THE Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) administers and enforces the FLSA with respect to private employment, state and local government employment, and federal employees.

Learn more via the recently completed 4-page, 4-color Ag Help Wanted UPDATE: What is the Fair Labor Standards Act in Agriculture and How Does it Apply to Me?

Several Ag Help Wanted updates were recently posted to the website companion for Ag Help Wanted: Guidelines for Managing Agricultural Labor and are available for download at: AgHelpWanted.org/updates.

 
THE Forage Risk Analyzer tool was developed to help the livestock owner and the land owner understand all the contributions each of them have made to their livestock grazing lease arrangement. It can be used to help design a fair and equitable lease between two parties. It can also be used by a single party to better understand the full set of components that contribute value to their forage resource.

The Forage Risk Analyzer tool is one of over 30 individual risk analysis tools developed by RightRisk and available free of charge at:RightRisk.org\analytics.

 
EMPLOYERS must complete a Form I-9 for each person they hire to perform labor or services in the United States in return for wages or other remuneration. Employers use “Form I-9”, officially the Employment Eligibility Verification form, to verify the identity and legal authorization to work of all paid employees in the United States. The Form I-9 is not required for unpaid volunteers or for contractors.

Learn more via the recently completed 4-page, 4-color Ag Help Wanted UPDATE: What is a Form I-9 and Who Needs One?

Several Ag Help Wanted updates were recently posted to the website companion for Ag Help Wanted: Guidelines for Managing Agricultural Labor and are available for download at: AgHelpWanted.org/updates.

 
THE Risk Scenario Planning tool provides a template for decision-makers to enter the financial effects of making proposed change(s) to their operation. It then adds the ability for the decision-maker to further refine estimates for input values as uncertain numbers. This produces a more robust analysis of the proposed change and a more thorough understanding of the possible outcomes if the change is implemented.

The Risk Scenario Planning tool tool is one of over 30 individual risk analysis tools developed by RightRisk and available free of charge at:RightRisk.org\analytics.

 
Risk management strategies are generally designed to do one of four things: 1. avoid the risk; 2. transfer the risk outside the business; 3. control the risk within the business or 4. accept the risk as a part of doing business.

One of the main benefits of a strategy is that it forces you to identify what you are trying to accomplish, to think about how you will measure progress, and how you will evaluate how well the strategy is working overall.

Results are important, but even good risk management strategies don’t come with guarantees. Strategies can fail for a number of reasons. Sadly, one of the most common reasons strategies fail is the lack of commitment to the strategy across time.

The Evaluating Risk Strategies course is available free of charge at RightRisk.org > Courses.

 
Risk is uncertainty that matters. Future events are unknown to us due to two, separate and distinct factors.

Variability means alternatives or different outcomes in the future purely due to the effects of chance. As a result, this type of change or variation in results cannot be reduced by further study or by any type of measurement.

Uncertainty refers to our lack of knowledge about the future. Some refer to uncertainty as ambiguity. This can even represent our lack of clarity about the meaning of current events and what it may imply for future outcomes.

One of the biggest hurdles to good decision making is the separation of variability and uncertainty. Insights into the alternatives available can be gained where the manager is able to sort the unknown future into variability and uncertainty.

Risk management can be generally defined as taking deliberate action to shape the variability of the outcomes, the consequences, or both for any management decision that might be made.This is accomplished by applying one or more risk controls.

A list of common risk controls is available at RightRisk.org, including links to alternatives for managing the five sources of risk: Market, Production, Institutional/Legal, Human, and Financial Risks. For more information, see RightRisk.org > Resources > Risk Controls.