We’re back for a new year, and so is Master Marketer. Since 1996, Master Marketer has been teaching producers to reduce risk and gain profit through an intensive eight day series that includes crop and livestock outlooks, sessions on developing marketing skills, and a trading game that simulates marketing in a real historic year. Surveys show that the average producer gains 4.5% or $35,000 on their bottom lines each year as a results of attending Master Marketer.
Dates and Deadlines
1/12/2022 – Top of Texas Cotton Conference, Pampa
1/18/2022 – Pioneer Producer’s Meeting, Panhandle
1/19/2022 – Pioneer Producer’s Meeting, Hereford
1/20/2022 – Pioneer Producer’s Meeting, Muleshoe
1/21/2022 – Pioneer Producer’s Meeting, Plainview
1/13, 1/24, 2/23, 3/9/2022 – North Region Production Education Online
1/19 – 1/20/2022 – Red River Crops Conference
1/26/2022 – Organic Cotton and Peanut Production Seminar. Seminole, Tx.
1/27/2022 – Rolling Plains Chemical Conference. Dickens, Tx.
1/25, 1/26, 1/27, 2/9, 2/10, 2/23, 2/24, 3/9, 3/10/2021 – Amarillo Master Marketer, Amarillo
1/28/2022 – High Plains Cotton Conference, Spearman
1/31/2022 – Livestock Forage Program Application Deadline
1/31/2022 – Cattle Inventory Report
2/1-2/3/2022 – National Cattleman’s Beef Association National Meeting, Houston
What We’re Reading
AgriLife Extension Master Marketer program slated for Amarillo – AgriLife Today
AgriLife Extension’s North Region offers production education online – AgriLife Today
Owning Your Piece of Texas program announced, starts Feb. 7 – AgriLife Today
USDA economist: 2022 could be more challenging for producers – Feedstuffs Daily
Food prices expected to continue to climb in 2022 – Feedstuffs Daily
Master Marketer Amarillo
The Master Marketer program is designed for agricultural producers and agribusiness leaders who are experienced in marketing commodities and have some knowledge of futures and options markets. There is also a day-long leveling course at the beginning of the program for producers that are starting their marketing education from scratch. The main program includes 64 hours of intensive marketing training, focusing on cotton, grains and livestock.
Mark Welch, our program coordinator and Extension grain economist in College Station described master marketer for AgriLife Today, saying “Master Marketer is a national, award-winning, risk-management educational program where participants learn how to develop marketing plans, evaluate marketing alternatives, manage production and price risk, and execute a risk management and marketing plan.”
The Schedule
The instructors for Master Marketer bring a diverse skill set to the course. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension specialists and outside speakers at the top of their respective fields will travel to Amarillo to give their insights on the importance of a marketing plan and how to build yours for the year.
Our topics and instructors this year are:
Leveling Workshop – Mark Welch, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Farm Policy – Joe Outlaw & Bart Fischer, Texas A&M Agricultural & Food Policy Center
Developing a Marketing Plan – Ed Usset, University of Minnesota
Managing Input Costs for this Year’s Budget – Justin Benavidez, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Marketing Strategies – Mark Welch, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Working with a Broker – Donna Hughes, StoneX
Weather – John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas A&M University
Technical Analysis – Alan Brugler, Brugler Marketing & Management
Overview of the FARM Assistance Program – DeDe Jones & Steven Klose, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension FarmAssistance
Alternative Crops – Calvin Trostle, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Grain Fundamentals – Mark Welch, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Cotton Fundamentals – John Robinson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Livestock Fundamentals- David Anderson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Insurance – Raven Spratt, Diamond S Insurance
Legal Issues – Tiffany Dowell-Lashmet, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Tying it Together – Darrell Holaday, Country Futures Inc.
Labor – Mel Kleiman, Humetrics
Where and When
The leveling workshop for Master Marketer will begin Tuesday, January 25 at 9:00 am. Dr. Mark Welch will spend the day detailing the basics of futures and options and how to use them in a marketing plan.
The Master Marketer program begins in full on Wednesday, January 26 at 9:00 am. The rest of the program is divided into two-day blocks every other week through mid-March. The remaining dates are January 27, February 9, February 10, February 23, February 24, March 9, and March 10th.
All sessions will be held in person at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at 6500 W Amarillo Blvd, Amarillo, TX 79106. There is also a digital option this year, with limited portions of the program available online in real-time. The cost for in-person and online attendance is $350.
Registration and More Information
For the last 25 years, Master Marketer has developed a reputation as one of the most impactful programs offered by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. The investment of time and effort has historically paid back multiples for producers that attend. Registration is filling fast for the Amarillo sessions, and the program is capped at 60 attendees. You can register for the online and in person versions of Master Markter here.
If you have any questions or need more information check out this article from AgriLife Today , or feel free to reach out to Dr. Mark Welch at mark.welch@ag.tamu.edu, or myself at benavidezjustin@tamu.edu.