5 Tips for Contingency Plans Amid COVID-19
Because agriculture businesses are considered essential, the show must go on. As work continues, you need to make sure you keep yourself, your family and your employees safe.
Create a contingency plan to make sure your farm continues to operate. Here are five tips from Iowa State University Extension farm and agribusiness management specialist Melissa O’Rourke:
- Protect the current workforce. Practice social distancing, good sanitary measures like handwashing, use personal protective equipment like masks and make sick employees stay home.
- Prepare the workforce. Cross train employees and rotate people through jobs to make sure each part of the operation is covered. Have written standard operating procedures and provide straightforward directions for tasks to make training easier.
- Designate or update contingency plans. Plan ‘A’ could easily collapse in the post-COVID-19 world. Have a plan ‘B’ to fill labor needs and keep a plan ‘C’ in your back pocket. Review and update your current plans and communicate your changes to employees.
- Recruit and train new contingency employees. Consider labor options that might not normally be available. High school and college students are home, which means they can help meet labor shortages if they occur on your farm.
- Be able to function with a reduced workforce. If you’re unable to find replacement workers or additional workers to fill labor needs, you’ll need to find a way to operate regardless. Identify critical tasks and prioritize responsibilities to make sure the most important get done first. Write down guidelines and widely share them.
“Animals must be fed, watered and otherwise cared for whether or not those responsible for these duties becomes sick or must be quarantined,” O’Rourke said. “All farms and rural businesses must formulate or review labor contingency plans.”
