The concentration of Year 2000 expertise in urban and industrial areas, as opposed to rural communities, is also a concern CFA would like to raise. Like most professional services, rural Canada and, as a result, farmers, have very limited access to the kind of outside expertise both Task Force Year 2000 and the Conference Board of Canada have advised business leaders to seek-out in order to perform an assessment of a firm's vulnerability to the Y2K bug and in the development of priorities and strategies for managing the path to Year 2000 preparedness. Farmers and farm managers need more information, farm-specific information, about the impact Y2K can have on their operations and the steps they can take to eliminate as much of the risk associated with that impact as possible. Farmers and farm managers need greater access to the expertise required to fully assess the risks they face and to develop Y2K action plans to become prepared for the date roll-over. The knowledge of higher risk, if it exists, is key to contingency planning.
Awareness is the first step, and the industry is already actively involved in that effort.