Farm Disaster Preparedness Workshop Helps Farmers Plan Ahead

The Farm Disaster Preparedness Workshop will be held September 17-18 at Rural Resources in Greeneville, Tenn. The Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development Council is organizing the two-day program with University of Tennessee agricultural specialist Shelli Rampold.

The workshop will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. Registration is $30 and includes lunch, and fee waivers are available for farmers who need help covering the cost.

The program helps farmers identify vulnerabilities before an emergency and make practical plans to protect people, livestock, property, and farm operations.

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Farm Disaster Preparedness Workshop Focuses on Farm Risks

One central activity will be farm risk assessment. Participants will examine parts of a farm that could become serious problems during flooding, storms, power failures, or other emergencies.

That includes what organizers describe as pressure-point mapping. Farmers identify places where one failure could quickly create several other problems. A washed-out access road, for example, could prevent a producer from reaching livestock. Fence damage could create animal-control problems. Loss of electricity could affect wells, refrigeration, or other essential systems.

Mapping those pressure points gives farmers a chance to consider alternatives before they face an emergency.

Farm Disaster Preparedness Workshop Includes Emergency Scenarios

The Farm Disaster Preparedness Workshop will also use disaster simulations and planning exercises to help participants think through decisions they might have to make during a real emergency.

Preparing for a disaster is not only about protecting buildings or equipment. Farmers may need plans for moving livestock, maintaining water supplies, reaching isolated areas of a farm, communicating with family or employees, and keeping essential business functions operating.

Planning can make emergency decisions faster and more organized.

Hurricane Helene Showed the Need for Farm Planning

The workshop comes as Northeast Tennessee farmers continue to learn from Hurricane Helene. The September 2024 storm damaged farmland, roads, fencing, buildings, and other agricultural infrastructure across parts of the region.

For many producers, recovery also required navigating disaster-assistance programs and gathering records to document losses. The experience showed that preparedness includes paperwork as well as physical farm planning.

Maintaining photographs, receipts, inventories, maps, and other records before a disaster can make it easier to document damage afterward.

Farm Disaster Preparedness Workshop Covers Recovery Resources

Participants will also learn more about disaster assistance and the resources farmers may need after an emergency.

The Farm Disaster Preparedness Workshop allows producers to examine their own operations before the next storm, flood, or other emergency forces those decisions on them.

Farmers interested in attending should confirm registration availability and any final program details with Appalachian RC&D before September 17.