By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Master Marketer program offers farmers, ranchers, agricultural lenders and other agribusiness professionals tried-and-true information on marketing techniques, marketing plans, technical analysis, futures and options and other marketing-related skills.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a condensed Master Marketer program will be held online this fall, with sessions offered every Thursday in October.
“That’s going to be a major revision to our content. It’s normally eight full days of meetings spread out over the course of a couple of months,” AgriLife Extension Economist Mark Welch said.
Normally, the program is a 64-hour course, but AgriLife is offering the course online in a slightly shorter format.
“What we’ll offer instead this year are two-hour sessions on some of our key topics,” he said. “This will be a nice refresher for graduates of the program and provide a starting point for those who haven’t participated in the past. Maybe they’ve been curious, but maybe they haven’t had the time. It’s a good chance to see what’s going on and see if that’s something that might fit with your needs down the road when we can hold a full program again.”
The Master Marketer program combines three concepts: intensive education, the Master Volunteer and marketing clubs. Participants are trained in advanced risk management and marketing techniques and then extend that knowledge to other farmers and ranchers by providing leadership for marketing clubs.
AgriLife economists piloted the Master Marketer Program in Amarillo in 1996. The success of that effort led to the statewide expansion of the program.
Master Marketer has since graduated 1,246 farmers, ranchers and agribusiness professionals from 29 trainings held across the state. In a follow-up survey two-and-a-half years after completion, graduates of the first 27 trainings indicated, on average, they increased their returns by $35,000 annually.
But graduates of the Master Marketer program receive more than just financial benefit. Since the inception of the program, AgriLife data show farmers and ranchers have reported a 132-percent increase in the adoption of a marketing plan, and by those who answered “yes” to having a marketing plan, a 540-percent increase in the adoption of a written plan.
Master Marketer graduates also reported a tremendous increase in confidence in using marketing tools. Participants who rated their “before” and “after” confidence level reported an average 75-percent improvement in their confidence and willingness to use marketing.
This year’s virtual program is offered at no cost to registered participants. “With the support we have received from Texas Farm Bureau and other commodity groups and agricultural organizations, we were able to defray the costs to participants this fall,” Welch said.
“We welcome anyone who’s interested to register and join in for any one particular session or to attend all of them. We feel it’s an extremely important program with a lot of good information. We recommend completing all the sessions, but we welcome you to listen in on anything that interests you.”
This year’s program is every Thursday Sept. 29 through Oct. 29 from 10-11:30 a.m. The seminar series will be conducted online, and recordings of the discussions and slides will be provided.
Click here to view a brochure on the program, including sessions and topics to be covered.
To register, click here. Questions may be directed to Emmy Kiphen at emmykiphen@tamu.edu.