Northern Crops Institute Works Towards Helping Emerging Grain Industry Leaders

The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) recently held their first installment of the Grain Industry Emerging Leader Program.

The two-and-a-half-day course ran from December 17th to the 19th, 2019. This is the first in a two-part series specializing in growing the leaders of the grain industry. This course focused on grain merchandising, while the future program in this series will focus on managerial practices.

Participants of the previous course were given a well-rounded experience through the use of speakers, lectures, and hands on activities. Throughout the course they were educated on futures trading, basis and spreads, hedging, contracting strategies, as well as transportation and logistics.

“My favorite part of the course was definitely learning about futures, that’s a big role in marketing, and being able to counteract on what it might do, where to pick and play in the game, is going to benefit my farmers, and myself as a coop” said Christ Whitehead, a grain marketer for Crystal Valley Coop.

When asked what he plans to bring back to his farmers, Whitehead stated “all of the different contracts that we can offer to them … and for me to be able to show them what I’ve learned and bring it back to them, and to be able to pull a few things from what the speakers have shown us on strategies, and on breaking it down to simplify it so they can better understand it.”

This course was made possible thanks to the North Dakota Grain Dealers Association and the Minnesota Grain and Feed Association.

To view a list of future courses, click here.