Top Farmer Conference: January 10, 2025

As one of the most successful and longest-running management programs specifically crafted for farmers, the Purdue Top Farmer Conference is a one-day event for agricultural producers and agribusiness professionals looking to navigate the complexities of today's agricultural landscape. Participants will have the opportunity to network with peers and hear from farm management experts and agricultural economists from Purdue, Farm Credit Services of America, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Acres, a land value data analytics company.

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Finances

Financing Amid Rate Ripples, an Ag Credit Update

Discover how interest rates impact farming decisions, machinery choices, and the value of farmland. In this ag credit update podcast, Purdue ag economists Brady Brewer and Michael Langemeier discuss recent inflation trends, interest rate trajectories, loan markets and the ripple effects at the farm.

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Comparing Corn and Soybean Marketing Strategies

This article identified the optimal portfolio of corn and soybean marketing strategies for a case farm in southeast Indiana. The hedge and roll strategy had the highest net return per acre, and the lowest level of downside risk of any of the individual marketing strategies. However, downside risk can be reduced by diversifying marketing strategies. In particular, combining the hedge and roll strategy with the marketing year cash price strategy was effective in reducing downside risk and resulted in only a slight decline in net return per acre.

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Comparing Soybean Marketing Strategies

While there have been numerous studies or articles that have evaluated grain marketing and crop insurance strategies separately, there is limited previous literature that examines these tools simultaneously. The purpose of this article is to identify which strategies contribute to an optimal portfolio of soybean marketing strategies for a case farm in southeast Indiana using a downside risk model.

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Comparing Corn Marketing Strategies

While there have been numerous studies or articles that have evaluated grain marketing and crop insurance strategies separately, there is limited previous literature that examines these tools simultaneously. The purpose of this study was to identify which strategies contributed to an optimal portfolio of corn marketing strategies for a case farm in southeast Indiana using a downside risk model.

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Benchmarking Crop Machinery Cost and Investment

The continued increase in size of tractors, combines, and other machinery has enabled farms to operate more acres and reduce labor use per acre. However, this increase in machinery size also makes it increasingly important to evaluate the efficient use of machinery.

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Contingency Planning with Cash Flow Shortages

Contingency plans related to how to respond to changes in projected cash flows are also important. Given the expected drop in crop prices this fall, it would be prudent for a farm to examine the sensitivity of their cash flow and repayment capacity to changes in crop prices.

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What Does the Federal Fund Rate Increases at May FOMC Meeting Mean?

During the May 3rd Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the FOMC voting members raised the Federal Funds Rate by another 25 basis points; making the target Federal Funds Rate between 5% and 5.25%. This Federal Reserve has consistently increased the Federal Funds Rate during each FOMC meeting for over a year.

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Trends in General Inflation & Farm Input Prices

Most of the recent discussion involving input price changes in U.S. production agriculture has focused on fertilizer prices, which have declined during the last few months. Other inputs have not necessarily experienced this decline in prices.

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Comparison of Conventional & Organic Crop Rotations (Spreadsheet Tool)

This spreadsheet compares conventional and organic rotations over a ten-year horizon. Specifically, net returns are compared for a conventional corn/soybean rotation, a conventional corn/soybean/wheat rotation, and an organic corn/soybean/wheat rotation.

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2023 Crop Cost and Return Guide

The Purdue Crop Cost and Return Guide offers farmers a resource to project financials for the coming cropping year. These are the March 2023 crop budget estimations for 2023.

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