Enterprise Architecture: It’s What’s for Dinner

Agriculture is the backbone of an evolving society. In fact, advances in chemical fertilizers provided the food efficiency necessary to support a rapidly expanding population (Bailey, 2018). It's estimated that these advances are directly responsible for the lives of billions. Therefore, analyzing risks and potential downfalls in the supply chain of agriculture is integral to its current success and population thrive. 

Risk Categories and Risks

Agriculture is subject to many risks, far more than many other industries. Primary risk categories for the industry include financial, operational, and compliance (Hunziker, 2019). In addition, significant impacts can come from risk subcategories, such as supply-demand, logistics, regulation, and environmental (Sharma et al., 2020). For example, seasonal droughts, storms, and temperature fluctuations are uncontrollable and significantly affect crop yields. The fluctuating labor market also impacts agriculture (i.e., how many people are willing to work in the industry, current salary expectations, etc.).

Mitigation Strategies

Though highly prevalent, many of these risks can be reduced through alleviation strategies. For instance, crop and livestock diversification decreases risk through distribution (e.g., using half of the farmable land for kale and the other half for swiss chard reduces the risk of using all of it for one crop). Contracts are also helpful since they set price and delivery expectations in advance, regardless of market conditions. However, as with anything, this mitigation might come at the cost of more significant profit gains should one of the crops increase in popularity. Additionally, insurances such as crop revenue or yield provide payments should either incur a considerable decline (USDA ERS - Risk Management Strategies, n.d.).

Technology and Service Aid

Artificial Intelligence is an incredibly promising technological asset to agriculture. AI can help experts identify areas of pest infestation, soil degradation, poor drainage, and opportunities for new crops (Das et al., 2018). In addition, this augmented data analysis could allow farmers to avoid supply-demand pitfalls and low crop yields through greenhouse automation (Smith, 2018).

Risk Matrix for Almond Milk