Surviving A Down Economy
Surviving a down economy is challenging, but for the farming community it can be even more difficult. Todd Stencel, a farm business management professor at South Central College in Minnesota, has a few Tips for Surviving in a Down Economy. He said one of the best things producers can do is develop a solid marketing plan.
“I think one of the things it points to, from a management perspective, as we think about getting through the next few tough years, is you need to have a marketing plan to take advantage of these opportunities, should they arise," Stencel noted. "I got a colleague, Ed Usset of the University of Minnesota, who has the 11th commandment in grain marketing. That’s don't hold unpriced grain after July one. And unfortunately, this is a year that proved the 11th commandment, right?”
In a typical year, commodity prices fall the closer the calendar is to harvest.
“I guess if you look at the statistics, three out of four years, we're going to see prices go down from July 1 to harvest," Stencel said. "There's always that exception, and we've seen it, but it didn't happen this year. So, thinking about a marketing plan that involves pre-harvest marketing, when the price is right, that you can make a profit, Thinking about post-harvest marketing opportunities is a part of managing through the times we're in.”
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