Agribusiness professionals who work with Pennsylvania dairy farmers can still register for upcoming Dairy PROS meetings held across the state. They're being offered by the Center for Dairy Excellence and Penn State Dairy Alliance.
The first session actually kicks off tomorrow morning, Oct. 15, at the Eden Resort in Lancaster. It runs from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. This one and upcoming four sessions will be led by Service Core of Retired Executives counselors. SCORE is a non-profit organization that helps small businesses start, grow and succeed.
"We have had great success aligning members of SCORE with farms through the center's Dairy Profit Team program, and we wanted to share their knowledge with more members of the dairy community," said John Frey, executive director of the Center for Dairy Excellence. "They offer a new level of business and management insight to our industry.
"We'll also have a panel discussion with the SCORE representative, a profit team facilitator and a dairy producer on business planning and risk management," Frey says. "Then to give participants something hands-on to take back to their customers, Penn State Dairy Alliance staff will discuss tools available to help farms better manage risks."
Dairy Alliance team members will demonstrate how some Pennsylvania dairies are using income over feed cost, cash flow planning and [Livestock Gross Margin insurance] to manage their risk and control their own future. Participants will find out how they, as consultants, can help their clients.
"The perception is producers can do very little to control milk price and on-farm profitability," notes Dairy Alliance's Virginia Ishler. "This is not true. Producers can learn to manage risk to control their future by knowing their break-even income over feed cost and their milk margin break-even."
The Dairy PROS meetings are open to anyone who works within the dairy industry at no cost. Upcoming sessions all run from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the following sites:
• Tues., Oct. 19: Lighthouse Restaurant, 4301 Philadelphia Ave, Chambersburg
• Wed., Oct. 20: Holiday Inn Dowington/Williamsport, 100 Pine St., Williamsport
• Thurs., Oct. 21: Ramada Inn off I-99 Exit 31 at Plank Road, Altoona
• Wed., Oct. 27: Lamb and Webster dealership, 1085 Sandy Lake Rd., Grove City
To register, visit www.centerfordairyexcellence.org. Click on "Industry Professionals" or the "Dairy PROS" logo at the bottom of the home page. For more details, call the Center for Dairy Excellence at 717-346-0849 or Dairy Alliance at 1-888-373-7232.