Author

Guest - Dan Manternach

Dan Manternach is a seasoned, independent agricultural economist, speaker and author. A graduate of Iowa State University, Dan was raised on a diversified grain and livestock farm in northeast Iowa. During his 40-year career, he has been an executive with four of the top ag market advisory services in the U.S., served as part-time adjunct instructor in futures and options trading for commercial risk management at the University of Northern Iowa, and provided consultation to the U.S. Grains Council on a trade mission to China. Dan has extensive experience offering risk management counsel on major field crops, hogs and cattle. He leads grain marketing seminars, courses and lectures across the Midwest.



Articles Grain Marketing

The 3 Types of Risk in Grain Marketing

There are, primarily, three different types of market risk you can face in choosing the wisest marketing tool for the job at hand. They are: Futures market risk, Basis risk, Opportunity risk Futures Market Risk Whether you have a futures trading account or not, your primary price risk is in the futu


If you're now well-versed in "the bar chart basics" of technical analysis to follow the ag commodities markets, the next step is to better understand a few of the pro tips to navigating the technical side of the grain markets. And how to think of them a little differently. Here's how technical studi


Articles Grain Marketing

How To Identify Long-term Commodity Cycles

Because there are so many variables in supply and demand for ag commodities globally, it’s no easy task for the laws of economics to precisely balance supply and demand from year to year. Instead, mankind relies on market signals to either slow usage and stimulate production via higher prices or enc


First, be aware that there are purists among fundamental analysts who place all their faith in basic economic principles of supply and demand and often scoff, “All the ships that sank at sea had plenty of charts on board.” They see charts as little more than a scorecard showing whether market bulls


Cynics often remark that the key to making a small fortune in futures trading is to start out with a large one, and it’s understandable. Sometimes it seems like a never-ending poker game between bulls always wanting to bet on higher prices and bears always betting on lower ones. But here’s a key tru


Making sense out of crop marketing terms, like hedgers versus speculators, puts versus calls, derivative marketing tools and option premiums, can leave you scratching your head. But not understanding these terms can also complicate how you might make your next move in the markets. In this post, we'l


Articles Grain Marketing

The True History and Utility of Futures

If farmers want to move ahead of today's global grain trading environment, one of the first things to do is to better understand the history of where it all began. The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was launched way back in 1848 by a group of 25 Chicago businessmen. It stemmed from shortcomings in th


Articles Farmer Perspective

The Battle for Margin - F2F17

Sep 14, 2017

by Dan Zook

THE BATTLE FOR MARGIN  Join leaders from technology and the military as well as America's most pioneering farmers for discussion on the future of farming. Session topics will include crop marketing strategies, the future of farm information, data science on the farm , the newest FBN℠ products, and s


Articles FBN Network

Product Update: Yield Benchmarking

Aug 17, 2017

by Dan Zook

FBN® Members can now benchmark their performance against a smaller radius of fields around their farm. Using FBN Analytics , FBN Members can see how their yields stack up against thousands of other advanced farmers. This is not just field benchmarking; it is yield diagnostics in action., Benchmark y