MANHATTAN, Kan. – Giving agricultural producers a competitive edge is the focus of Kansas State University’s Risk and Profit Conference planned this year for Thursday-Friday, Aug. 16-17 in Manhattan.

The conference and trade show at the K-State Alumni Center begins with registration from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 16, followed by lunch at 11:30.

Following lunch, Joe Shultz and Max Fisher of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will present the keynote address on the 2012 Farm Bill. Fisher serves as Sen. Pat Roberts’ chief economist on the committee and Shultz is the senior economist on the committee.

The remainder of the day will be filled with breakout sessions, social hour with a cash bar, dinner and a presentation, “A Conversation with a Kansas Producer,” featuring Rich Porter of Reading, Kan.

Friday, Aug. 17 begins with breakfast from 6:45 to 7:15 a.m. followed by the “Livestock and Grain Market Outlooks” by K-State Research and Extension agricultural economists Glynn Tonsor and Dan O’Brien.

A range of topics will be covered during breakout sessions Thursday afternoon and Friday, including:

• The Economic, Legal, and Tax Implications of an Oil Lease;
• History by the Numbers: A Look at Kansas Agriculture’s History Using Kansas Farm Management Association Data;
• Equestrian Tourism in the Flint Hills: Opportunities to Diversify Agriculture in the U.S.;
• Farm Bill Programs and Crop Insurance (two parts);
• Macroeconomic Instability: To be Continued?
• The Effects of the Federal Reserve System in Agriculture;
• Proactive Spread Hedging;
• Managing Your Grain Marketing Risk, and many others.

A complete list of sessions, registration and lodging information is available online or by contacting Rich Llewelyn in K-State’s Department of Agricultural Economics at 785-532-1504 or rvl@k-state.edu.

The fee to register is $210 per person for both days if paid by Aug. 10, and $190 for each additional attendee from the same family or business. A one-day pass is $120 per person if paid by the early date.

Registrations paid after Aug. 10 will be $230 for a two-day pass and $140 for one day. 

The full two-day registration covers the conference proceedings on CD, two lunches, one dinner and one breakfast, refreshments at breaks, parking, access to conference trade show and vendors and time for networking opportunities with other attendees and speakers. 

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by: Mary Lou Peter
mlpeter@ksu.edu
K-State Research & Extension News

Rich Llewelyn – 785-532-1504 or rvl@ksu.edu