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As with any business, agricultural producers face risks of all kinds....are in the cost of the program * Agricultural producers are personally respon...

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Business continuity planning is one of the most critical components of any recovery strategy. Companies today face an unprecedented number of exposures. The frequency and severity of weather-related events seem to be increasing. Reliance on a complex network of technology and supply chains is expanding. Both leave businesses susceptible to a variety of existing and emerging risks. Managing these risks is key to the survival of any organization. Why Business Continuity? MISCONCEPTION: "Our people will know what to do in an emergency." REALITY: Even the best employees cannot be expected to know what to do when disaster strikes. Leaving each to respond in his or her own way only adds to the confusion of an event. Having a well-documented business continuity plan in advance, and training your employees to follow it, gets everyone on the same page — helping ensure an organized, safe and timely recovery. MISCONCEPTION: "We have insurance to cover our losses." REALITY: Insurance alone is NOT a business continuity strategy. Proper coverage is a significant and important part of the plan. But it may not fully cover some of the peripheral damages from an event, like loss of customers, loss of market share, or setbacks in development or release of a new product. Consult with your insurance agent to understand what is and is not covered under your policy. MISCONCEPTION: "We don't have the time to develop a business continuity plan." REALITY: Time spent developing and maintaining a business continuity plan is an investment in your company. Your fixed costs will continue after an event whether or not you are open for business. The faster you can return your operations to normal, the more likely you will recover from the event successfully. With so much at stake, your company can't afford to NOT have a plan. MISCONCEPTION:  "Business continuity and disaster recovery planning are the same." REALITY: Business continuity is a proactive plan to avoid and mitigate risks associated with a disruption of operations. It details steps to be taken before, during and after an event to maintain the financial viability of an organization.  Disaster recovery is a reactive plan for responding after an event. It deals with the safety and restoration of critical personnel, locations, and operational procedures after a disaster, and is a part of business continuity planning. A business continuity plan is one of the best investments your company can make. From Hurricane Sandy and 9/11 to the tornadoes in Oklahoma – companies that proactively consider how to respond to events are the first to get back to business, often at the expense of competitors. A predefined business continuity plan, combined with the proper insurance coverage, maximizes the chance of a successful recovery by eliminating hasty decision-making under stressful conditions. It details how to get businesses back on track after a disruption – in the most thoughtful way possible. Think your business can withstand a disaster? Think again. Twenty-five percent of businesses do not reopen following a major event.1 It does not take a major catastrophe to shut down a business. In fact, seemingly minor disruptions compared to widespread natural disasters can often cause significant damage – power failures, broken water pipes, or loss of computer data. A Travelers study found that 48 percent of small businesses are operating without any type of business continuity plan…Yet 95 percent indicated they felt they were prepared. Is your business continuity plan predominately an insurance policy? Is it predominately an emergency response or evacuation plan? Is it predominately an IT or data recovery plan? Is it something you developed that sits in a binder on a shelf? If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then your business continuity plan may be giving you a false sense of security. Natural disasters are more common – and costly – than you may realize. In 2012, nine of the top 10 most expensive world-wide natural disasters happened in the United States. With $77 billion in insured losses worldwide, 2012 was the third costliest year on record. The first was 2011, when $126 billion in insured losses were reported.2 Business continuity planning for a competitive advantage. An alarming 48% of business owners surveyed by Travelers in 2012 said they have no plan in place. That means business continuity planning is more than smart business – it helps your company remain better positioned to recover from the business interruption, property damage, financial impact, and loss of life that a natural disaster or man-made event may cause. The time for business continuity planning is now. Planning for a disruption or catastrophic event should happen when business is going well, not when disaster strikes. Having a pre-defined, well-documented business continuity plan that clearly communicates how your business will respond during an event can help mitigate risk – and is one of the best investments your company can make. 1Source: Insurance Institute of Business & Home Safety; http://www.disastersafety.org/ 2Source: Insurance Journal; http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/03/27/286235.htm

Our next Second Saturday On The Farm is on Saturday, March 8, 11 am – 3 pm at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, Highway 152 outside Watsonville.  This event is FREE! Donations appreciated. Bring your whole neighborhood to participate! This Second Saturday on the Farm features a scheduled talk on how robots are used in the agriculture industry in Santa Cruz County and around the world, plus LEGO building, robotic car races, programming, drawing a robot, competing sumo robots, hayrides, movies, practice cow milking, and other activities for children. 11:00 am – 3:00 pm:  LEGO building, Robotic car races, Programming a BeeBot robot, drawing a robot, Sumo robotics, and other fun activities for children. 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm:  Learn to Discover, an educational nonprofit organization, will be discussing Robots in the Agriculture Industry. Ongoing:  Our popular tractor driving, practice cow milking, water pumping, and other fun activities for kids. Brian and Shelly Laschkewitsch from Learn to Discover will be facilitating many of the fun learning activities about robotics at this event. Learn to Discover is a 501 c(3) nonprofit that designs, develops and delivers high-quality, hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) courses and activities to kids from pre-school through high-school. Content provided by http://www.aghistoryproject.org/event/second-saturday-farm-robotics-agriculture/

If you're "it" when it comes to risk management for your business, there's a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. How do you determine the best place to start, given limited time and money, to keep your workers safe and keep your company in compliance? Where should you focus? How do you make sure that you stay on top of everything? There are several important steps you can take to have a world-class safety program, even without many people on your team: Determine the managerial perspective on risk management. This is the single most important thing to do because it will set the tone for your ability to drive the risk management initiatives of your company. Do everything you can to make this attitude proactive, rather than reactive. Analyze the current state of safety in the business. An initial SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) will prove invaluable for planning risk management. Review the mission statement and overall goals of the organization to help align the safety process. The results will determine the direction to go; whether it's compliance, the creation of a safety management system, or some combination of the two. To take the program to another level, take a careful look at how you need to integrate safety into the process. Understand the OSHA standards that apply to your business - and make sure that everyone in the organization is familiar with the basics of these regulations. Evaluate your safety plan from a business perspective. Develop a budget that measures your financial return on investment. We're always ready to help - just give us a call.

...nstitutions, businesses, trade organizations, and labor organizations. Certain industries, such as food...

Homes take a beating on the outside, from wind, rain, sun, insects and snow. Summer gives you a chance to repair damage, protect your home and keep its face to the world looking bright. Home maintenance is like housework, flossing and exercise: You might as well work it into your routine, because the penalties are worse than the jobs themselves. Here’s just one example: Cleaning the gutters costs nothing if you do it yourself, and roughly $100 to $200 if you hire a service. Ignore the job, though, and a ruined roof or damaged foundation could cost you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to repair. Here’s why: Leaky or overflowing gutters can rot fascia boards (the roof edge under the gutters), soffits and rafters. Water may drip onto window trim, rotting it. Leaky gutters let water pool at the foundation, causing basement leaks, mold and even foundation damage. 1. Paint Fresh paint doesn’t just make your home look great. It’s a protective skin against UV light and moisture. Earth911 tells where to get free paint: Many household hazardous waste (HHW) facilities around the country have product exchange rooms, sometimes called swap rooms or swap shops. These rooms offer safe, unopened HHW items for public consumption, keeping them out of the landfill and letting you save some money. Call your city to ask about your local HHW facility. Other sources for cheap paint: Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores (find one near you) sell “gently used” tools and supplies for home projects at low cost. See EcoBusinessLinks’ national directory of recycled and surplus building materials and suppliers. Search online for a city’s name and “salvaged building supplies” or “recycled building materials.” 2. Mulch Laying a 1- to 3-inch layer of mulch on garden beds spares a lot of weeding. Mulch smothers weeds by depriving them of oxygen and light and it holds moisture in the soil, saving water and giving plants a consistent source of moisture. Mulch includes many materials placed on the ground to prevent weeds from growing, including rocks, gravel and plastic. Leaves, grass clippings and tree bark are organic materials most often used on garden beds. Hay and straw also are used in vegetable gardens. Organic mulch breaks down into nutrients that feed plants. Be careful in vegetable gardens to avoid mulch with pesticides, herbicides or other garden chemicals. Also, used incorrectly, mulch can damage or kill trees and ornamental plants by depriving them of oxygen, so leave a 3- to 5-inch space around stems of younger plants and give mature tree trunks eight to 12 inches. North Carolina State University’s Cooperative Extension Service explains how to safely use mulch. Free or cheap sources of mulch: Grass clippings. Let them cool down before mulching. Raked leaves. Shred first with a shredder or lawn mower so air and moisture can reach the soil beneath. Shredded wood or bark. Electric utility companies and tree services may have cheap or free wood chips or shredded bark. Also, some cities collect leaves and branches, chipping them for use by local residents. Cardboard. Ask recycling centers and appliance stores for free cardboard. Wet it down, cut it to fit and place it around plants, covering with soil or bark mulch. This is best in wet climates where cardboard breaks down into the soil. WikiHow gives instructions on using cardboard and has more ideas for cheap mulch. 3. Seal wood decks The cheap way to approach this job is to do it yourself. It’s not difficult, although it’s nice to have help. You’ll spend a couple hundred dollars on supplies and rented tools. Do it annually or every two to three years, depending where you live. Ignore the job long enough and you’ll need to replace the deck, at a cost of thousands of dollars. Read the entire article here. Read more at http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2014/06/02/12-cheap-and-easy-summer-home-projects/#4f2LmYs5xjDE2Rbw.99

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