Although agriculture represents just 1% of the workforce, it is responsible for 20% of workplace fatalities. In the year leading up to March 2024, 27 individuals lost their lives in England, Wales, and Scotland. The total annual cost of injuries in farming, forestry, and horticulture to society is estimated at £190 million.
Agriculture is not just a way of life for millions of farmers around the world—it's a business. Like any business, farming requires strategic financial planning and effective risk management to ensure long-term sustainability and profitability. The unpredictable nature of weather, market fluctuations, and unforeseen expenses makes financial planning even more critical for farmers.
Risk management is a systematic process of identifying, assessing, and controlling risks that could potentially affect an organisation's capital and earnings. The importance of risk management in business includes:
1. Protecting the organization's reputation by proactively avoiding incidents that can affect it.
2. Minimizing financial losses by identifying and dealing with potential risks.
3. Encouraging innovation and growth, as risk management isn't just about avoiding negative outcomes.
4. Enhancing decision-making by providing a basis for sound choices.
The agricultural environment is subject to unpredictable weather patterns and market price fluctuations, making planning essential. 草榴社区 with balanced risk plans tailored to their individual profiles can better manage these pressures and even thrive. Daily farm decisions involve uncertainties, from weather and pests to market prices and machinery issues, requiring careful risk calculation and planning across various areas of expertise.
Good farmers and employers recognize the benefits of reducing incidents and ill health among their workers and are aware of the financial and other reasons to aim for and maintain good standards of health and safety. Managing risks in a sensible way protects you, your family, your workers, and your business and can bring the following benefits:
• A reduction in injuries and ill health and the resulting financial and personal costs.
• Improved productivity, good morale, and a happier, healthier workforce.
• Better farming practice to help develop a sustainable farming business.
• The ability to carry out weather-critical operations at the right time.
• Reduced sickness payments and recruitment/training costs for replacement workers.
• Reduced loss of output resulting from experienced and competent workers being off work.
• Longer life for equipment and machinery.
• Less chance of damage to machinery, buildings, and products.
• Lower insurance premiums and legal costs.
• Less chance of enforcement action and its costs, e.g., the cost of dealing with an incident and/or fines.
• Reduced risk of damage to the reputation of the business.
At Howden insurance, we want to be more than the people you call when things go wrong. We are committed to making your insurance a management tool. To ensure your business continues to run, uninterrupted long into the future. To deliver on this commitment, we've updated our risk management services with a brand-new menu of solutions designed to be accessible for all. We achieve this by only including solutions that we believe are relevant, meaningful, and affordable. Some are free to use, and others are charged.
CONTACT US TODAY
If you'd like to discuss any aspect of your risk management, call the Howden Rural Team on 0330 165 2719 or email [email protected].
Howden UK Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority No. 307663. Registered Office: One Creechurch Place, London, EC3A 5AF. Registered in England and Wales under company registration number 02831010. Calls may be monitored and recorded for quality assurance purposes.
