The 2026 Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB) Annual Meeting is being held this week in Indian Wells, California, bringing together industry leaders, experts, and stakeholders across the crop insurance industry.
CIRB Executive Director Mike Torrey says the industry is dealing with lots of changes right now. “I think coming into the conference, the one guiding principle for the board of directors was there is so much change happening both in Washington and in the marketplace,” said Torrey. “So we spent a little bit of time talking about the changes, not just in Washington, D.C. and what’s happening on policy, but also what’s happening from an economic standpoint around the country. And some of that flows from Washington, D.C. So that was the first focus of the meeting. Another part of the meeting where they really focused was on the rapidly changing in developing technology applications and what that means for our agricultural system, whether it’s on the production side and farmers being able to deliver more for less and efficiently, and at the same time what implications that has for what folks here do, and that is deliver crop insurance for America’s farmers and ranchers.”
Torrey says CIRB is very focused on the next generation of leadership, which is why they have grown what is now called their Leadership Development Program. “The program, the leadership development program is about 11 years old, and I think after this class graduates, there will have been over 100….I mean, that’s a significant number. And it’s all about helping them be better at what they do within their company, but also what they do on protecting and defending the program.”
Learn more in this interview with Torrey.
Mike Torrey, CIRB (8:27)