EDITOR’S NOTE: This press release has been updated from a version published on June 8, 2021 to include a recording of the June 10 webinar.

LINCOLN — Two Nebraska Extension webinars explore the farm and ranch management issues of controlling in-season costs for profitability and utilizing hedging strategies and crop insurance in a grain marketing plan.

Controlling input costs

The first webinar, “Back to Basics: Control Costs and Maximize Profits,” was presented on Thursday, June 10th. A team of extension specialists and educators highlighted how minimizing costs without concern for productivity — and increasing productivity without considering costs  — can hurt profits in an agricultural operation. They offered tips on how making decisions at the margin is one way to make choices with profitability in mind.

Grain marketing strategies

The second webinar was Friday, June 11th and explored the roles of hedging strategies and crop insurance in preventing farm failure. It was a special presentation of a graduate thesis defense by Kara Zimmerman, a Master of Science student in Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Zimmerman’s thesis aims to help producers gain insights on the financial outcomes of different marketing strategies and how to approach marketing decisions. It includes a comparison of irrigated and non-irrigated production practices and explores the tradeoff between minimizing risk and maximizing income in corn production.

— Nebraska Extension

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