Conferences can be a great way to implement new ideas into your farm. But…..they can get expensive! We are opening our checkbook to bring you a line up of first class farm business speakers for you to learn from without having to travel.

Join us on Wednesday, January 24th as we invite speakers from across the country to share their best farm management practices with you.

Once again, all without requiring you to travel!

To advance your farm management skills, learn more or buy a ticket here: https://www.harvestprofit.com/conference

See below for speaker information.

Kristjan Hebert

Topic: 5% Rule: Small Changes Lead to Big Results

Bio: Kristjan Hebert, the managing partner of Hebert Grain Ventures, is a much sought-after speaker on a variety of farming and agri-business topics. Kristjan’s background includes successfully operating an 11,000 acre farm, mastering the latest technological and business practices, and many years spent as a Chartered Accountant with MNP carefully scrutinizing the business practices of hundreds of farms.

Drawing on this experience Kristjan provides a wide-ranging perspective on issues vital to today’s farmer or agriculture industry insider. He frequently speaks on the 5% Rule, which holds that improving many things just a little (5%) will have a bigger payoff that trying to make radical changes to just one or two aspect of your operation. Kristjan is a passionate advocate on all aspects of the world of agriculture and his talks inspire as much as they inform.

Ed Usset

Topic: Back-tested Grain Marketing Tools & Timing

Bio: Ed is a Grain Marketing Specialist for the University of Minnesota and Center for Farm Financial Management, and the coordinator of the Minnesota Master Marketer Program, a series of intensive training programs designed to improve the marketing skills of grain producers.

Working with colleagues at the Center for Farm Financial Management and in Extension, Ed has helped develop the award winning “Winning the Game” series of workshops.

Mike Pearson

Topic: The Four Megatrends in Agriculture

Bio: Mike Pearson, host of Public Television’s Market to Market takes an in-depth look at the way agriculture will be changing in the next 20 years. The past century has been one of non-stop progress in efficiency, technology and yield and Mike pulls together his wide ranging reports on the industry to analyze the four biggest trends driving agriculture forward.

Dr. Matt Roberts

Topic: The Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall of American Commodity Prices: 2000-2016

Bio: Matt Roberts is founder of The Kernmantle Group, an economics research and training consultancy. Dr. Roberts is a nationally-renowned expert and speaker on the grain and energy markets. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, and Forbes, and has been interviewed on CNBC. Roberts received a B.A. in Economics from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and a Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University. Prior to graduate school Roberts worked as a commodity and energy derivatives broker in Vienna, Austria and as a market research consultant to the pharmaceutical industry in North Carolina. From 2001 through 2016, Roberts was and Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at The Ohio State University. He is an active speaker, appearing approximately 50 times per year around the nation on grain, petroleum, and biofuels markets, and is also an active consultant to the commodity industry.

The years 2006-2012 will always be remembered by those in the commodity markets. Strong demand for all commodities drove prices to never before seen heights. Those high prices and the resulting profitability drove investment decisions and policy choices long enough to create real obstacles to readjusting when the inevitable crash came. Dr. Roberts starts by explaining why commodities - all commodities, whether corn, soybeans, milk, beef, oil or copper - will always have booms and busts, what it will take to end the current bust, and what producers and/or end-users need to do right now to make it through, as well as what they need to remember the next time around. This talk inevitably combines strategy and finance with the market conditions and near and intermediate-term outlook for the industry at hand.

Dr. Ed Seifried

Topic: The Headwinds and Tailwinds Facing Farmers in 2018 (and what to do about it!)

Bio: As a nationally recognized speaker on economic issues and forecasting techniques, Dr. Edmond Seifried provides a unique, simplified approach that will help your farm navigate through the maze of economic indicators and financial news releases. Dr. Seifried is a Professor of Economics and Business. He acts as a consultant to the banking industry and is an author of both academic and popular articles and books. Edmond has traveled extensively in the former Soviet Bloc countries where he served as an advisor and consultant to the newly privatized commercial banks.

He will discuss economic growth and its impact on farm revenue. He will also touch on the unwinding of the Fed’s balance sheet and its impact on Ag land values and commodity prices. In addition, he will dig into the likely course of interest rates and its impact on the interest expense line on the Ag producer’s profit/loss statement.

Finally, “Dr. Ed” will walk through a couple tools to make your farming operation more professional.

Dr. Ed Seifried

Topic: The Headwinds and Tailwinds Facing Farmers in 2018 (and what to do about it!)

Bio: As a nationally recognized speaker on economic issues and forecasting techniques, Dr. Edmond Seifried provides a unique, simplified approach that will help your farm navigate through the maze of economic indicators and financial news releases. Dr. Seifried is a Professor of Economics and Business. He acts as a consultant to the banking industry and is an author of both academic and popular articles and books. Edmond has traveled extensively in the former Soviet Bloc countries where he served as an advisor and consultant to the newly privatized commercial banks.

He will discuss economic growth and its impact on farm revenue. He will also touch on the unwinding of the Fed’s balance sheet and its impact on Ag land values and commodity prices. In addition, he will dig into the likely course of interest rates and its impact on the interest expense line on the Ag producer’s profit/loss statement.

Finally, “Dr. Ed” will walk through a couple tools to make your farming operation more professional.

Jack Uldrich

Topic: Big AHA - How to Future Proof Your Farm Against Tomorrow’s Transformational Trends Today

Bio: Jack Uldrich is a well-recognized global futurist, speaker, and author of eleven books, including award-winning best sellers. He is a frequent speaker on technology, change management and leadership and has addressed hundreds of corporations, associations and not-for-profit organizations on five continents.

AHA is an acronym for Jack’s three-step approach: Awareness, Humility, and Action.

Jack’s speech begins with the twelve upcoming and current trends specific to farmers that they must be aware of and then he shares how these twelve trends will transform everything from how people will do their work, to how they will provide their services to customers, clients and collaborators, to how new business will be secured. Each change will require humility. And then he shares specific strategies for enhancing humility as individuals and in teams.

Jack’s perspective is that “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.” As you can imagine, this level of creation requires action. And Jack concludes his presentation with concrete actions industry leaders can take today to create a successful tomorrow.

Freddie Barnard

Topic: The Modern, Intelligent Approach to Farm Accounting

Bio: Freddie Barnard is a Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. His interests include agricultural finance and farm management. He has had extensive experience in agricultural lending. Professor Barnard’s responsibilities include serving as director of the Midwest Agricultural Banking School. The school is cosponsored by the Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio Bankers Associations and is held at Purdue University. In addition, he is the coordinator for the Indiana Bankers’ Agricultural Clinic. He also serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

Freddie is an expert on farm accounting. He will be discussing the shortfall’s of today’s widely used cash-basis farm accounting and what producers can do to implement a method that allow’s farms to better evaluate their financial performance. Specifically, he’ll discuss accrual-adjusted net farm income and it’s benefits to today’s business-focused farmer.

Grant Kosior

Topic: Insuring Your Farm’s Actual Gross Margin

Bio: Grant is the CEO of Global Ag Risk Solutions. They provide gross margin insurance based on a farm’s actual income and expenses (no county-based yields or futures price averages!). Grant will be discussing his company’s innovative insurance product as well as a bunch of interesting profitability studies they’ve done to complement their insurance underwriting.

He brings a no-BS view on the ingredients of a profitable farm and his company puts their “money where their mouth is”.

Nick Horob

Topic: Traits of Successful Farms

Bio: Nick is the founder of Harvest Profit and a consultant with Market Wise Ag Services. He previously worked on the investment team of successful Minneapolis-based private equity fund, ShoreView Industries.

Nick is passionate about business and farm management. He’s reviewed the financials of 100’s farms over the last 8 years and sees commonalities among financially successful operations. While you can’t change the weather or predict markets, you can implement best practices into your operation this winter.