Thursday Farmer’s Business Network (FBN) announced it will be introducing a suite of four offerings to help farmers through crop marketing. The company says this is a result of overwhelming demand for marketing support from their farmer customers.
The latest from FBN Crop Marketing includes FBN Market Intelligence, FBN Cash Grain Management, FBN Cash Contracts and FBN Brokerage. Each provides a different aspect to crop marketing, from insights and analysis to contracting and sales.
“We break the tools into two buckets: market decision making and execution,” says Devin Lammers, head of commodity crop marketing at FBN. “We decided to do this because FBN has always been laser focused on farmer profitability. We started with Profit Center last year and built out these products after hours and hours of conversations with farmers around their pain points when they go to market their crop.”
- FBN Market Intelligence- provides weekly in-depth newsletters and daily market reports using outside expertise and proprietary data that is compiled into a curated view of the market. It gives national and global futures information and local basis comparisons farmers can use when making marketing plants. This tool is included in the Cash Grain Management or can be purchased independently for $19 per month of $199 per year.
- FBN Cash Grain Management- gives more than just market information for farmers who want a more hands-on approach. Farmers who use this service have access to a personal adviser that takes market intelligence and caters it to each specific farm operation. The adviser helps create marketing plans, execution plans and carryout sales for $2,000 annually—no acreage fee.
- FBN Cash Contracts- essentially gives farmers the ability to see the market the same way elevators and other grain buyers see the market, which gives them more power in price making. The tool allows farmers to lock in value independent of location and relationships with buyers to get the best basis. Cost to farmers is based on what kind of contract they use. For example, HTA fees in corn run from $0.03 to $0.08 per bu.
- FBN Brokerage- the company is investing resources, staff and data into its new accredited brokerage firm. It works just like any brokerage you might work with now, but at a different price point. For farmers who subscribe to Cash Grain Management it’s $1.50 per side, for FBN members it’s $5 per side and non-members pay $9 per side.
About 50% of FBN members used Profit Center, the company’s first entry into crop marketing, this past year. FBN says it will continue to invest in crop marketing tools because it proves to be a constant pain point for farmers.
“We are still in the early chapters for FBN’s grain marketing,” Lammers says. “We’ll keep learning and listening to farmers and continue to vet business models that fit farmers. You can expect us to continue to launch more offerings.”
