Agricultural Sustainability sounds easy, until you need to actually start or improve the process. Just the thought of Agricult Outlook addressing the pivotal trends driving this transformation, including Precision Agriculture, Regenerative Agriculture, Vertical Farming, Agroforestry, Biological Pest Control, Circular Economy Models, Climate-Smart Agriculture, Urban Farming and Community Gardens, Plant-Based Protein, and more will scare off many if they had to do this on their own.
Key to your addressing any of these issues for many of you will be is selecting the right organic supplement provider.
Presenting a simple process to quiet the paralysis – analysis group in almost every company can be as simple as the tongue-in-cheek Black Swan Prevention – save your job key factors to evaluate quiz below. Simple is better works for most companies from small to behemoth. My article Boardroom black holes and taboos still appears in Google and warranted a presentation with the Conference Board of Canada.
The first step is to decide what it means for you. Next is to pick your partner. Third is to actually do it, revising your process as needed.
Your first thought may be “How can I not embarrass myself ?’Then you remember one or more of the horror stories out you have heard about how unbelievably bad things turned out for others.
Before you laugh too much, remember the $195 million write that Hertz just took because they picked the wrong product line. FORMER CEO Stephen Scherr bought lots of electric vehicles. Instead of accolades, customers did not want to rent them, and consumer resale values were quite disappointing.
Getting started or revisiting this process can be as simple as the following ( to save a $25,000 consulting fee).
Consider how the vendors or suppliers you are considering rate on a basic comparison. Below is a list of 10 embarrassment prevention questions. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate each point to allow a comparative , non-emotional selection process.
Black Swan Prevention – save your job key factors to evaluate quiz.
- Is it OMRI certified?
- Is the product registered in your state or country if that is required?
- How strong is the IP behind this?
- How good a feeling you have that the provider is interested , even passionate, about your success?
- How strong is the technical support staff that will be available to you?
- How long has the provider been in business?
- What results are sharable in the products you grow?
- Does the provider supply a full suite of complementary/synergistic products?
- How bottom line effective do you feel this product will be for you?
- How expensive monetarily and timewise will it be to improve the soil health level you strategically have selected for 1, 5 and 10 years from now?
With a subtotal from this preliminary analysis, perform the simplest, cheapest, and possibly most beneficial fiscal, financial, and emotional risk management evaluation, on the market.
Remember that FORMER Hertz CEO above, which of the ten factors above hides a Black Swan risk that could cost you embarrassment, your job, or has happened a few times in the past – the company where you work? As sophisticated as enterprise risk management (ERM) can be, many major companies have a periodic checkpoint of the following question. What factor or event could put us out of business?
A failure on which one of the ten factors above could create the painful version of your personal or business Black Swan failure?
If that analysis makes your decision easy, do it. As an alternative, make that most dangerous factor worth 20 points and double the valuations you originally had. For example, a score of 7 becomes 14.
For those who want a little more risk management, particularly if available at a reasonable investment of money, time, or reputation, you could also select one or more of the suggestions below.
Far too often the key to moving forward is the critical first step needed in a staged manner. Since your quiz result is a subtotal, phase two could be a deeper evaluation and discussion with your preliminary top three vendors.
A rinse, repeat analysis check in point gives you the ability to determine three vital results. What is working well, and we should do more of? What is not working well, and we should do less of? What did we not think about originally but should now?
If you want more seat belt processes, visit a skilled project manager or enterprise risk management expert. After all agricultural sustainability is here to stay. Be one of the winners who rides the wave successfully.
Contributed by Gary Patterson, the FiscalDoctor®
