The Farmers & Ranchers College continues to offer high-quality programming to area producers and agribusiness professionals for the 2024-25 season. The college started with its traditional program featuring Dr. David Kohl, which drew nearly 140 attendees! The Cow/Calf College also provided an in-depth, hands-on program with strong learner engagement. The final program of the season is coming up soon.
On February 21, 2025, the Farmers & Ranchers College will conclude with a comprehensive session covering crop revenue management and a 2025 weather outlook. Two nationally recognized experts will lead this program, which will be held at the Fillmore County Fairgrounds in Geneva, NE. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with the program starting promptly at 8:45 a.m. with Steve Johnson.
Steve Johnson served as the Farm Management Specialist in Central Iowa for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach for 21 years, retiring in early 2021. He now consults with private industry, farm organizations, commodity groups, ag media, and other agriculture-related clients, focusing on crop marketing, government farm programs, crop insurance, and crop risk management strategies. Steve has presented at winter meetings, workshops, seminars, webinars, and conferences across the Corn Belt, delivering his “Managing Crop Revenue & Market Price Risk” program. His session will address both 2024 and 2025 crop supply/demand, crop price outlooks, and strategies to manage crop insurance decisions and create a written marketing plan to capture higher futures prices.
Steve’s topics will include:
- Latest USDA reports, highlighting 2024 & 2025 crop supply/demand and cash price projections
- Pre-harvest marketing strategies and seasonal futures price trends
- Projections for 2024 net farm income, plus crop costs and returns for 2024 & 2025
- Five strategies for managing tight margins
- How to develop crop marketing plans with price and time targets for 2024 & 2025 crops
- Crop risk management resources and websites
Dr. Eric Snodgrass will also provide a weather update and how it relates to your operation. Weather risk is an inherent challenge in agriculture, and successful crop planning relies on accurate forecasting and analysis. We often base our operations on weather averages and recent experiences, but each year brings new challenges. In his session, Eric will discuss how to use the wealth of available weather data to stay ahead of disruptive weather events. He will cover the limits of predictability, resources for monitoring long-range forecasts, lessons learned from the previous growing season, and the risk of severe storms, particularly high winds, hail, and tornadoes. He’ll also discuss the impact of major seasonal drivers like El Niño and La Niña, as well as the outlook for the next growing season in South America, which directly competes with our crops.
Eric Snodgrass is a Principal Atmospheric Scientist for Conduit, where he develops predictive and analytical software solutions to manage weather risk in global agriculture. He provides frequent weather updates on how high-impact weather events affect global agricultural productivity. His research, which uses machine learning to assess field-level weather impacts on yields, helps improve long-range weather predictions. Eric is a sought-after speaker, presenting at over 100 conferences annually to farmers, commodity traders, and other stakeholders.
Pre-registration is not required, but it is appreciated. To register, please call the Fillmore County Extension Office at 402-759-3712 or go online at: go.unl.edu/frcollege.
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