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Customizing the USDA Risk Management Checklist to Meet Needs of Today’s Women, Hispanic and Small-Scale Specialty Crop Producers

Lynn Kime and Linda Falcone

Summary

The unprecedented challenges that 2020 delivered to the agricultural community underscore the importance of producers using tools like the USDA Risk Management Checklist (RMC) to assess the “health” of their farm, related to the traditional five areas of farm business risk, as well as to address new challenges associated with food safety and electronic risk. A 2018 USDA Risk Management Education Partnership Program funded initiative, Equipping Women, Hispanic and Small-Scale Specialty Crop Farmers in Pennsylvania and Maryland to Proactively Address Risk, centered around Penn State Extension-led farmer focus groups, with the goal of identifying RMC items necessary to address both present and future challenges. The result of this process was the addition of two new RMC categories and links to more in-depth information about managing risk. The updated checklist empowers producers to more fully understand the steps to more effective farm management. This session will provide an overview of the project rationale and focus group findings, as well as describe how the use of resulting materials continues to impact Pennsylvania and Maryland farmers’ ability to proactively manage risk. Participants will learn how to access the updated checklist and become aware of ways to incorporate this resource in educational programming, soliciting feedback, and increasing preemptive risk management on farms in their own communities.

Details

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