1/16/2010 5:01:00 AM
Local farmers look ahead to 2010
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Ed Gebert/Times Bulletin
Farmers from across the area visit during the 2010 Agricultural Outlook meeting.
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Ed Gebert/Times Bulletin
Neil Jordan, CEO of Ag Credit, speaks during the 2010 Agricultural Outlook meeting Friday morning at Trinity Friends Church.
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BY ED GEBERT
Times Bulletin News Writer
egebert@timesbulletin.com
Farming has always been a risky business. Years of dodging drought and flooding, guessing at future commodity prices and government regulations make many growers into experienced gamblers.
On Friday, area farmers gathered to hear about ways to control the risks. "The biggest challenge comes in controlling your risks wherever you can," shared Neil Jordan, CEO of Ag Credit. "Your lender, your crop insurance agent, your accountant, your insurance agent - you just need to know all of them really well and hopefully all of these experts will help you control the risk in your operation."
The 2010 Agricultural Outlook meeting brought together experts in dealing with economic risk, production and income risk, and marketing risk. Aaron Stoller coordinated the event.
"I thought we had a really good turnout, attendance-wise. I guess, more importantly, I was pretty happy with the issues they talked about. The whole purpose of the banquet is to add value to our customers' operations and help them manage risk," he related. "Farming has changed a lot in the last few years. These changes and challenges prove how important it is that farmers have a good working relationship with other partners in the ag community."
There was a mix of good and bad news presented to the crowd at Trinity Friends Church Family Life Center. Jordan noted, "You have the ethanol business going on that is helping our corn industry. The last I heard, four billion bushels of corn will be going into ethanol, so that increases the demand for crops that we raise here in northwest Ohio. Soybeans are being brought along by that need for corn acres. And there is a domestic demand for soybean, both domestic and in China. So I think the immediate future for our grain commodities is very bright."
On the other hand, livestock operations are not nearly in such good shape. "The dairy and hog industry is suffering very badly right now," Jordan said. "Some of out producers need higher prices not only to pay for increased production costs, but also to pay for the debt they have amassed over the past few years."
Jordan also cautioned that more eyes are focusing on farmers lately. He cited the recent failed ballot initiative that would have changed the way livestock was raised in Ohio. "Things like special interest groups coming out here and dictating how we raise chickens or hogs or cattle. Farmers wouldn't mistreat animals or the animals wouldn't produce for them! You treat them as well as possible to get the most production from them. But it seems these groups don't want to listen to the science behind production," Jordan shook his head. "I've never seen any more attacks on our agricultural industry as I have in the past five years."
Also speaking at the meeting was Mark Gold of Top Third Marketing. A native of Chicago, Gold spent 20 years as a pit trader and floor broker at the Chicago Board of Trade. As managing partner of Top Third Marketing, Gold offers analysis on radio stations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, on television with U.S. Farm Report and Ag Day TV, and on the Internet on AgWeb. Jason Williamson of Williamson Insurance Agency in Paulding was also a featured speaker.
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