John Phipps

Farmers love their tools, and any excuse to add to their collection seems like a good idea. As agriculture faces unprecedented challenges in 2019, economic research has developed some tools that can help producers cope. From new ways to approach problems, to decision-making aids, to information processing techniques, the things that could make the difference on our farms may be those that help inform and guide our logic and emotions. John will share a range of helpful ideas to make 2019 a year we are prepared to manage.

2019 and beyond offers several new headaches for farmers (although speakers are required to call them challenges). The biggest may be a wider range of possible future outcomes with much higher stakes. Using new research about how we make and fail at predictions to base our decisions, John leads farmers to a handful of basic, but proven tools that actually can help. With concrete examples and humorous explanations of how our minds tackle and fumble predictions, he can help producers of all kinds manage 2019 with less apprehension and more confidence.

We’re into 2019 and many of us are still waiting for things to calm down and “return to normal”. The entire ag sector is being buffeted by vocal consumers, climate change, government turmoil, and enormous economic uncertainty. Maybe waiting is not the best option.  With humor and logic, John outlines attitudes and strategies that can help us endure business shocks, strengthen our value chain links, and envision the future more confidently. Using new behavioral economic research, personal anecdotes from his Midwestern farm, and a careful reading of our industry history, John offers tools for agribusiness to help them not just adapt but thrive in whatever “normal” we experience.

It is not hard to point out obstacles facing profits all across our industry. In fact, doomsayers fill the pages and airwaves with dire predictions. Oddly enough though, our profession has forgotten both our past and potential. A little good humor, cooperation, and forward thinking can dispel many of these apocalyptic visions as simply scare tactics or extreme examples. With anecdotes, startling new research, and reassuring logic, I will make the case that not only are we ready and capable of prospering in whatever future comes, but that opportunities will be numerous for all of us to consider.