Marketing Recomedations for 2007-08

[melvill]

Thanks for the help mustardman. I'll send you the 20 in the mail.

What I was getting at by ranting about COP was that how can a producer make marketing decisions if he/she doesn't know what it costs him/her per bushel or per pound or per tonne to produce each crop. I like to have three target prices in mind:

1: Survival price - the lowest price I can take for a product and, at the same time, not cause serious damage to the farm business. Usually that means the survival price = cash outflow per unit sold.
2: Acceptable price - breakeven COP including all fixed and variable costs and some or all of the family's living costs.
3: Favourable price - Acceptable price plus a return on equity or return on investment or return to management. For a number to start with, I suggest the Acceptable Price plus 10%. Some may want more, some may want less.

My experience is having those three target prices in mind helps infinitely with making marketing decisions.

Comments?

[Lyndsey]

Melvill - can you email me at
lyndsey@fbcpublishing.com? I'd like
to ask you a few questions about the
COP and marketing.

Thanks!

[TOM4CWB]

Lee,

Have you seen the top "profitable" grain producers... and what is there biggest competitive advantage that gets them on top?

Could it be:

Low capital/equip. overhead costs,

Low labour cost,

Low input costs/ac.,

High % of marketing in top end of the prices avaliable during a market period,

Focused management that gets work done in a timely manner... without big mistakes or accidents.

Our productive expectations are 10X that of the folks in the Ukraine Charlie just spent a month with.

How many hours a week are spent on community service?

How many hours a day spent with family?

What is a productive person who prospers in 2007?

How does a farm manager prepare and execute a plan to be successful?

How much of this is... "Cost of Production"?

What is a healthy grain farm?

[TOM4CWB]

Lee,

Sorry I kind of messed up people's train of thought!

But in recent courses on risk management... it is clear that we are to spend $.50/bu to get $1.50/bu... even if the base price is a profitable $3.00/bu for corn (and well above the COP) for instance. $4.00 is not as good as $4.50... but it sure is better than $3/bu. I think this is the point.

How much work are grower managers prepared to do... in a volitile market... to get that last $1/bu?

CWB tactics need to have a diciplined strategy to maximise our returns... NOT AVERAGE THEM.

Kind of like standing in front of that freight train... when it skids to a stop and goes backwards fast... it doesn't matter which way it goes... the locomotives go just as fast in either direction!

If you stand on the track while the train comes... you will be hit!

THe issue is this... what is the plan?

Doing nothing is a plan... but does it maximise our marketing returns?

I think NOT.