS 1 revolves around:
Personal and Business Farm Buildings and Contents
Candidates need to distinguish how farm dwellings, outbuildings, and their contents are treated differently from purely personal or purely commercial property, and how coverage forms respond to each.
- Scheduling and valuation approaches for farm structures
- How contents coverage differs between the farmhouse and outbuildings
Farm Machinery: Tractors and Combines
Mobile farm equipment carries its own exposure profile, and exam questions test whether you know which forms and endorsements are built to address it.
- Coverage triggers for mobile equipment used on and off the insured premises
- How machinery breakdown and physical damage exposures are typically addressed
Livestock Exposures
Livestock coverage brings unique valuation and cause-of-loss questions that don't appear in standard commercial property material.
- Recognizing which perils are typically covered vs. excluded for livestock
- Understanding how livestock value fluctuates and how that affects coverage decisions
Applicable Coverage Forms
Every scenario question eventually comes back to a form. Know which forms apply to which category of farm property before you try to memorize endorsement language.
- Matching a described exposure to the correct coverage form
- Spotting when a standard homeowners or commercial form would not respond to a farm exposure
For a scenario-driven look at how these topics show up as exam questions, our How Hard Is the AFIS Exam guide walks through the style of question you'll actually face, and AFIS Passing Score 2026 explains what you need to hit on the 50-question format.
What the Other Four Courses Cover (and Why You Keep Them Separate)
Once Farm Property Insurance is behind you, the remaining four courses each bring their own vocabulary and exposures. Keep separate practice banks for each rather than mixing questions together - cross-contaminating your notes between courses is a common reason candidates feel confused on exam day even after real study effort.
- Farm Liability Insurance - liability exposures unique to farm and ranch operations
- Farm Auto, Workers Compensation, and Umbrella Insurance - how these three lines apply specifically to agribusiness operations rather than standard commercial risks
- Special Farm Property Insurance Lines - property exposures that fall outside the core buildings/contents/machinery/livestock set covered in AFIS 1
- Miscellaneous Farm Insurance Lines - the remaining lines that round out full agribusiness coverage knowledge
Because each course has its own 50-question exam and its own $169 course fee, there's no shortcut that lets partial knowledge of one course carry over to another's score. Plan and pay for them as five separate projects.
Annual CE and the AgriCon Renewal Route
Passing all five exams isn't the end of the story - the designation requires annual continuing education to stay active. For 2026, the IRMI AgriCon renewal route offered one clear path: attend either one full conference day or at least five sessions, with attendance verification required. That AgriCon route bundled the $169 renewal fee into conference registration, and - notably - attending an AFIS course for renewal purposes did not require retaking its examination.
Key Takeaway
Renewal through IRMI AgriCon is about verified attendance, not re-testing. If you can attend a full conference day or five qualifying sessions, you satisfy the CE requirement without sitting for another exam.
Quick Reference Table
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Certifying body | International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI) |
| Courses required for designation | 5 separate course exams |
| Primary/first course | Farm Property Insurance (AFIS 1) |
| Exam format per course | 50 multiple-choice questions, online |
| Listed course price | $169 per course |
| Recorded access window | 3 months; counts toward designation, no state CE credit |
| Annual requirement | Continuing education |
| 2026 AgriCon renewal option | 1 full conference day OR 5+ verified sessions; $169 fee bundled in registration; no exam required |
Final-Week Review Plan
In the last stretch before an exam date, resist the urge to re-read every course manual cover to cover. Instead, sequence your review around which course exam you're actually scheduled for.
Farm Property Fundamentals
- Drill buildings/contents valuation and form selection scenarios
- Review tractor and combine coverage triggers until they're automatic
Livestock and Exposure Nuance
- Focus practice questions on livestock peril inclusions/exclusions
- Re-check any form-matching mistakes from earlier practice rounds
Full-Length Simulation
- Run a timed 50-question practice set on the AFIS practice test platform to mirror exam-day conditions
- Log every missed question by topic, not just by score
Targeted Cleanup
- Re-drill only the topics flagged in your missed-question log
- Do a final skim of coverage form names and what each one triggers
This kind of tight, course-specific review works far better than generic cramming because AFIS rewards recognizing the right form or exposure fast, not general test-taking tricks. If you want a broader multi-week version of this plan built around all five courses, the AFIS Study Guide 2026 extends this same logic further out.
FAQs
The designation requires passing five separate course examinations - Farm Property Insurance, Farm Liability Insurance, Farm Auto/Workers Compensation/Umbrella Insurance, Special Farm Property Insurance Lines, and Miscellaneous Farm Insurance Lines. There is no single combined test with weighted sections.
Each course exam delivered through the PIIAC/Big I Nebraska route is 50 multiple-choice questions, administered online.
The recorded option provides three months of access and can still count toward the designation, but it does not include the state insurance CE credit that comes with the live/webinar format.
Expect heavy focus on personal and business farm buildings and contents, tractors and combines, livestock exposures, and matching scenarios to the applicable coverage forms.
Annual continuing education is required. In the 2026 cycle, IRMI AgriCon offered a renewal route through attending one full conference day or at least five sessions with attendance verification, with the $169 renewal fee included in conference registration and no exam retake required.
For anything not covered on this one-page refresher - from exam scheduling windows to a full ROI discussion - check the AFIS Exam Dates 2026 guide, the AFIS Pass Rate 2026 breakdown, and Is the AFIS Certification Worth It? for the bigger-picture view.