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Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance from Stroud National: What's a good fit? For 65 years, Stroud National Agency, Inc. has helped agents serve agricultural risks across the midwestern, southwestern, and western U.S. During that time, farming and ranching operations have become increasingly varied. While healthy, that diversity can make it harder to know when a risk fits a true farm and ranch program versus other coverage. That's where Stroud National steps in to help make sense of it all, often leaning on Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance for standard farm and ranch risks. In a marketplace where carrier relationships come and go, Stroud National and Travelers have partnered for 22 years, roughly one third of its time as a company. The sections below highlight the kinds of farm and ranch accounts that often fit with Travelers, and where Stroudga may steer you toward other markets for best fit. You can also learn more on its Wholesale Insurance Products page. Working farms and ranches: A good fit for Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance. As part of a varied rural landscape, Stroudga regularly see family-owned farms and ranches. Think row-crop, livestock, equine operations, and more. These accounts typically have a dwelling, barns, shops, equipment, and farm liability that go well beyond a homeowners policy. Agricultural operations also play a central role in how these families earn their living. Some of these working farms and ranches are also busier operations, with hired hands, multiple outbuildings, significant farm personal property, and farm or ranch autos on the road. In situations like that, a mix of policies can leave gaps. A better approach? Coordinated property, liability, and auto coverage designed for the agricultural lifestyle. With exposures like those, Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance can be a good fit. If you are an agent looking for a place to start with these kinds of accounts, its Farm and Ranch Insurance Quote Request page is built specifically for licensed agents. It walks you through all the information Stroudga need to start considering a request for Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance. Hobby farms: Rural properties with agricultural exposure. Beyond full-time operations, Stroudga also see rural properties where agriculture is more of a side pursuit. These hobby farms are typically smaller-scale operations where farming is not the main way insureds provide for their families. When there is meaningful agricultural exposure, like livestock, crops, etc., a hobby farm can quickly outgrow a standard homeowners policy. In those cases, Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance can help protect the home, farm property, and farm liability on a single policy. Most Travelers farm underwriting happens in house, so well organized submissions help Stroudga move faster on your accounts. You can submit hobby farm risks right from its agent quote page, and Stroudga will help you determine whether Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance or another market is the better option. When things get more complex. As if things weren't complex enough already, some farms and ranches also take on limited custom work, small-scale direct sales, or other side activities. At that point, it can get tricky to know if the account still fits a farm and ranch form or has moved into a more commercial agribusiness approach. With more people, property, and equipment in motion, it's important to have carefully coordinated coverage that reflects how those operations actually run. Never fear, though! The Stroud Crowd will help determine whether the best fit is Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance, its commercial agribusiness program, or another market. How Stroud National helps you place these accounts. As a managing general agency and wholesale broker, Stroudga work exclusively through retail agencies. You keep the client relationship. Stroudga bring market access, underwriting support, and ag-specific expertise. Specifically, Stroudga help you: * Prescreen for agricultural exposure and fit with Travelers Agribusiness farm insurance or its other programs. * Navigate nuances like barndominiums versus dwellings, multiple outbuildings, and mixed-use properties so coverage is structured appropriately. * Match each ag account to the most appropriate Stroud program. Next steps. If you're an agent with ag operations that you're looking to write, Stroud National is happy to help! Below are some helpful resources and next steps. * Check the basics: Its FAQ page answers common questions about its programs and how Stroudga work with agents. * Reach out: To talk through a specific account, use its contact form or give Stroudga a call at 800-654-4056. * Submit a quote request: Use its Farm and Ranch Insurance Quote Request forms to submit farm and ranch accounts online. * Ride with the Stroud Crowd: Complete its Become an Agent form to start the contracting process. June 4, 2026 May 28, 2026 May 6, 2026 April 27, 2026 April 24, 2026 Interested in becoming an agent with Stroud National Agency, Inc.? Take the first step in writing Farm & Ranch policies. Serving america's farmers & ranchers for 60+ years. Contact its dedicated team. Stroudga is ready to help!

CIOs say they need a people strategy to scale AI. Posted by News Room 26 May 2026 CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - CIOs are well-versed in the interconnected dependencies of people, process and technology. These days, AI is compressing all three areas of the classic framework - challenging business operating models and pushing CIOs out of their technology orientation as they tackle a broader remit. "At the end of the day, AI is going to scale with people, systems and workflows," Mojgan Lefebvre, chief technology and operations officer at Travelers, put it simply during a panel discussion at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium. The people aspect garnered its share of attention at the event, as CIOs and other experts discussed not just autonomous systems and agents but the role of humans as enterprises press forward on AI. Technology leaders underscored time and again the criticality of being a people leader, which requires thinking through what skills to invest in, how to invest in them and even how to help employees overcome, as one panelist put it, FOBO - the fear of becoming obsolete. Monica Caldas, EVP and global CIO at Liberty Mutual, likened the people part to modernization initiatives during a digital transformation panel. "There's not just modernization from the heavy-duty of the systems, but there's modernization of how we work and even evolution in the skills, in the people," she said. Caldas referenced research that advises companies to think about tech and talent as a 1:3 ratio: For every dollar spent on AI investments, companies should spend $3 on people. "In the areas we've deployed [AI] that are most successful are where we've spent a lot of time on the culture, the skills, the people, the championing of the work," she said. Human-centric approach. The language of culture echoes prior technology shifts when mobile devices, cloud or digital transformation entered the vernacular. But it, too, carries a different weight with AI as employees speak directly to technology and as technology operates as a digital workforce, rejiggering departmental day-to-days and C-suite dynamics. Take, for example, AI's influence on skill sets and learning strategies. Rod Adams, principal for Advisory People & Inclusion Leader at PwC, said he now works closely with the consultancy's CIO to help understand what's needed to become an AI-native organization. "That wasn't the case prior to the last year or so, but it has certainly become the case," he told attendees. While technical skills remain critical, PwC also developed a set of 15 human-centric skills needed to advance AI in the organization such as coaching, agility, judgment and empathy. Redefining sought-after skill sets required the organization to overhaul its recruiting approach as well as its development strategy for its 70,000 PwC U.S. employees. "And then also looking into the future, we typically hire 5,000 or so people a year," Adams said. "How are we making sure that our learning platforms and our learning strategy and approach are developing those skills?" Measuring performance can also be tricky, according to Adams. Determining how to hold employees accountable for meeting AI adoption and fluency expectations is still a gray area, and he called on IT leaders in the room to work with their people officers to think creatively and experiment on how to do this well. One conference attendee brought up the recent trend of tokenmaxxing, where AI adoption and productivity are measured based on token usage, as "an insane way of motivating people" and inquired about emerging best practices for performance management. Adams was candid: "We're figuring it out." PwC started with usage then added impact measured by quantitative indicators such as productivity or qualitative indicators such as client experience as well as depth of the use of AI. But, Adams noted, it's still a work in progress. "Because of that, we haven't actually introduced it as a performance metric," he said. Instead, the company is aiming to be transparent by surfacing how it's trying to measure AI fluency with the expectation that it will be a performance metric at some point. "We are trying to avoid fear but also motivate people to... get involved," he said. Acknowledging fear and understanding human concerns about where they fit into the new world order is critical to scaling AI - and another reason for CIOs to remember their role as a people leader, according to Irene Oh, CIO at Network Distribution, a supply chain management and distribution company. "The people side of change is so important," she said during a panel discussion, adding that if employees aren't on board, change isn't sustainable. Oh encouraged CIOs to work with C-suite counterparts to ensure their teams have the right tools and training to be successful. Doing so also enables CIOs to better clock uncertainty, fear and doubt within an organization. "Technology is evolving quickly and it's affecting the entire organization, not just IT," Oh said.