The strategies we learned promise to increase a farmer's income by 10 percent annually. The program is excellent. Johnson explained that call and put options are tools allowing the setting of a commodity price at a certain time in the market. This functions like insurance where one would pay a premium for protection against a mishap. If the market price moves adversely against the grower, he is protected, he said.
Most growers sell their commodities at the same time, which drives price levels down.
One aspect of the Master Marketer program focuses on creating a window around harvest time and marketing commodities over an extended period beyond harvest time. This allows producers to sell a portion of a crop throughout the marketing year, thus smoothing out price fluctuations, Johnson explained. Bomar said the first time the course was offered in Amarillo and Vernon, there was a fairly low turn out. But the second time, there was a waiting list. About 25 people attended the session in Abilene, which started in January and ended in April.