CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Since 1985, Strategic Farm Marketing has provided total risk management programs, according to Bill Mayer. The company helps producers farm for profit, not just survival.

Mayer has a bachelor’s degree in ag education from the University of Illinois. He knows farming from the ground up, having grown up on a grain and livestock farm in east-central Illinois. He has worked with producers and their marketing needs for more than 25 years as a grain elevator manager and commodity program and crop insurance agent.

Mayer said Strategic looks at each client’s total risk, what they’ve done in the past and what they’re comfortable with doing.

“Some are looking strictly at crop insurance and cash sales, but we do an analysis of what types of tools he wants to use. We look at his cash flow needs, his economic situation, when his bills are due, what times of the year he needs more income, that type of thing,” Mayer said.

“We have a tool we use, the Revenue Maximizer. We provide all the input and the software comes up with a grid, a matrix making it very easy for the producer to look at different scenarios.”

According to the firm’s website: Our Revenue Maximizer gives us the ability to assist you in developing a marketing plan, determining which crop to plant, option strategies, government payments and insurance plans. This revolutionary software has allowed us, and subsequently our customers, to more fully understand the relationship(s) that exist between each of the categories mentioned above.

The Revenue Maximizer helps us to experiment with various marketing plans and make an informed decision as to which will most positively affect the customer’s bottom line.

Along with software alleviating the need for potentially thousands of calculations, Mayer said Strategic Farm Marketing also provides a bi-weekly conference call during the summer months, open to all clients to participate or just listen. He said the call focuses on crop conditions and markets.

“It’s pretty interesting. We cover a wide area, and we get a lot of feedback about what crops are doing in different areas,” Mayer said.

Probably the biggest change he said he’s experienced in more than 25 years working as an ag professional is technology, which has improved the ability to get information to producers.

“I can have a farmer in the combine that can pull up his delivery sheet at the elevator to see how many bushels he has there, he can look at prices and we can discuss strategy while he’s still harvesting,” Mayer said.

“From the standpoint of producers’ risk, the biggest change is the amount of dollars at risk compared to 25 years ago. And, of course, from the standpoint of marketing, the market trades 15 to 16 hours a day. There’s overnight trading, electronic trading has changed a lot and trade in international markets have changed things.”

For more information about Strategic Farm Marketing, visit it online at http://sfarmmarketing.com