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"Building a Winning Team" Marketing and Management for Farm Couples

Bret Oelke

Summary

Managing a farm business and marketing crops and livestock in the highly volatile agricultural environment is both exciting and challenging. The farm operations that seem to be best able to adapt and prosper in this ever changing environment are those where there is a high level of communication and an understanding of management and marketing goals between farming partners including spouses. The “Building a Winning Team” Marketing and Management for Farm Couples workshop series was developed in response to requests by producers to assist in improving the communication and understanding of the basic principles of commodity marketing and farm management between couples. The focus is on providing a framework for market plan development and implementation, utilizing farm records, and becoming a preferred provider to grain and livestock buyers and an preferred customer of suppliers in order to enhance farm profitability. The pilot program included fourteen couples from West Central Minnesota who met five times for two and one-half hours and was co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota Extension Service and the Grant County Farm Bureau. An overview of the program will be provided along with evaluation results from the pilot program.

Details

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