Ag Knowledge Exchange Provides Info On Management Skills

 

Farm Credit Canada is holding Ag Knowledge Exchange events this week, to help producers improve their management skills and get some insight from experts.

 

Grain Marketing Expert Brian Voth was one of the keynote speakers.

 

He talked about what he calls the 'seven deadly-ish sins of grain marketing'.

 

"Really what came about was 'what are the common mistakes that farms tend to make when it comes to their marketing plans?' and 'how do we address this?'. What I like to call it is a How-to Marketing Plan, but in reverse. We're going through the mistakes that farmers typically make, then by trying to avoid them, coming up with a better marketing plan for the farm," he said.

 

Voth also told producers that even though last season was challenging with many areas receiving excess moisture, every crop year is independent of the other, and they should approach their grain marketing in that fashion.

 

"We have to go off of long-term averages. To me, 2016 is the anomaly - it's not the norm. That's where these long-term averages when we're budgeting, and building the plan around that. Not saying to forget about 2016, because it's definitely a cautionary tale when we're talking about forward pricing and managing that risk. But, the principles have to be applied independently regarding what happened last year," he said.

 

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.