Farmers face risks every day, but today’s challenges are very different from those of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Modern producers manage risks that go well beyond crop disease, insects and weather. These include market, financial, legal and human risks, in addition to traditional production concerns. For 25 years, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Extension Risk Management Education (ERME) Centers have helped farmers address these challenges and strengthen their operations.
Work Directly Benefits Farmers and Ranchers
ERME centers form the backbone of NIFA’s Agriculture Risk Management Education Partnerships Program (ARME). ARME’s goal is to help the nation’s farmers, ranchers and producers handle the risks associated with their operations.
Since its establishment under the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, ERME has reached more than 900,000 participants through about 1,960 projects.
“The Extension Risk Management Education Centers have a reputation for consistently delivering timely and innovative risk management education across the country,” Dr. Ashley Mueller, NIFA national program leader, said. “For 25 years, the Centers and their projects have directly supported farmers, ranchers and producers, while empowering them to manage risk and to bolster the profitability of their business operations.”
Four regional centers and an electronic support center, all based at Land-grant Universities, provide leadership and competitive grant funding. ERME projects promote public–private partnerships and must show clear benefits for producers.
Both public and private organizations are eligible for funding. Supported projects give producers practical tools and training to manage risk and improve the economic stability of their operations.
The impact of 25 years of work includes:
• Production Risk: 17,488 farmers adopted new production systems or technologies.
• Price or Market Risk: 32,148 farmers implemented marketing plans to improve pricing opportunities.
• Financial Risk: 24,936 farmers developed business plans to support long-term success.
• Legal/Institutional Risk: 7,272 farmers adopted food safety plans to ensure product quality.
• Human Risk: 9,743 farmers created transition plans to support generational farm transfer.
ERME continues to support innovative projects that deliver measurable results across the country.
Recent ERME Projects
- Production Risk— A project led by University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources is helping small-scale producers reduce production risks through the development or expansion of an agritourism enterprise. One participant highlighted the wildlife haven at their winery. During the course, the producer completed a mission and vision statement and a business plan and began developing a marketing plan. After the course, the participant hosted two workshops on their farm, bringing in ticket sales and product sale revenues.
- Price or Market Risk—Alabama Extension at Auburn University developed training to help cattle producers improve marketing strategies. Producers learned how to maximize stockyard prices and explore options like retained ownership or local finishing for direct-to-consumer beef sales. The team developed a video series, showcasing success stories of Alabama producers’ direct-to-consumer beef marketing efforts.
- Financial Risk— Led by the University of Minnesota, a team of Extension professionals from four states compiled data that show the superior performance of integrated crop and livestock farms compared to crop-only farms. These results provide the team with solid financial data to support discussions on the value of integrating livestock enterprises.
- Legal/Institutional Risk—Louisiana State University created an on-farm food safety education program, giving farm workers tools and resources to identify and address food safety risks when growing and handling fresh produce.
- Human Risk— Cornell University helped farmers improve their management of employee housing. The Agricultural Employee Housing Expense Calculator, a spreadsheet-based tool that calculates employee housing costs per hour worked, is helping managers assess housing as a benefit and identify financial risks.