Planting & Your Marketing Plan

By Lindy McMillen, Grain Originator - Dighton Area

MARKETING PLAN
Before we know it, it will be time to begin planting fall crops. As you make plans and preparations for how to succeed at getting your crop in the ground, it is equally important to be planning for how to succeed at selling it. A solid grain marketing plan is a critical piece to consider as you look forward to the coming growing season. Here are some points to consider as you develop a grain marketing plan for your operation:

• Know your cost of production. Then, set realistic price targets at profitable levels.
• Sell incremental bushels based on percentage of total production.
• Set selling deadlines to ensure that you are proactively selling. These could be based upon crop stage or calendar date.
• Know your contracts – Garden City Co-op has a host of different types of contracts to meet your risk management needs.
• Keep up on market trends and the headlines that are driving them.

Grain marketing can be tough.  The coming year looks to remain volatile even as we continue to see higher-than-historic cash prices – having a marketing plan can help to take some of the emotion out of decision making. Your Garden City Co-op grain team is here to help. Reach out to any member of our team to discuss how we can assist you in developing a winning game plan.