Conferences
Risk Management for Nursery Production for the Southwest and Hawaii
Ursula Schuch
Summary
The project Risk Management for Nursery Production for the Southwest and Hawaii is part of a larger RME project that targets livestock, forage, and vegetable and specialty crop producers in the region. Three areas of risk management for nursery producers were addressed: crop insurance, production costs, and labor communication. While crop insurance is available for some nursery products, most producers shy away because of insufficient understanding or lack of information. We presented information on the RMA subsidized crop insurance program, life insurance programs, and most recently the newly available AGR-Lite. The second area, cost of production, was addressed by developing the HI-AZ Nursery Break Even Price and Profit Estimator. This spreadsheet tool helps growers understand the cost of production of individual products and how management and pricing decisions affect profit. The third area of risk management addressed is to improve communication across different worker and management levels to reduce turnover in the workforce. Retention of trained nursery workers can be challenging because of physically demanding labor and often harsh environmental conditions. Immigration issues and competition from other industries have led to a tight labor market. Information for this project was disseminated at conferences, workshops, and a website, through poster and oral presentations, and trade magazine articles. Nursery producers were exposed to a variety of educational materials and through increased awareness and improved knowledge can assess how any of the tools may benefit in diminishing financial risk for their operation.
Details
| Conference | 2007 National Extension Risk Management Education Conference |
| Presentation Type | Poster |