Undercover investigations and whistleblowers have documented multiple incidences of animal cruelty on dairy farms and in slaughterhouses across the country. In many cases, damaging videos from inside such operations have led chain stores to discontinue product sales, and farmers to shut down or sell their farms.

Because these claims aren’t linked to a natural disaster or uncontrollable circumstance, but instead to a management or personnel issue, the business interruption and reputational harm they cause aren’t covered by a farmer or agribusiness’ insurance policy.

Instead, preventing animal abuse and its fallout begins with implementing the following five risk management best practices.

1. Employ your own video monitoring. Consider installing video surveillance to make sure employees are performing daily functions as they should, and treating animals as you’ve trained them to. Let employees know you have cameras across the property so they are aware you’re watching. Having your own video footage will give you the power to counter claims of animal mistreatment, or provide evidence when employees are in violation.
2. Hire the right people. Animal herding and management is not something just anyone can do. If a new employee hasn’t worked with animals in the past, make sure they know what is expected of them and how to properly treat the animals in their care.
3. Regularly train employees on the company’s expectations and mission. Create a culture of accountability by maintaining equipment, keeping tools and supplies orderly and upholding employee policies and expectations. If your farm or agribusiness employs non-native English speakers, including workers from H2 Programs, have training done in their native language. Instead of written procedures, consider posting images depicting the right and wrong way to conduct tasks. Equally important, train employees to bring issues or complaints from the field to their supervisor or company management first.
4. Include a social media and privacy clause in your onboarding contracts. When onboarding new employees, discuss your farm/agribusiness processes, and why they are proprietary and not for public consumption. Let new employees know that releasing pictures or videos on social media or any other forum is a breach of their employment contract, and what the consequence will be if they do so.
5. Have a crisis PR plan in place. In today’s world, every business – farmers and agribusinesses included – needs a PR plan that considers the “what if” of their industry. Gather your leadership team and have a tabletop discussion on what you would do in a PR crisis. If you wait until something happens to create an action plan, the issue can become catastrophic. Not only because of the reputational harm caused, but also because of the amount of time owners will need to devote to the situation. Be sure to identify a spokesperson to speak to the public/media and manage the flow of information, draft responses and establish employee protocols if they are approached by media.

Contact your HUB Agribusiness specialist to find out how you can safeguard your farm or agribusiness from allegations of animal cruelty and a subsequent PR crisis.