Managing Price Risk in Agricultural Commodity Markets (Farm Business Management (Textbooks))

Managing Price Risk in Ag Commodity Markets is the definitive guide to risk management in todays volatile agricultural markets. As we move toward the end of the decade and prepare for the 21st century, American farmers face a most uncertain marketplace. Unprecedented changes in farm policy and New World trade agreements are two of the more important reasons why change is assured. It will take a different set of management skills to be profitable in the new marketplace. If it was ever enough to be just an excellent producer, that time is past. The big challenge facing farmers now and in the future is to respond to and manage the risk associated with highly volatile prices. We can help you prepare for that challenge. This book will help farmers like you develop the ability to cope in an uncertain marketplace. It looks at marketing skills and savvy, and develops management strategies that can be used to ensure and protect profitability. Managing Price Risk in Ag Commodity Markets starts with a look at some of the major forces that are changing the marketplace. Then it demonstrates what price risk is and deals with why it is important to you, to the agribusiness firms from whom you buy inputs mean, and to the processors to whom you sell your commodities. Two broad considerations are kept to the how and why of the changing world marketplace. They are responsible for the increased price volatility and risk to American farmers. The first consideration is the 1996 Farm Bill, which changed farm policy in a dramatic way. The second goes back several years and deals with two very important trade agreements: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT). These two important trade accords expose the American farmer to any and all of the forces that can bring uncertainty to commodity supplies and price variability around the world. The marketplace has indeed changed!