Charlie,
I thought this would be a good discussion point on marketing plans... how they should be implemented... and others 'marketing' perspectives our farms need to consider!
How do we 'sell' ourselves & our services as growers...
Are we 'realists' understanding wheat is 87% politics and 13%px...
Does anyone actually believe his will ever change?
What is a 'fair' return for our family farm... what are we entitled to... ?
Here is a US Perspective:
"Word on Wheat: Falling Prices and Rising Anxiety on Farms
October 31, 2008
Paul Penner
NAWG Environment and Renewable Resources Chairman
Say good bye to $8 wheat. No, $7 wheat. Change that to $6 wheat. Um, $5 looks to be going fast. Should I have priced more earlier?
Welcome inside the head of a wheat grower from Kansas.
A little over three months ago, most farmers had no clue prices would fall this far so fast. A number of neighbors have, in fact, confided to me that they were doing what many producers do - following a disciplined marketing plan, pre-pricing and selling a percentage each month, though this year may turn out to be the year to get rid of the whole inventory before the end of harvest.
But while very few among us imagined the price of wheat would decline like it has – just like few evidently anticipated the problems our country’s larger economy would be facing – we as farmers knew the days of record high prices were, indeed, numbered. History and logic tell you that what goes up must come down, and the cure for high prices has always been high prices.
Watching my market updates these days makes me prouder than ever of NAWG for defending the direct payment and the crop insurance program and supporting permanent disaster elements in the 2008 Farm Bill, even while critics claimed these were unnecessary and the safety-net was a give-away.
When Congress comes back next year, Members are going to face a whole host of issues due to our current financial ‘crisis’. Many of these will cost a lot of money to fix, and where do you think they are going to try to find that money? In part, farm programs.
This is a new day, with tons of uncertainty coming at us like a freight train. Fertilizer and other input costs have got to come down, fast, or red ink will flow like water in the streets. We all have a lot of questions to address, both on our individual farms and in our state and national farm organizations.
Whether we like it or not, we’ve been thrown into these circumstances and have to make the best of it. As producers, that probably means taking a good, hard look at market conditions and having honest conversations with our bankers. As an association, that means continuing to fight for policies that help farmers survive the bad times when they come, even if that proves unpopular.
Now this farmer’s going out to the shop to get the combine ready to cut some milo. That’s still the best therapy for a farmer, even with low prices.
- Penner is a wheat producer in Hillsboro, Kan."
http://www.wheatworld.org/html/news.cfm?ID=1494
I thought this would be a good discussion point on marketing plans... how they should be implemented... and others 'marketing' perspectives our farms need to consider!
How do we 'sell' ourselves & our services as growers...
Are we 'realists' understanding wheat is 87% politics and 13%px...
Does anyone actually believe his will ever change?
What is a 'fair' return for our family farm... what are we entitled to... ?
Here is a US Perspective:
"Word on Wheat: Falling Prices and Rising Anxiety on Farms
October 31, 2008
Paul Penner
NAWG Environment and Renewable Resources Chairman
Say good bye to $8 wheat. No, $7 wheat. Change that to $6 wheat. Um, $5 looks to be going fast. Should I have priced more earlier?
Welcome inside the head of a wheat grower from Kansas.
A little over three months ago, most farmers had no clue prices would fall this far so fast. A number of neighbors have, in fact, confided to me that they were doing what many producers do - following a disciplined marketing plan, pre-pricing and selling a percentage each month, though this year may turn out to be the year to get rid of the whole inventory before the end of harvest.
But while very few among us imagined the price of wheat would decline like it has – just like few evidently anticipated the problems our country’s larger economy would be facing – we as farmers knew the days of record high prices were, indeed, numbered. History and logic tell you that what goes up must come down, and the cure for high prices has always been high prices.
Watching my market updates these days makes me prouder than ever of NAWG for defending the direct payment and the crop insurance program and supporting permanent disaster elements in the 2008 Farm Bill, even while critics claimed these were unnecessary and the safety-net was a give-away.
When Congress comes back next year, Members are going to face a whole host of issues due to our current financial ‘crisis’. Many of these will cost a lot of money to fix, and where do you think they are going to try to find that money? In part, farm programs.
This is a new day, with tons of uncertainty coming at us like a freight train. Fertilizer and other input costs have got to come down, fast, or red ink will flow like water in the streets. We all have a lot of questions to address, both on our individual farms and in our state and national farm organizations.
Whether we like it or not, we’ve been thrown into these circumstances and have to make the best of it. As producers, that probably means taking a good, hard look at market conditions and having honest conversations with our bankers. As an association, that means continuing to fight for policies that help farmers survive the bad times when they come, even if that proves unpopular.
Now this farmer’s going out to the shop to get the combine ready to cut some milo. That’s still the best therapy for a farmer, even with low prices.
- Penner is a wheat producer in Hillsboro, Kan."
http://www.wheatworld.org/html/news.cfm?ID=1494
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