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In this stage of the development of your marketing plan, you can begin to combine the information from the previous sections and start identifying price and date triggers.

• Consider your personal situation and risk-bearing ability

1. Farm and family financial situation - What profit level are you aiming for?

2. What are your cash flow needs?

3. How much storage capacity do you have available?

• Also consider

1. Expected production

2. Your cost of production/break-even prices

3. Market outlook and realistic price expectations

4. Contingencies - rising and declining prices

•  THEN… Begin to identify decision dimensions

1. By what date would you like to have some pre-harvest sales made?

2. What price is needed pre-harvest versus what would be accepted post-harvest?

3. Are there some seasonal price tendencies you should try to capture?

4. Should tax considerations play a role in your decision of when to sell?

Consider an upcoming wheat crop and answer the following questions:

1. At what price would the first portion of the crop be sold or hedged?

2. What tool should be used to price the crop?

3. If pre-harvest, would you price only the insured portion of the crop?

4. What if, by March, prices had risen to $4.00, the US crop was looking great and prices were expected to drop?  How much would you price using what tool?

5. What will you do if prices decline to the break-even point and you have not yet priced any of the crop yet?

6. Do you need some downside risk protection even if you think prices will rise?

How do I actually establish price and date objectives? What might they look like?

The following are examples of different methods of establishing price and date objectives:

1. Price-based with time dimension

2. Production-based with time dimension

Price-based decision with time dimension

Sell if the market hits $3.20, but not later than Feb. 1.

Begin scaling sales as soon as the market price exceeds my cost of production.

Keep in mind.......

A marketing plan should

• Complement your farm plan
  This includes short term and long term goals and quantifiable, timely objectives
   
• Use information included in financial statements
  This includes risk-bearing capacity, cash flow needs, etc.
   
• Good Strategies improve your chances of success

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