When you think of the word “risk”, what comes to mind?  Financial risks? Legal risks? Health risks?   

Heather Schlesser, UW Extension and Carol Peterson, UMASH

Extension Risk Management Education (ERME) is an organization whose aim is Educating America’s farmers and ranchers to manage the unique risks of producing food for the world’s table.  The ERME annual conference was held April 11 and 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and addressed five general types of risk associated with farm and ranch businesses:

• Production Risk
• Price or Market
• Financial Risk
• Legal/Institutional Risk
• Human Risk

The Human Risk sector aligns closely with the mission and goals of UMASH.   Carrie Klumb and Carol Peterson attended the conference on behalf of UMASH.  Carrie presented a session titled, “A One Health Approach to Improving Health and Safety at Agritourism Operations” and Carol was part of a poster session featuring the “The Farm Safety Champion: A Farmer’s Perspective”.

This conference was an excellent opportunity to network and showcase the research, projects and programs UMASH is delivering.  Health and safety education is an integral part of managing risk.  UMASH and ERME can work together to help farmers do just that.