COLLEGE STATION — Ag producers listen up–do you have a roadmap for marketing success? Are you needing some help with this year’s marketing plan? Or, do you just need to know when to trigger your marketing strategy?
If yes is your answer, then plan to participate in Texas Cooperative Extension’s new, indepth training program, “The Advanced Topics Series” in agricultural marketing, slated to begin in December.
The program has been designed especially for Texas producers and will focus entirely on advanced training scenarios, said Steve Amosson, Extension management economist in Amarillo, who serves as ATS coordinator.
“Texas producers have spoken, and we have developed ATS to fit their needs,” he said. During its first year, the series will accommodate 10 workshops in two-day sessions at locations around the state.
“We will have recognized U.S. experts as course instructors,” Amosson noted. Each class will offer an environment for improving skills with futures and options with intensive training in using the tools of technical analysis.
Topics will include the commodity-specific segment– ‘Developing this Year’s Marketing Plan–featuring feedgrains, cotton and wheat. Remaining short courses involve ‘Pulling the Trigger’; Advanced Futures and Options; and Advanced Technical Analysis I.
The registration deadline is one week prior to the starting date of each workshop. A course fee of $150 per participant includes the cost of materials, breaks and lunches.
Each workshop will be taught at a highly applied level using a combination of lecture, small group work and simulation exercises to maximize the learning experience.
“ATS is similar to Extension’s popular Master Marketer program, just more advanced,” Amosson said.
‘Pulling the Trigger’ will be the series opener in Victoria on Dec. 10-11. This session will offer training on discipline in executing a marketing plan. In addition, instructors will include pointers on discovering producers’ risk tolerances and what tools best fit those levels.
‘Developing This Year’s Marketing Plan’ will feature individual commodity sessions, including feedgrains, taught first in Amarillo on Dec. 16-17; and again on Dec. 19-20 in Cameron.
Cotton will be covered on Jan. 15-16 in Victoria and again on April 10-11 in Lubbock.
Wheat will be featured only once on Feb. 6-7 in Vernon.
Participants will gain indepth training on using fundamentals, technical signals, seasonal trends in cash, basis and contracts. In addition, different marketing strategies will be discussed for both pre and post harvest marketing.
“Our goal is to have producers leaving the course with a written marketing plan for the upcoming year,” Amosson noted.
Advanced Futures and Options will be offered in Lubbock on Feb. 3-4 then again in Amarillo on Feb. 6-7, and includes advanced hedging futures and options strategies, such as cover calls, spreads, storage hedging, and windows, among other issues. Significant time will be spent on the pros and cons of these strategies and when to use these tools.
In Advanced Technical Analysis I, set March 17-18 in College Station, then on March 20-21 in Vernon, sessions will focus on technical tools to help producers ‘fine tune’ their marketing plans. The curriculum will cover use of bar charts, chart patterns and formations, moving averages, overbought and oversold indicators among other tools.
Partial funding for ATS is provided by the Southern Region Risk Management Education Center. The program is also underwritten by the sponsors of the Master Marketer Educational System, Texas Wheat Producers Board, Texas Corn Producers Board, Texas Farm Bureau, State Cotton Support Committee and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.
For registration details, call one of these regional Extension economists: Steve Amosson in Amarillo at (806)677-5600; Mark Waller in College Station, (979) 845-8011; Larry Falconer in Corpus Christi, (361) 265-9203, Jackie Smith in Lubbock, (806) 746-6101; Stan Bevers in Vernon, (940)552-9941; and John Robinson in Weslaco, (956) 968-5581; or contact the Extension office in your county.
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