Two Nebraska Extension webinars this week will explore the farm and ranch management issues of controlling in-season costs for profitability and utilizing hedging strategies and crop insurance in a grain marketing plan.
Controlling input costs: noon on Thursday
The first webinar, “Back to Basics: Control Costs and Maximize Profits,” will be presented at noon on Thursday. A team of extension specialists and educators will highlight how minimizing costs without concern for productivity — and increasing productivity without considering costs — can hurt profits in an agricultural operation. They will offer tips on how making decisions at the margin is one way to make choices with profitability in mind.
Grain marketing strategies: 9 a.m. on Friday
The second webinar will be at 9 a.m. on Friday and explore the roles of hedging strategies and crop insurance in preventing farm failure. It is a special presentation of a graduate thesis defense by Kara Zimmerman, a Master of Science student in Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Zimmerman’s thesis will aim to help producers gain insights on the financial outcomes of different marketing strategies and how to approach marketing decisions. It will include a comparison of irrigated and non-irrigated production practices and explore the tradeoff between minimizing risk and maximizing income in corn production.
Both webinars are free to attend. Registration for each is open at https://farm.unl.edu/webinars.