ITHACA, N.Y. — As the New York Forward plan is implemented across the state, businesses of all kinds are required to have a COVID-19 written safety plan in place. Both essential agricultural businesses that have remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and those non-food related agricultural businesses who will re-open must have a safety plan. A task force of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) specialists developed a new set of resources to help farms comply with this requirement and efficiently prepare plans during this busy time of the year. NY Forward Business Safety Plan Support for Farms contains:

1. Plan Templates. Download these blank forms that you can use electronically to write your plan or simply print out and hand write your plan. Available in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word formats.
2. Considerations and Examples for Your Plan. The CCE team prepared two new documents that provide ideas for your consideration and examples of how you might complete your plan for common farm situations. The main document here is intended for most farms engaged in production agriculture and a companion document is for those farms that include retail sales as part of their business.
3. Key References and Support Documents. A huge number of resources have been created since March. We have selected the most relevant documents that farms need to complete business safety plans, including guidance documents from state government and best management practice (BMP) documents from Cornell experts. These references focus on specific types of farms and their specialized needs.

We’ve also included quite a few related references and support articles. Access all of these resources at: https://agworkforce.cals.cornell.edu/ny-forward-business-safety-plan/. You can reach out to CCE business management educators across the state to assist with this important business safety task.

—Richard Stup, Cornell University

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