Check out cereal performance with HGCAs model

By FWi staff

A NEW service developed for Cereals 99 by the Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) will let growers discover how their market returns for last season compared with those of an economic model prepared by HGCA economists.

Economists have identified five different theoretical “marketing types”, each with different attitudes to risk management and the use of market information.

Visitors to the “plan your day” feature at Cereals 99 can fill in a questionnaire to help determine which category they fall into.

Producers will then be able to compare their returns for the 1998/1999 marketing year with those of each “marketing type” according to the computer model developed by the HGCA market information department.

Alastair Dickie, chairman of the HGCA market information advisory committee said this will be an ideal opportunity for farmers to revisit their marketing skills.

Market returns still account on average for over 60% of farm revenue and risk management and marketing is not a simple operation, said Mr Dickie.

“We are not aiming to replace the bank manager or the grain trader as a source of business decisions.

“What HGCA is hoping to do at Cereals 99 is to equip growers with the right tools to ask the right questions of themselves and their business,” he added.