WELLBEING PREPAREDNESS FOR ADVERSITY
Choosing to be
lucky By Chris Neill
I
n our primary sector, each owner/operator is expected to ensure the safety and wellbeing of family, staff, livestock and other resources to maintain their business continuity and be regulation-compliant. With accumulated personal and collective experience businesses develop plans for the expected and contingencies for the unexpected. Examples of these responses would include supplies of baleage held on a dairy farm, the size and number of stock water dams on a beef farm and the irrigation infrastructure connected to a horticultural unit. Alongside this is insurance at a level that reflects the degree of risk a business can afford or is prepared to take. By geographic good fortune New Zealand adverse weather events are commonly regionalised, and the unaffected areas assist those affected. Droughts and floods of 2019/20 from Northland to Southland challenged that paradigm, with the national/global impact of Covid-19 adding further challenge and complication, particularly in the timely processing of farm production. The impact of some extreme weather events can be immediate and drastic, with flooding being the most common. There is limited warning but typically sufficient to move people and stock from harm’s way. The recovery time from such events is linked to the severity of the event and the resources applied before and after the event. It is a combination of preparedness and response. In contrast, droughts tend to be slow in developing with an increasingly significant impact. Anecdotes of previous events build expectations of duration and severity which can compromise decision making that ultimately determines the degree of damage an event inflicts. Alongside drought comes the risk of fire with potentially immediate and drastic impact. For all these events, time, money, and energy are consumed in the recovery process and some businesses and individuals are unable to continue. When adverse events occur, some individuals find their health and safety at greater risk than acceptable and businesses find themselves disrupted and financially compromised. At these times, community and sector groups plus local and central government step forward with support which is commonly short term to address the immediate risks to people and animal welfare. Some businesses and individuals are better than others at coping with adverse events. It’s a mix of; appropriate land use, business and risk management strategies, financial Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Adverse weather events are predicted to be more common and more severe because of global warming.
resources, and personal capacity to deal with adversity. Those without an appropriate mix may view those seemingly less impacted by an adverse event as “lucky”. Sector groups and government agencies encourage individuals and business owners to prepare for disasters. Some folk take the advice and build it into their personal and business plans. Others choose to continue unplanned, leaving them vulnerable to calamity and expectant of assistance when the inevitable occurs. Any suggestion that support agencies are eagerly waiting to be needed is ignorant of the impact on responders, many of whom despair at the losses and sadness which could have been avoided or minimised. Adverse weather events are predicted to be more common and more severe because of global warming. In acknowledging this it seems reasonable to expect the level and type of preparedness for adverse weather events should be reassessed at all levels. Differentiating personal from collective responsibilities in preparing for extreme weather events is a starting point. Understanding of what can be achieved from clarity of personal responsibility and having plans to mitigate risk is held by the “lucky” people who seamlessly incorporate risk management in their business and life. With wider adoption of their practices, the impact of climate change may be less of an ordeal, extreme weather events less devastating. It could start with an increased focus on preparedness and choosing to be “lucky”. 71
