St Louis

Just returned from the Farm Futures buiness summit last night and I must tell you, what a great conference! Farm Futures gears this meeting toward farmers and farming, not agronomics per say. In fact there was not a single session with regards to "NPK". This conference is about the "BUSINESS"  of farming. Market updates and strategies, breaking down the global economy to your level, planning for success for your farm, why its is necessary to create and maintain a PR plan for your farm, forming advisory groups, risk management and why you need to bullet proof your balance sheet for the inevitable downturn that is coming because there will be opportunites by the bushel for those who are properly positioned. Two of my colleagues, Kelly Roberston (http://www.krfarm.net/) and John McGuire from STS gave outstanding presentations on the use of technology and clearly pointed out why you need to value independent research from plots that are replicated and randomized. If you are looking at yield maps from combines that you know are not calibrated properly... be wary.

Two growers that I work with attended this meeting  and I am fairly confident that they will be returning next year. This meeting helps me to (for lack of a better cliche) think outside the box. I do not wish to become either complacent or stagnet in my relationship with customers. It is important to always improve if I can, myself, and my service to the growers I work with. Think about this meeting next year, it is a winner.