Participants will learn market strategies and how to stay on track for long-term marketing success
Registration is now open for “Women Marketing Grain,” a five-session educational program for farm and agribusiness women, hosted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Farm Management Specialist Alexis Stevens and the Buena Vista, Cherokee and Ida County Extension offices.
The program will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Cobblestone Inn in Holstein for five consecutive Mondays beginning Jan. 8. A complimentary meal will also be provided at 5:30 p.m. each night.
Participants will learn how to manage price risk using tools like forward contracts, futures and options contracts, alternative marketing contracts, and crop insurance. Participants will also work in a computer lab to access online decision tools and to develop a marketing plan.
“With unpredictable crop prices and tight margins, marketing can make the difference in the profitability of corn and soybean production,” said Stevens. “How well producers get paid for a year’s worth of work can be wrapped up in just a few marketing decisions.”
Stevens said that at the end of the program, participants will walk away with knowledge about:

• Grain contracts – what contracts are available; when to use different types; and how grain merchandizers use futures markets.
• Options – how options work, the advantages and disadvantages of options, and when you would use them.
• Developing a grain marketing plan – what you need to develop the plan, what is included within it, how to write the plan and when to modify the plan.
  Registration for the five sessions is $75 and can be completed online at https://go.iastate.edu/YTZ6CP.
  For assistance registering or more information, contact Krista Lukins, ISU Extension and Outreach Ida County Office Manager, at 712-364-3003 or klukins@iastate.edu.