FNB hosting second marketing workshop for local farmers Jan. 18

Get ready for round two.

On Jan. 18, First National Bank along with Gavilon Grain and Union County Farm Bureau will sponsor a pre-harvest “Winning the Game” grain marketing workshop at 6 p.m. in room 180 at Southwestern Community College in Creston.

The workshop, delivered by Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and Iowa State University Extension, will present a variety of different marketing strategies for farmers as they’re preparing for the upcoming growing season.

“We’ve had good success with this workshop across Iowa this year,” said Ed Kordick, commodity services manager at Iowa Farm Bureau. “This workshop will allow farmers to create a very practical and simple marketing plan. This workshop has a lot of value, especially with the margin problems we’re having in crop agriculture in Iowa today.”

Kordick, who will facilitate this Creston workshop, said there will be several different celebrity (farming) players during his workshop. Attendees will see that each celebrity player has a different marketing strategy.

“We’ll then use about 27 years worth of history to see how each of those strategies worked out,” Kordick said.

Steve Crittenden, senior vice president at First National Bank in Creston, said he contacted Kordick about hosting this seminar because he wanted to help his customers be more successful during this tougher agriculture environment. Crittenden did mention, though, this event is not just for his bank customers.

“Of course, we’ve invited our customers,” Crittenden said. “But, this event is open to anyone in agriculture. I think all farmers are fairly concerned about the margins right now and their ability to cash flow at a profitable level.”

Dean Michaelson, manager at Gavilon Grain in Creston, said his company agreed to sponsor this free event to the public because the last few years there have been fewer days for farmers to profitably market their grain.  

"I think this workshop gives the farmers a game plan and tools to use to help them make the decision when to sell," Michaelson said.

To register for this pre-harvest workshop, contact Crittenden or Sarah Wilson at First National Bank. The number at the bank is 641-782-2195. Or, you can register online at this link (http://bit.ly/2ldWt2x) on the Iowa Farm Bureau website.

“We’d like for them to register beforehand with us or on the Farm Bureau website, so we have enough materials for everyone,” Crittenden said.

This is the second marketing workshop these organizations have hosted together at the college. The first was a post-harvest marketing workshop on Dec. 18.

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