Agriculture Risk Management Education Partnerships Program

Through the Agriculture Risk Management Education Partnerships (ARME) program, NIFA develops and provides agricultural risk management education for farmers and ranchers in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.

The ARME program’s purpose is to educate agricultural producers about the full range of risk management activities. These activities include futures, options, agricultural trade options, crop insurance, cash forward contracting, debt reduction, production diversification, marketing plans and tactics, farm resources risk reduction, and other appropriate risk management strategies.  

Regional Extension Risk Management Education Centers

The ARME program operates through four regional Extension Risk Management Education (ERME) Centers (Northeast, North Central, Southern and Western), with support from the Digital ERME Center.  

The Centers annually conduct the ERME Competitive Grants Program, which provides funding to educators who have the expertise to develop and deliver risk mitigation programming that addresses one or more of the five primary areas of agricultural risk:  

• Production
• Marketing
• Financial
• Legal
• Human

Project proposals must clearly identify what the risk management results/outcomes will be for producers, and how they will improve the producers’ economic viability.

Advisory Councils

Each ERME Center maintains an Advisory Council, whose members are experts qualified by training and/or experience in various aspects of agricultural risk management. The advisory councils provide guidance on regional priorities and areas of emphasis for each Center's annual Request for Applications (RFA).  

The councils also serve as the review panels for proposals submitted to each Center's ERME Competitive Grants Program, and provide funding recommendations to the respective Center directors. 

Eligibility for ERME Grant Funds

Any public or private entity able to demonstrate the capacity to provide highly professional agricultural risk management education programs for producers is eligible to apply. These include but are not limited to:

• Farm organizations
• Land-grant Universities
• Cooperative Extension Services
• Lenders
• Consultants
• Other colleges and universities
• Other public or private risk management service providers  

For specific information regarding each Center's ERME Competitive Grants Program, please see the regional Center websites.

ERME Resource Materials

Extensive risk management education resources are available that provide valuable information for all ERME stakeholders including producers, educators, the USDA and members of Congress:

• The Ag Risk & Farm Management Library: A product of the Digital ERME Center, this resource organizes thousands of materials to help agricultural producers and professionals quickly find the information they need on risk management, marketing, financial management and more. The materials may be searched by topic or in multiple other ways by utilizing the available advanced search option.
• The ERME Program Website: Final reports for all completed ERME projects become public documents and are available on the ERME Program website. The reports include project results/outcomes and a wealth of education materials that were developed and/or utilized by the projects. The reports may be searched by year, region, state or topic.

Annual ERME National Conference

The annual Extension Risk Management Education National Conference is designed to provide public and private sector educators, crop insurance agents, lenders, and members of local and state governments with the opportunity to learn about ongoing and emerging successful risk management education efforts for all types of agricultural producers and their families.

The conference includes three General Session speakers, four Professional Development Sessions, 30-40 Concurrent Session presentations, and approximately 30 poster presentations. This event has become an important central networking point for leaders in agricultural risk management education.