About The ERME Program

Extension Risk Management Education (ERME) is delivered through four regional centers that provide grant funding and leadership within their regions. The four regional centers include, the University of Arkansas (Southern), the University of Nebraska (North Central), the University of Delaware (Northeast), and Washington State University (Western).

The Southern Extension Risk Management Education Center (SRMEC) serves the following 15 Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Projects are 18 months in length and are designed to help producers learn new strategies to manage the agricultural risks they face. The goal is simple…give farmers and ranchers the tools to improve their risk management skills and capabilities. Projects address the five general types of risk associated with farm and ranch businesses: production, price/market, financial, legal, and human risks. Funded projects are producer-focused, results-based and encourage public-private partnerships. Project steps must identify targeted results that will help producers manage risk and then describe how the project will measure those results. Each project must be completed within 18 months, April 1 to September 30. Awards range from $5,000 to a maximum of $50,000. Applicants may also apply for planning, development or piloting efforts by submitting an Exploratory Projects. These projects seek to pilot new programs, plan feasible program strategies and build collaborations with key stakeholders.

Southern Risk Management Education Center has funded innovative programs that have generated tangible results for producers in every state and territory across the southern region.