October 29, 2003
CONTACT:
Jeannette Warnert
(559) 291-4407
jwarnert@ucop.edu
UC
receives a half-million-dollar USDA grant for risk management programs
Agriculture
is a high-risk business. To help
farmers wisely manage their risk, the University of California is initiating a
broad-ranging risk management program that will reach a diverse group of
farmers in California using a variety of tools for sharing information.
The
program is funded by a $498,000 grant to the UC Agricultural Issues Center
(AIC) from the USDA Risk Management Agency as part of the "Targeted
Commodities Program." The AIC will implement the program collaboratively
with UC Cooperative Extension and other partners to help farmers identify risk
and determine ways to manage that risk.
Agricultural
risk comes in many forms. For example,
during the growing season, prices can collapse, yields can be poor, labor can
be unavailable or workers can be injured.
To manage risk, farmers can buy insurance, grow a variety of crops,
invest in mechanical harvesting equipment and make the farm a safer place to
work. However, all efforts to manage
risk have costs.
"Any
business operation requires an effort to balance costs and benefits," said
Dan Sumner, AIC director. "We plan
to present research-based tools to three groups of California farmers and
ranchers to help them make informed decisions."
The
project team includes UC Cooperative Extension offices in Modoc, Lassen,
Plumas, Sierra, Placer, Nevada, Lake, Fresno and Tulare counties, among others,
and two key partners with the AIC: Center for Agricultural Business at
California State University, Fresno, and Farm and Agriculture Collaborative
Training Systems (FACTS), an agricultural training firm.
"We
are working with county offices on this project to help fund their operations
in response to the deep budget cuts they are facing due to the state fiscal
crisis," Sumner said. "We
hope this funding will help offset some of their budgetary losses."
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2 - RISK MANAGEMENT GRANT
Distinct
audiences for the new initiative include:
Ø
Cow-calf
and hay ranchers along the northeastern Sierra Nevada slope. Farmers and ranchers on the northeastern
slope share the challenges of climate (this is the third year of drought),
distance to market, meat packer consolidation and the changing American diet.
An intensive 10-week risk management course will be held at three locations in
this large region to help the ranchers meet these challenges. The courses, titled "Planning for
Profit," will be held in Alturas, Susanville and Reno from Nov. 4 to Jan.
22. Registrations are being taken by
the Sierra College Small Business Development Center at (800) 527-7361. This program will be led by David Visher and
Marcie Rosenzweig of FACTS.
Ø
Small
and beginning farmers and ranchers.
Many small and beginning farmers are concentrated on the urban fringe
and often lack the scale and expertise to access traditional risk management
tools and agriculture-specific business education. The project team will target this group by holding four to six
workshops and offer articles about risk management to the news media in early
2004.
Ø
Fruit
and tree nut producers in the Central and Coastal valleys. These are farm managers who raise trees on
leased lands or their own. Their larger
volume and short harvest season make some risk management tools
unavailable. As part of this effort,
the project team will conduct a four-week, Web-based risk management course
supported by live workshops at California State University, Fresno, in 2004.
The
USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) has offered competitive grants annually for
risk management educational programs for historically underserved populations
producing commodities that do not receive much government support. This year, the total awarded nationwide was
$24.7 million.
"I've
always been impressed with the work of the Ag Issues Center and I was glad to
see them submit the proposal," said USDA RMA Regional Director Bill
Murphy. "They are taking a very
interesting approach. One thing I like
about the program is that it is geared at both large and small growers."