May 24, 2024

Key Resources

by Margaret Lippsmeyer, Michael Langemeier, and Michael Boehlje

Advancements in production agriculture continue to accelerate making the business environment more complex and creating a significant need for a forward-thinking mindset. Management tools, including traditional risk management, often define efforts in terms of predetermined silos: managing farm finances and financial risk; managing market risk; managing human resources and human risk; legal risk management including contract growing or lease agreements; managing production technologies and production risk. Often this type of approach fails to effectively account for risks that influence several dimensions of a business. In this article series, we propose an integrated risk management approach by encouraging forward thinking and holistic management through the creation of a proactive business strategy. Integrated risk management takes into account key business resources and considers potential obstacles which may evolve. The article series is meant to encourage producers to develop an integrated risk management approach and build a strategic plan.

ARTICLES WITHIN PUBLICATION:

Integrated Risk Management: Developing an Asset-Based Business Strategy

March 15, 2024

Integrated risk management is a comprehensive approach that addresses business, financial, and strategic risks collectively, safeguarding your organization against potential threats. This article analyzes the importance of integrated risk management for production agriculture, an industry which is highly susceptible to external shocks.

Key Resources Determining the Future of the Farm: Human Capital & Information Technology

April 4, 2024

This article emphasizes the significance of human resources and information technology (the ability to manage and analyze data) as we transition into a new era of production agriculture. This new era brings further innovation of agricultural technology, information processing, and use of artificial intelligence to digitize agriculture.

Discussing Key Resources and Risk Exposure in Your Farm Business Plan

May 7, 2024

Developing a business plan for your farm helps align day-to-day operations with overarching business goals. In this article, we explore the importance of assessing current business resources and exposure to risk while creating a business plan. We provide discussion on risks to your business’s key resources, a framework to evaluate the strength of your farm’s resource base, and an outline of how to craft an effective business plan.

Maintaining Key Resources Amid Strategic Uncertainty

May 29, 2024

Changes in production agriculture have altered the level and type of risk faced by farmers. Farm managers face a variety of challenges including shifts in decision making processes (data driven insights), changing metrics for farm performance (sustainability), different day-to-day practices, new technologies, increased global competition in commodity markets, and novel strategies to manage risk at the farmgate. These challenges present significant risks which permeate through targeted risk management strategies and prompt the need for an integrated risk management approach.

TAGS:

risk, strategic risk

TEAM LINKS:

Margaret Lippsmeyer

Mike Boehlje

Michael Langemeier

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