Business Continuity for Farms
Continuity planning for farming is just like any other business, to some extent. But many tasks are far less reliant on information technology and more labor intensive, so scenarios such as loss of people, loss of power, and lack of access to various parts of the estate can have devastating consequences very quickly.
The process of business continuity for farming and ranching remains the same. Identifying critical elements of the business can be undertaken with the standard business impact analysis process, strategies for continuity arrangements can be made, plans can be written and exercises can be held.
But business continuity is part of normal business for farmers, simply because the consequences of interruptions can be so devastating. It’s not just things like foot and mouth and avian flu and severe weather that keeps farmers awake at night, it’s even the simple things – like not quite enough rain or a little too much, or the power being out for just a few hours at the wrong time.
The ReadyAG©: Disaster and Defense Preparedness for Production Agriculture workbook is designed to help farm and ranch owners be better prepared to deal with disasters that can occur on their farm or ranch such as power outages, drought, flood, severe snow- or ice storms, including catastrophic events as tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, disease outbreaks, and acts of terrorism or a nuclear accident. The intent of ReadyAG© is to help farmers and ranchers become better prepared for all disasters, so they can continue to be viable even in the face of disastrous events.
The ReadyAG© preparedness process directs farmers and ranchers to take a critical look at their agricultural operation, guiding them to determine areas that need improvement, thus helping them to become better prepared for any event that could disrupt their operation.
The ReadyAG© workbook contains questions for farmers and ranchers to consider and answer about various segments of their agricultural operation that may be vulnerable or at risk for disasters.
The ReadyAG© multi-state collaborative project has utilized the expertise of Cooperative Extension professionals from multiple land grant universities in development of a set of disaster planning and continuity of operations worksheets for each of the major agriculture commodities, including The Pennsylvania State University.
See ReadyAG©: Disaster and Defense Preparedness for Production Agriculture workbook .
Tags: agriculture, Business Continuity, farms
