Disaster Planning and Recovery Toolshed
Disaster has a devastating physical effect—and physical preparedness is essential. But disasters can also be financially devastating, and there is just as much to be done to prepare your business for the financial aftermath of a disaster.
This Toolshed focuses on the less visible side of disaster preparedness and recovery: the critical information, financial tools, and business skills you need before and after a disaster.
The resources below include self-assessment questions to help you decide if these resources are right for you, a quick video welcome, and an overview of the four main resources: Recovering From Disaster (and Preparing to Recover from Disaster), Preparing For Disaster, The Role of Community in Disaster Preparedness, and Tax Issues Caused by Disaster.
These resources, along with additional materials, are also available as free, asynchronous short courses on Farmer Campus: Weathering It: Stories & Strategies for Financially Resilient Land-Based Businesses
These materials are prepared and presented by Poppy Davis, a seasoned farm business educator and a business and policy adviser to agricultural and food and beverage enterprises. She holds a Juris Doctor from Drake University Law School, a Master's in Journalism from Georgetown, and a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from University of California, Davis.
Self-Assessment Questions:
The questions below may help you to decide if these resources are right for you, and may help you plan which actions to prioritize after you review the resources in this Toolshed.
- Do you have the information and skills to assess your current, mid-term, and multi-year cash flow after a disaster?
- Do you have the information and skills to assess the critical and optional elements of your operation to determine how to prioritize short-term, mid-term, and long- term recovery?
- Do you have cash reserves sufficient to replace equipment or infrastructure that is essential to your operation? (Fencing to keep animals off the road, delivery truck to get product to market, essential planting or harvesting equipment, etc.)
- Do you have cash reserves sufficient to cover necessary (required, totally non-optional) expenses if you lose an entire crop or lose market access for two weeks during peak season?
- Do you have insurance that would enable you to quickly replace equipment or infrastructure essential to your operation?
- Do you have immediate access to credit that would allow you to meet current obligations if you lost an entire crop or were unable to make sales for two weeks?
- Do you have a framework to systematically assess the likelihood and severity of the risks facing your operation?
- Do you understand how tax losses related to a disaster can be used to offset current and future income?
- Do you have a framework to systematically assess the most strategic mitigations for each of the risks facing your operation?
- Do you have a double-entry bookkeeping system in place that provides complete, accurate and up-to-date information on cash, equipment and infrastructure, debts, income and expense?
- Do you regularly use spreadsheet tools to help you calculate cash flow?
- Do you regularly use spreadsheet tools to help you analyse specific questions related to profitability?
- Do you understand the different types of insurance that can help to protect your business in the event of a disaster?
- Are you aware of how your community is preparing for disaster?
- Are the roads on which you would evacuate in good shape and would they stay usable during a flood or fire?
- Do you know where your local evacuation centers are located and what resources you would find there if you needed to evacuate?
If you answer “no” to any of these questions, these resources are for you.
Introduction to Disaster Resources
A quick video welcome and overview of the three longer videos on preparation, recovery and tax issues for disaster.
Recovering from Disaster or Catastrophe
An overview of immediate and intermediate steps to take as you recover from disaster with an emphasis on critical cash flow management including how to evaluate changes to operations and how to think about managing pre-existing debt or taking on new debt as part of a recovery plan.
Recovering from Disaster or Catastrophe
Disaster Preparedness
The first half of the presentation gives a few different frameworks for evaluating and mitigating risk and focuses on backing up physical preparedness with financial and managerial preparedness. The second half of the presentation is bout different types of insurance. There is a video with the instructor presenting, and a copy of the presentation
Preparing Your Business To Survive a Disaster or Catastrophe
Framework for Assessing Business Risk and Mitigations to Survive a Disaster or Catastrophe
The Role of Insurance in Preparing for Disaster or Catastrophe
The Role of Community in Disaster Preparedness
This short presentation introduces federal and some state resources for community disaster preparedness with a focus on ensuring safe evacuation routes and well-equipped evacuation centers.
The Role of Community in Disaster Preparedness and Recovery
Tax Issues Caused by Disaster or Catastrophe
Disaster can have some counter-intuitive effects on your federal income tax returns, sometimes creating taxable income even when you have experienced real loss. Fortunately, there are special rules to mitigate these effects for farmers, ranchers, and fishers. This presentation will help you understand why you need a qualified tax preparer to help you after a disaster, and will help you identify the specific issues you need to discuss with your tax preparer.
Tax Issues Caused by Disaster or Catastrophe
Additional Resources
You can find these resources and additional material put together and offered as free asynchronous short courses on Farmer Campus. Weathering It: Stories & Strategies for Financially Resilient Land-Based Businesses
Funding:
This material was developed with financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency under agreement number FSA22CPT0012189. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, any reference to specific brands or types of products or services does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for those products or services.
