Grain marketing was at the center of many educational sessions during the 2016 Commodity Classic, as the stressful state of the economy has made it imperative for farmers to have a clear understanding of grain marketing. One session at this year’s event, the Great Grain Marketing Debate, offered attendees a valuable panel discussion on grain marketing strategies for 2016.
One panelist, Matt Bennett, is an Illinois farmer and grain marketing consultant for Channel seed. He also runs Bennett Consulting, a full service agricultural marketing and commodities brokerage firm. He sat down with AgWired after the panel to discuss what he considered to be the most important aspect of the conversation: the painful drop in profitability, and how to overcome the challenges it presents growers.
“Several years ago we had historic profitability, so the transition from that era to this era has been really painful for a lot of producers, especially the younger ones that haven’t seen tough times in agriculture before,” said Bennett.
Bennett’s biggest takeaway for growers was the absolute necessity of knowing their breakeven prices for corn.
“Part of the problem with marketing is how emotional it is, its very tough to pull the trigger on marketing, because every time the market goes up, we start thinking its going to go up more,” he said. “So I always tell producers that if they know going in what your breakeven price for corn is, you can make a decision based on business and numbers. It’s a frustrating thing to try to market, but I want to base it on dollars and cents.”
Listen to my full interview with Matt here:
Interview with Matt Bennett, Channel
2016 Commodity Classic Photo Album
