Surviving Volatility
A volatile market can make you feel like you don’t know anything about merchandising. Price, basis, and spreads swing around in bigger increments and...
In my 30 plus years in the grain merchandising business, I’ve been asked to do a lot of comparisons. Elevator GMs want to know how their margins compare to other elevators. We do a lot of financial comparisons, but the truth is comparisons are very difficult. Location and available freight create large variances on income statements.
In addition, every year seems to be distinctly different. New users appear in a market and our own grain bin building projects change the market. This makes comparisons even more difficult.
Technology has changed every industry and the grain merchandising business has been no exception, benefiting not just from efficiencies, but our grain handle continues to increase due to technology. The market for our grain continues to increase each year as well!
What makes doing comparisons difficult is that the industry continues to produce more and more opportunity each year. I’ve said it many times. The grain industry just keeps getting better and better each year.
I believe that I have gotten up every morning and gone to work in an industry that compares to no other.
If this is to continue, we need to attract talented young people to the industry and then train them to see the opportunities that the industry provides. As I travel around the country talking with Ag Businesses, I hear the doubts about expansion without the personnel to make it happen.
We need to get the word out: Nothing Compares!
How are you attracting the best and the brightest minds to your business as well as cultivating and retaining that talent? Our Strategic Planning Course is designed to answer those specific questions for your business.
3 Ways to Value Grain to Achieve your Financial Goals
Jeff Reardon : Aug 14, 2018
How much unrealized profit or loss do you want to pick up on your financial statements? The answer to this question determines the method grain...
Things You Can and Cannot Do in the Grain Business
In the grain business, it’s easy to get distracted by the things we wish we could control. Prices, timing, market moves - these often feel just out...