Schedule of Seminars

Tuesday, January 29

10:00 a.m. "Composting Liquid Manure & Its Use in Soil & Foliar Applications", ProfitPro, Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
A biological approach for conventional and organic producers. With organic seed coating and a full line of OMRI-Listed plant nutrient products, we specialize in showing farmers how to compost liquid livestock manure for use as a soil or foliar application. 

10:45 a.m. "Biodiesel 101", Iowa Soybean Association, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
Hoon Ge of MEG Corporation and the biodiesel consultant for the National Biodiesel Board, will be going over biodiesel basics including the history of biodiesel, the definition of biodiesel, how biodiesel is made and biodiesel standards.  He will also discuss materials compatibility, emissions, OEM, and the supply and demand of biodiesel.

11:30 a.m. "SeedCommand – Planter Control", Ag Leader Technology, Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
Automatically turn individual planter sections on-and-off to reduce overplanting, resulting in you saving time and money.  Complete planter monitoring functions and the ability to record varieties and hybrids as well as split-planter data.

12:15 p.m. "Brave New Markets", Darin Newsom, DTN, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
The past few years have seen an explosion in large-speculator participation in commodity markets, some of it from sophisticated investors using sophisticated computer programs. The result has been a rise in volatility, new risks for individual investors and a need to explore new risk-management strategies. Darian Newsom will discuss the market outlook for 2008 and the ramifications this volatility brings to using the futures, options and cash markets as you implement risk management.

1:00 p.m. "Managing Agricultural Risk in an Ever Changing Market", Gunnar Klish, E Hedger, Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
E Hedger LLC will present an informative U.S. & world overview of the grain & oilseed markets, followed by the current hedge recommendations. Discussion will cover the fundamentals of grains, oilseeds, and renewable fuels. The presentation will conclude with a brief question and answer period where audience participation is encouraged.

1:45 p.m. "Biodiesel Fuel Quality", Iowa Soybean Association, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
Hoon Ge of MEG Corporation and the biodiesel consultant for the National Biodiesel Board, will be leading this advanced biodiesel seminar that will go over blending, lubricity, cold flow properties, 2007 engines, biodiesel handling, quality issues, microbial growth, RIN and Bq-9000.

2:30 p.m. "Profit Watch – $6 Corn, $20 Beans!  Reality or Nonsense?", AgriSource, Inc., Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
AgriSource is a grain marketing and crop insurance company with 18 offices across the Midwest. This year presents more risk and more opportunity than ever before. We will discuss how producers can lock in profits and leave the upside open for a chance at higher prices. We will talk briefly on the grain market outlook and how to best position your operation for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 crop years. We will also include a short discussion on crop insurance. We will touch on GRIP and enterprise revenue based policies.  Enterprise unit discounts can be as much as 38% less than optional units. If you would like to know more about GRIP or crop insurance in general, we’ll answer your questions.  Fasten your seat belt - Wild ride ahead!

Wednesday, January 30

10:00 a.m. "DirectCommand – Application Control", Ag Leader Technology, Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
Control application rates directly from the Insight display for both liquid and granular products.  Automatically turn boom sections on-and-off.  Smart Report creates an application report for easy record keeping.  Come to hear about new features available for 2008.

10:45 a.m. "Biodiesel Fuel Quality", Iowa Soybean Association, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
See Tuesday 1:45 p.m. description.

11:30 a.m. "SMS Software – Basic, Advanced and Mobile", Ag Leader Technology, Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
See how to analyze your field data to make management decisions to improve your bottom line.  Demo will include analysis advantages of SMS Basic and SMS Advanced.  Learn about SMS Mobile software.  SMS software for both the grower and the service provider.

12:15 p.m. "How You Can Survive the Changes in Agricultural Marketing", Midwest Strategic Investments, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
Midwest Strategic Investments is a full service commodity brokerage firm specializing in agricultural risk management and marketing strategies. Each year we design a corn and soybean marketing plan, which is a time proven disciplined approach to making marketing decisions. Our plan is to manage emotions that can lead to poor marketing decisions.

1:00 p.m. "Managing Agricultural Risk in an Ever Changing Market", Gunnar Klish, E Hedger Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
See Tuesday 1:00 p.m. description

1:45 p.m. "Biodiesel 101", Iowa Soybean Association, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
See Tuesday 10:45 a.m. description.

2:30 p.m. "Marketing Strategies for 2008", Sciota Trading, LTD, Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
Sciota Trading, Ltd. has over 30 years combined experience helping farmers improve their bottom line through better marketing.  Every operation is unique with its mix of acres, insurance coverage, cash flow needs, and storage capacity.  Our goal is to get to know you and tailor our advice to meet your needs.  Our presentation will look at questions such as:  How do you cope with increased volatility?  What price is good enough?  How do I protect against a big price drop?  We will look at current market fundamentals and what that means for our marketing plan for the coming year.

Thursday , January 31

10:45 a.m. "Composting Liquid Manure & Its Use in Soil & Foliar Applications", ProfitPro, Room 8, Hy-Vee Hall
See Tuesday 10:00 a.m. description.

11:30 a.m. "Family Farm Issues - A Process that Works", Heartland Financial Resource Group, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
Specific issue discovery and planning steps for action. Everyone’s issues are different; therefore the session will address planning from the prospective of control and flexibility. Points of discussion will be: transitioning the family farm to the next generation and beyond; tax advantage planning to include current income tax issues, capital gain tax issues and estate tax planning; wealth management; risk management; long term care concerns; pick a buyer versus forced sale and farm corporation buy-sell processes.

12:15 p.m. "SOYBEANS: 200+ Bushels & CORN: 800 Bushels Per Acre? Never Say Never!", Micro Growing, Room 8 , Hy-Vee Hall
Micro Growing Sciences (MGS) will present an inside growing perspective of the MGS Growing Systems used by Kip Culler in his 2006 & 2007 contest fields. See pictures and videos never seen before by the public. MGS will discuss the importance of it's unique total systems approach for increasing yields & net profits with the same input dollars in crop production. This session will also discuss the intensified version of the MGS Growing Systems for contest competition to raise 500+ bushels of corn per acre. MGS will have soybean plants on display from Kip's contest fields to show that 200+ bushels of soybeans per acre is possible.

1:00 p.m. "New Times, New Rules: Taming the Volatility", Scott Stewart, Stewart-Peterson, Room 7, Hy-Vee Hall
Increased market volatility demands a new strategic approach. What are the economic driving forces affecting land prices and rent.  Learn how to maximize opportunity, while minimizing risk and how you can tailor comprehensive strategies for your farm in current market conditions. Stewart-Peterson is a leading agriculture commodity firm that specializes in assisting producers in the use of the commodity markets. We offer brokerage services and advisory publications that guide farmers and ranchers with marketing decisions.