WEATHER READY FARMS OVERVIEW
This certification program can provide a model for other professionals to assist agricultural producers, communities, or even homeowners to implement practices that reduce their risk to weather and climate.
The Weather Ready Farms (WRF) certification program is through Nebraska Extension, and it can provide a model for other professionals to assist agricultural producers, communities, or even homeowners to implement practices that reduce their risk to weather and climate. The Weather Ready Farms certification program is approximately a one- or two-year program, but the length of the program is dependent on a participant’s previous and current experiences implementing crop management practices related to extreme weather and climate variation. It is estimated the self-assessment and education phases take participants approximately 9-12 months to complete, and the verification and certification phases take an additional 3-12 months. This model utilizes an initial self-assessment developed by university experts based on research-based best management practices in order to provide a snapshot of the readiness of an operation. The education phase focuses on learning about the practices needed in their operation and utilizing university resources, with a focus on continuous improvement. The verification phase is an extended phase where the applicant and person(s) providing the certification can work together on making the necessary changes to get to the certification phase. The certification phase is the final phase and the applicant receives certification once they have met all of the verification
measures needed to reach full adoption of the selected level in the self-assessment. Benefits of certification can be flexible based on partners or sponsors, in addition to the benefit of reducing risk on the whole operation.
The Weather Ready Farms program can be found at https://weather-ready.unl.edu/.
48
Powered by FlippingBook