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RightRisk: The Genesis

Jeffrey E. Tranel

Summary

There were are few educational tools available with which to teach clientele about risk management. The few tools available are generally too complex, too academic, and/or incomplete.

Agricultural economists from Colorado developed a strategy for illustrating risks faced by farmers over a period of time. “Farm Survivor” quickly became the center-piece educational program used at the annual Ag Lender meetings. Participants greatly enjoyed their learning experiences, came to better understand the risks faced by agricultural producers and decisions they made to address those risks, and learned the relationship of risky events and probabilities.

Colorado extension economists quickly realized the (1) educational value and (2) labor intensiveness of the program. While exploring ways to decrease the number of facilitators necessary to present Farm Survivor, a grant was successfully won which focused on risk education for livestock producers. Thus, the “Ranch Survivor” version was created.

Ranch Survivor was presented to clientele groups and shared with Western Farm Management Extension Committee members. Subsequently, a coalition of risk management educators from eight western state universities was formed with “RightRisk” as a foundation. Additional grants were received to continue the development of this valuable – and fun – risk management educational program.

During the presentation of this paper, the authors will opine on the relationships and skills that were necessary for their original idea to become a successful and widely used educational program. Their thoughts will help others better understand these needs and how to work together in the new collaboration-required environment in which Extension Educators operate.

Details

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