Conferences
A Multifaceted Approach to Employment Risk Education
Emily Round, Sydney Turpin, and Colleen Hanley
Summary
Small-scale, beginning, specialty crop, and organic producers face increasing human resource, legal, and financial risks due to labor shortages, rising wages, regulatory complexity, and limited participation in crop insurance programs. These pressures threaten farm viability, yet many producers lack access to practical, educator-led programming that integrates labor management with financial risk mitigation.
This project delivers a multi-tiered educational program supporting producers in Massachusetts and New England to reduce employment-related and financial risk through improved labor practices and increased understanding of crop insurance options. The program includes six interactive online workshops covering labor laws, hiring, payroll, worker safety, recordkeeping, and crop insurance tools such as the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Workshops are led by extension educators, service providers, and experienced local farmers. Learning is reinforced through an updated resource library and a comprehensive self-paced online course adapted from workshop content to increase access for producers unable to attend live sessions.
In the first three workshops, the project engaged over 100 unique participants, 83% of whom identify as socially disadvantaged. Early outcomes show strong intent to apply learning, with 93% of participants reporting they plan to implement changes on their farms and 98% planning to establish onboarding and training systems using employee handbooks and standard operating procedures. Workshops have increased producer confidence in managing labor and improved understanding of crop insurance as a financial risk management tool.
This presentation will share lessons learned from delivering outcomes-driven, educator-focused programming that addresses human, legal, and financial risk while meeting producers where they are.
Details
| Conference | 2026 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference |
| Presentation Type | 30-Minute Concurrent |