The two months leading up to harvest may be the most critical time of year for merchandising your crop. Key risk management decisions as well as operational decision need to be made in this period. Both hands on the controls daily are needed for a successful landing

It seems obvious that having good data helps you make better decisions. What you don realize is that that same good data improves your mental state, Futures risk management has its biggest challenge at the psychological level. Knowing your position in DETAIL has many benefits.

How do we challenge ourselves to think deeper when making decisions in merchandising and risk management. A deeper level of thing adds clarity to the decision-making process. Running scenarios is one way to get to the deeper level of thought. Becoming better at second derivative thinking ha...

A margin call against a hedge as a grower is the result of a rising market. When we look at the total risk of a farm this is actually a good thing. As farmers we often have ownership in the bin, in the field, and years of factors of production

The volume and complexity of selling grain has required the industry to set forth a series of practices to help maintain the balance of power. Trade rules, confirmations, grain handling licenses are all such tools. Modern technology can add to the protection of seller and buyer alike.

All or none thinking is a common human cognitive distortion. Gaining an understand of this distortion can improve your skills as a risk manager across your business.

Specialty contracts have opportunities and pitfalls. The changing environment in US agriculture has us scrutinizing these contracts to determine true value.

When the crop is about to come the demands on your merchandising skills picks up. You should always be looking forward and reevaluating. Your job in merchandising does not stop until the check is in your account.

We are seeing a number of producers caught in a no win situation. The farmer is long in the bin old crop grain hoping for a crop problem. The positions can become offsetting and the cost of maintaining the old crop position significant

Skills and discipline are key to managing futures and basis risk in an inverse. Separating the decisions to market futures and basis is the first step. Understanding the odds of success for each position is a key second component

Today we go through one example of how coordinating your cropping and merchandising plan can unlock value

Your efforts in learning the merchant mentality can be applied to other parts of the farm. In this video we draw comparisons to merchandising your production and trading equipment in a challenging environment

A detailed look at two common tendencies that cost farmers money. First, we define a systematic tendency. Second, we connect that systematic error with how it is costing your farm dollars.

Mistakes happen. Do you have a way to confirm that when loads are delivered, they are getting accounted for properly. What controls do you have in place to prevent mistakes or worse?