Agricultural Operational Continuity Framework, Version 1.0

The Agricultural Operational Continuity Framework is a published assessment instrument for agricultural operations that depend on technology to execute work in the field operations where crews record harvest production, piece-rate payment data and food-safety records on mobile devices, often in locations with unreliable connectivity.

Version 1.0 contains three parts: a catalogue of 46 numbered controls organised under five operational pillars (connectivity and infrastructure resilience, workforce technology governance, operational continuity planning, data integrity and traceability support, and agricultural execution optimisation); a five-level maturity rubric; and a Phase 1 scoring sheet that produces a scored maturity profile, a continuity-risk register and a prioritised roadmap.

The scoring sheet is designed to be completed by an operations manager or office manager in a single sitting, without technical expertise and without outside assistance. The framework also includes a crosswalk to the CISA Food and Agriculture Cybersecurity Checklist, showing which federal recommendations an operation has already addressed and identifying the narrower gap this instrument covers: what happens to a crew in a field when the device holding the day's production record stops working.

The components are not new. Continuity planning, device governance, maturity models and incident response are established practice. The contribution is their integration into a single instrument and their adaptation to hand-harvest field operations.

Released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 for free use by growers, farm labor contractors, coolers, packers, extension advisors, colleges and associations.