An all-day seminar titled “Farm Management in Volatile Times” will be held at Iowa State Thursday and is targeted at farmers across the state.

“Because of global climatic and farm policy changes, Iowa grain farms are operating in a much more risky environment than in the past,” said Robert Wisner, professor of economics.

“The workshop is designed to help farmers understand this new environment, analyze their financial risk-bearing ability and protect profits when they are available from the grain markets,” Wisner said.

ISU economists are coordinating the seminar and plan to highlight several points of interest, including complex new risk management tools, low commodity prices and grain marketing plans.

Grain farmers, commodity brokers, farm managers, elevator managers, crop insurance agents, lenders, crop consultants and others who deal with risk management and farming have been encouraged to register, Wisner said.

The seminar will be broadcast to 21 sites on the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) and is scheduled to last from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The Ames location will be in Room N147 of Lagomarcino Hall.

Wisner said 160 workshop participants have been confirmed at this time, counting commitments from banks for participation by their customers.

Two workshops are included in the seminar. The first will be held toward the end of the morning session and will cover crop insurance. It will focus on how to use insurance for price risk management and production.

One of the morning speakers, Bruce Babcock, associate professor of economics, said he plans to “review new insurance risk management products available for 1999 and update farmers on the changes that have been made.”

Babcock said he hopes to explain to farmers which insurance plans would be best for them, and he hopes to help farmers realize they need risk management plans.

“I want to try to help them create a framework for a plan that is best for them,” he said.

The afternoon workshop will have a different setup. Participants will be divided into teams locally. A case study of a cash grain farm will be given to each team, and calculators will be needed.

“We hope to make farmers aware of the choices they have and help reduce the risk,” said William Edwards, professor of economics. “They actually have to go through this case and make decisions.”

Edwards will be speaking in the morning and afternoon, and he plans to highlight four points.

“I am going to cover the corn and soybean markets and the outlook for next year; the climate risk and a long-term outlook; crop insurance and the different types to buy; and the effects of farm finances and buying insurance,” Edwards said.

Some activities for the afternoon include an export update, market prospects, storage and marketing loan strategies and a short speech about new crop insurance alternatives for 1999.

Edwards encouraged students to attend some of the lectures.