JANUARY 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Profitability should be the goal of marketing


Volatile grain pricing means producers need to manage risk


by MYRNA STARK LEADER DAWSON CREEK – People


often need to be told about their sins before they’re convinced of the need to change. When farm business consultant Brian Voth visits Dawson Creek as part of a Farm Credit Canada (FCC) speaking tour this winter, he hopes producers listen. Voth, an experienced grain


buyer and marketing advisor who heads Manitoba-based farm marketing firm IntelliFARM Inc., spoke to producers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario last fall but bad weather delayed his appearance in Dawson Creek. Between a decade of


working with farmers and his latest travels, Voth sees producers repeating the same mistakes over and over. “A lot of time, grain


marketing presentations are about the market outlook,” he says. “I don’t like giving market outlooks because a) farmers tend to hear what they want to hear and ignore the negative things and the part where the market could go down and b) they’ll pay attention to anything that says that a market might go up. So, while it’s important to have an idea of market direction, to me, it’s more important to know your plan and what are you going to do, regardless which way the market goes.” Voth grew up in a


construction family but discovered agriculture at 19 working as a summer labourer on the grain farm a friend’s family operated. A numbers person, he pursued his interest with an ag finance diploma and an agribusiness degree from the University of Manitoba. His experience focused him on the importance of data over emotions. “My advice is about having a plan and keeping your emotions out of it because emotions lead to a poor execution,” he says. Voth says there’s more money made or left on the table through good or poor marketing than any other aspect of farming, especially since prices have become so volatile in the last 10 years. “It used to be that there was only a 50-cent-a-bushel spread but now you can have a spread that’s two or three dollars a bushel from high to


See PRICES on next page o


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TAMARA LEIGH PHOTO


Here’s to the GROWER


“ When I was a boy in India, I never could have imagined the opportunities I’d have in Canadian agriculture. My orchard business takes hard work, but I’m glad to see my kids grow up on a farm, just like I did. My name is Lakhwinder Brar and I grow fruits and vegetables.”


From all of us at FCC, thanks for making Canadian agriculture so amazing.


fcc.ca #HeresToCdnAg


FEBRUARY 13


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