Best time for a grower meeting: on a January morning

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Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association

That’s how the majority responded in a survey conducted by the MGE last winter of members of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers and the North Dakota Grain Growers Association. The survey was distributed through the respective newsletters of the MAWG and the NDGGA, and a total of 420 members responded.

Of that number, 376 said they had never attended an MGE marketing workshop. Further, 227 said they weren’t actively participating in the futures and options market, but would like to. Of the respondents, 293 said they used a computer for business purposes; 121 at the time did not.

Growers were asked to rank the type of information they were most interested in learning. Although there is a general interest to learn more about marketing, just what is less clear. For example, the number of growers who were least interested (80) was almost as great as those who were most interested (107) in learning how to write a marketing plan.

Further, there was an across-the-board level of interest expressed in learning about basic and advanced futures, basic and advanced options, and how futures markets complement cash markets. This is due, perhaps, to an across-the-board knowledge level about marketing among farmers.

Mock trading got the nod for preferred learning environment, followed in order by textbook, lecture, and interactive TV.

Respondents overwhelming selected January (246) as the best month to hold a workshop, followed by February (95) and December (47). Most would prefer to attend a workshop in the morning (221) rather than the afternoon (134) or evening (44). Most preferred a one-day workshop over a two or three-day session, and the majority said that from 25 to 100 miles is as far as they’d travel to attend a workshop.

December 1995