Rising production costs were part of the conversation during Tuesday’s RRFN Market Outlook forum. “Is $4 corn your problem? No,” said Tommy Grisafi, AG BULL Trading. “I promise you if corn goes to $5, you’re cost of production is going to go up increasingly as fast. No one’s ever having the conversation on how do we get the farmers’ cost of production down.” Progressive Ag’s Ray Grabanski noted that overreliance on crop insurance can leave farmers exposed if they don’t actively manage marketing. “When people buy that coverage, they neglect to actually do anything on the marketing side, just expecting everything to work out, and it doesn’t,” explained Grabanski. “The policy has a beginning, a middle, and an end. That policy is just set up to protect you, if you don’t produce the grain that you.” Heartland Investor Services President Gene Graner added that while technology and seed improvements remain vital, mastering marketing, risk management, and cost control is key for sustaining profitability in today’s volatile markets. “The focus over the last 30 years has been on efficiencies of production and maximizing production, yet no capital has been grown or expended on marketing plans,” said Graner. “Yes, technology is always going to be important, seed is always going to be important, but the new frontier is learning to market.”
