The Nebraska Extension Weather Ready Farms (WRF) program team created a self-assessment checklist to provide producers with cropping system-related recommendations for practices that reduce the risk of losses on farms from weather events. We are looking for producers to complete the self-assessment checklist as part of the pilot test for our program.
This initial self-assessment is designed to provide producers a snapshot in time of current practices or plans in place, in order to gauge the "weather-readiness" of their farms. This is our second pilot test of these practices. After some modifications to the self-assessment checklist, we want to evaluate our efforts to further develop the Weather Ready Farms program and to determine a farms’ weather-readiness with this checklist. There are three phases or levels to the self-assessment checklist. The phases encourage participation at each level and allow for continuous improvement on the farm; however, the management and difficulty of practices and planning increase exponentially with each phase.
The mission of our Weather Ready Farms program is to provide certifications to farms who are at lower risk to losses from extreme weather. We are working to align our program with other government and non-governmental agencies to reduce the duplication of reporting activities like farm management practices and to reward or recognize farms who are at a lower risk to losses.
For Weather Ready Farms program information and to complete the Weather Ready Farms (WRF) Self-Assessment, visit the Weather Ready Farms website.
Completing the self-assessment checklist is simply the first step of the WRF program. Other steps will include an educational component that focuses on new or expanding practices, a farm visit and discussion with someone from the WRF team about the farm’s unique circumstances, and WRF verification and certification once weather-readiness practices are accomplished.
We encourage any interested producer to complete the online form for the initial self-assessment checklist. Producers who complete the self-assessment checklist will receive an email once the checklist is submitted, so they can return to the form and make any edits or finish the assessment. We will communicate with producers as they work through the self-assessment checklist.
We are happy to discuss further our vision for the WRF program. Please let us know what questions you have. We certainly appreciate your time in helping us with this program.
