At this year’s NAMA Boot Camp, attendees got to hear from a panel of producers. One of them was Hal Swaney, Platte City, MO. Hal has a very diversified family farm with corn, soybeans, cattle and burley tobacco.

I asked him what his primary sources of information are for making buying decisions. He says that he’s very “local” minded. He buys all of his products locally and consistently from the same individuals and dealers. He says almost 100% is from personal contact. He’s a big supporter of the University Extension system and does admit to going out of state to the University of Kentucky for tobacco information.

When it comes to media here’s what he says. “I don’t use the internet whatsoever.” He says he reads the local morning paper but not for ag information. He gets plenty of farm magazines but says he reads them on an “as needed” basis and he doesn’t read all of them. He rarely ever looks at direct mail pieces.

When I asked him about his mobile phone he says that he gets an in-frequent market update.

You can listen to my interview with Hal here: nama-boot-camp-08-swaney.mp3

Check out the NAMA Boot Camp Photo Album.