- AFIS is issued by the International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI), and requires five separate course exams.
- AFIS 1 covers Farm Property Insurance; each course exam is 50 multiple-choice questions delivered online.
- PIIAC/Big I Nebraska lists individual courses at $169 and offers a recorded option, though the recording doesn't carry state CE credit.
- Annual continuing education is required; the 2026 IRMI AgriCon route accepted one conference day or five verified sessions.
What Is AFIS?
AFIS stands for Agribusiness and Farm Insurance Specialist, a designation created and administered by the International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI). Unlike a single comprehensive exam with weighted content domains, AFIS is earned by passing five distinct course examinations that together cover the breadth of farm and agribusiness risk. This article focuses specifically on the exam most candidates tackle first: Farm Property Insurance, commonly referred to as AFIS 1.
If you searched "what is AFIS" hoping for a quick primer before you commit study time, the short version is this: it's a farm-insurance credential built around real coverage forms and real farm exposures, not abstract risk theory. For a deeper breakdown of how the underlying content is organized, see the AFIS Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 0 Content Areas, and for a plain-language definition check AFIS Meaning or What Does AFIS Stand For?.
The Five Courses Behind the Designation
To earn the full AFIS designation, a candidate must pass exams for all five of the following courses:
- Farm Property Insurance (AFIS 1 - the subject of this article)
- Farm Liability Insurance
- Farm Auto, Workers Compensation, and Umbrella Insurance
- Special Farm Property Insurance Lines
- Miscellaneous Farm Insurance Lines
Each course has its own question bank, its own exam session, and its own preparation materials. This matters for how you study: mixing flashcards from the liability course into your AFIS 1 review dilutes your focus on the property-specific forms and valuations you'll actually be tested on. Keep the banks separate, exactly as the course structure intends. A full walkthrough of how the five courses relate to each other, and how AFIS 1 fits into the sequence, lives in the AFIS exam domains guide.
Key Takeaway
Treat AFIS 1 as a standalone exam. Don't blend its content with the liability, auto, or special-lines courses - each has a separate 50-question exam and a separate study bank.
How the AFIS 1 Farm Property Exam Works
The Farm Property Insurance exam is delivered as a 50-question, multiple-choice, online examination through the PIIAC/Big I Nebraska delivery route. There isn't a separate "case study" or essay component - the format is straightforward multiple choice, which rewards candidates who know coverage forms, definitions, and application scenarios cold rather than those hoping to reason through ambiguous open-ended questions.
Because the exam is online and course-specific, the amount of time allotted for instruction (including webinar sessions) is not the same thing as the exam time limit. Candidates sometimes confuse the length of a webinar or recorded lecture with how long they'll have on exam day - they are not linked. If you want a realistic sense of difficulty going in, How Hard Is the AFIS Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 walks through what tends to trip candidates up on the property course specifically, and AFIS Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass covers what "passing" actually requires.
Registration, Delivery Routes, and Fees
AFIS courses are made available through IRMI's credential requirements, which link out to course providers. The PIIAC/Big I Nebraska route is a primary delivery path, and it lists individual courses at $169, with a 50-question online exam included in that access. There's also a recorded-course option:
- The recorded option provides three months of recording access.
- Completing it can count toward the AFIS designation requirement for that course.
- However, the recorded option does not award the advertised state insurance CE credit that the live/webinar version does.
That last point is easy to miss. If you need continuing education credit alongside the designation credit, confirm which delivery format you're purchasing before you register - the recording is convenient for scheduling but trades away the CE credit. For a line-by-line breakdown of what you'll actually spend across all five courses, see AFIS Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and for the eligibility side of things (who can register, prerequisites, if any) see AFIS Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify. Scheduling logistics, including how course sessions and exam windows are typically timed, are covered in AFIS Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
| Delivery Option | Access Window | Counts Toward AFIS? | State CE Credit? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live/Webinar Course | Scheduled session | Yes | Yes |
| Recorded Course | 3 months of access | Yes | No |
Who Actually Earns AFIS?
Because IRMI positions AFIS around farm and agribusiness property, liability, and specialty exposures, the designation tends to attract:
- Agents and brokers who write personal and commercial farm accounts
- Underwriters handling agribusiness or rural property books
- Claims professionals who need to interpret farm coverage forms accurately
- Company staff supporting farm insurance programs where product knowledge directly affects underwriting quality
None of these roles require every one of the five courses to add value - many professionals complete AFIS 1 (Farm Property) first because it's the most immediately applicable to day-to-day farm account work: buildings, contents, and machinery valuation questions come up constantly in this line of business. If you're weighing whether the time and course fees translate into career upside, Is the AFIS Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and AFIS Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis go deeper on that question, and AFIS Jobs looks at where the credential shows up in job postings.
Core Topics on the Farm Property Course
The Farm Property Insurance exam is built around the physical assets and structures that make up a farm operation, plus the forms used to insure them. Your practice question bank should mirror this, not the liability or auto content from the other four courses.
Farm Buildings and Structures
Candidates must distinguish personal farm dwellings from business/commercial farm structures, and understand how valuation and coverage triggers differ between them.
- Personal vs. business farm building classifications
- Applicable coverage forms and endorsements
- Common exclusions tied to farm structures
Contents, Machinery, and Equipment
Tractors, combines, and other farm machinery carry unique valuation and coverage issues compared with standard personal or commercial property.
- Scheduled vs. blanket coverage for equipment
- Valuation methods for farm machinery
- Seasonal and mobile equipment exposures
Livestock and Farm-Specific Exposures
Livestock introduces exposures not found in general property lines, and candidates need to know how coverage forms respond to loss scenarios unique to farm operations.
- Livestock coverage triggers and exclusions
- Named perils vs. broader farm property forms
- How exposures differ between personal and business farm risk
For a consolidated view of these topics in review-sheet form, AFIS Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts compresses the must-know points into a single reference, and the AFIS Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt walks through a fuller prep sequence built around this exact content.
Keeping the Designation Current
AFIS requires annual continuing education to remain active - it isn't a one-time credential you earn and forget. IRMI has run a renewal route through its AgriCon event; for 2026, the accepted path was attending one full conference day or completing at least five sessions with attendance verification. Notably, the $169 renewal fee was included in AgriCon registration for that route, and attending an AFIS course for renewal purposes did not require retaking its exam.
This is a meaningful detail for professionals who already hold the designation: renewal through a conference-attendance route is a different mechanism than the original course-exam process used to earn AFIS in the first place.
Building a Study Plan Around One Exam
Because AFIS 1 is a single, self-contained 50-question exam on Farm Property Insurance, your prep plan doesn't need to sprawl across all five courses at once. A focused, staged approach works better than trying to absorb liability, auto, and specialty-lines material simultaneously.
Buildings and Coverage Forms
- Review personal vs. business farm building classifications
- Map each form to the exposures it's designed to cover
Machinery and Contents
- Study valuation approaches for tractors and combines
- Practice scenario questions on scheduled equipment coverage
Livestock and Exposure Analysis
- Work through livestock coverage triggers and exclusions
- Compare named-peril forms against broader farm property forms
Full-Length Review
- Run timed 50-question practice sets on the AFIS practice test platform
- Revisit weak areas flagged from missed practice questions
Spacing your review this way keeps each week's focus aligned with a distinct part of the Farm Property course rather than trying to cram buildings, machinery, and livestock content together the week before your exam. Running full practice sets on the practice test site in that final week is also the fastest way to confirm whether your pacing across 50 questions holds up under time pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
AFIS is earned by passing five separate course exams: Farm Property Insurance, Farm Liability Insurance, Farm Auto/Workers Compensation/Umbrella Insurance, Special Farm Property Insurance Lines, and Miscellaneous Farm Insurance Lines. AFIS 1 refers specifically to the Farm Property Insurance course.
The International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI) issues the AFIS designation. Course delivery, including the AFIS 1 exam, is available through routes such as PIIAC/Big I Nebraska.
It's a 50-question multiple-choice online exam covering Farm Property Insurance topics: farm buildings, contents, machinery like tractors and combines, livestock exposures, and the coverage forms that apply to each.
No. The recorded-course option provides three months of access and can count toward the AFIS designation requirement, but it does not award the advertised state insurance continuing education credit that the live delivery provides.
Annual continuing education is required. Under the 2026 IRMI AgriCon renewal route, candidates could satisfy this by attending one full conference day or completing at least five sessions with attendance verification, with the $169 renewal fee included in registration and no exam retake required.