“We’ll be there with bells on, and offering the program to as many schools as are interested,” said Bill Towles, manager of the Farmetrics Farm Focus Program.

Through Farmetrics’ educational crop prediction program, FFA and other school classes can win weekly contests with the accuracy of their crop yield predictions and benefit their schools by earning “reward points” which can be redeemed for “reward cards.” Overall class scores from participating schools are tallied and ranked against other schools in the United States, Towles explained, with predictions compared against final USDA county reports to determine which schools win reward cards. Reward cards are issued in the name of the school and its FFA program’s advisor.

“(The advisor) can use the reward cards for field trips or travel expenses for state conventions, computers or other materials. They can be used at (the advisor’s) discretion,” said Towles.

In addition to predicting yields, students can also submit predictions for acres planted and acres harvested for crops such as corn and soybeans. Schools can determine in which of the weekly contests they will participate. As an added educational tool, in many counties class predictions are compared against those of area farmers.

The seeds for Farmetics’ educational program and website were planted around a year ago.

To promote the idea and gather input, officials from Farmetrics (which is sponsored by Bunge Global Markets, Inc.) visited state FFA conventions in Illinois, Ohio and Louisiana.

“The program and website were based primarily on FFA advisors’ recommendations,” Towles said. “It’s based on the theory of learning by doing, which is key to the FFA. And it’s a situation that makes it possible for kids to contribute to their schools.”

Students from five high schools in Illinois, Ohio and Mississippi registered the program’s first predictions through their classroom computers during the first week of October.

Towles said Farmetrics received a tremendous response from the students who registered to participate, and their website worked “flawlessly.”

Though high schools with FFA chapters were the first to participate, Towles said the program is open to other educational venues. “Farmetrics’ Prediction Market Educational Program is intended for secondary or university-level schools located in the U.S. We primarily cater to the FFA, so it’s intended mainly, but not exclusively, for high school-age students,” he explained.

After school officials register on Farmetrics’ website at www.farmetrics. com/Scholar school program advisors directly register individual students for the program.

Farmetrics does not gather or record any student information beyond anonymous screen names.

“Best of all, there is no cost whatsoever to the schools,” Towles said.

“Farmetrics will be demonstrating our educational program’s website at Booth 607 at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, and we invite all FFA advisors and students to stop by.” The Farmetrics Prediction Market was introduced as an innovative way for crop producers to collect and share crop information from participants across the U.S. Using their knowledge of the agricultural industry, participants submit predictions for locally-planted acreage and yield on a weekly basis, to be aggregated and shared with other participants. It is the first prediction market tailored exclusively for U.S. agribusiness, the company touts.

“Gaining real-time, more accurate information about local crop conditions is vital to U.S. agribusiness,” Towles said. “The Farmetrics Prediction Market helps everyone mange risk more closely. It is already proving to be an important tool in understanding supply conditions around the country.”