NEWS AND EVENTS

Futures, Assumptions, Risk and Markets (FARM)
Thursdays from 10 a.m. – Noon, October 15, 22 and 29 and November 5, 12 and 19, 2009
Complimentary lunch for registrants following each workshop

Dr. Anderson is a Professor and Extension Economist – Livestock and Food Products Marketing with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University.  He received his B.S and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Arizona.  After finishing a PhD at Texas A&M University in 1994, he was a livestock market economist at the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver, Colorado.  He returned to Texas A&M in 1996.

Brenda Boetel is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and the Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist for the University of Wisconsin Extension System.  Brenda teaches classes on price analysis, commodity marketing, and futures and options.  In her role as Extension Educator, Brenda writes a monthly outlook report for Wisconsin livestock producers.  She also works directly with producers to help determine the individual producer's risk level and find potential risk management options.  Brenda received her PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Minnesota.

Jonah Bowles grew up in rural Hanover County where he helped his family raise livestock and small grains.  It was this background that provided an interest in agriculture that would become an integral part of his adult life.

After serving four years in the US Coast Guard, Jonah returned to Virginia to attend the University of Richmond where he received a Bachelors degree in Economics.  Upon graduation, he became a stockbroker specializing in hedging agricultural products in the commodity futures markets.  His clients included grain elevators, meat packing plants and livestock and row-crop farmers in the United States and Europe. 

In 1999 Jonah joined Virginia Farm Bureau Federation in the position of Market Risk Analyst. He publishes a weekly “Commodity Comment” for farmers interested in improving their risk management and market planning skills.  Through his efforts, Virginia Farm Bureau has formed a partnership with USDA/Risk Management Agency to educate producers in market opportunities available to them.   He has conducted risk management seminars for farmers in numerous states and has advised the Egyptian Embassy on price risk management matters.  He has been asked to assist the Agricultural Futures Trading Commission in Bangkok, Thailand with issues relating to the new exchange.  He taught agricultural economics during the spring semester at VT in Blacksburg for two years.

Jonah resides in Midlothian, VA with his wife Elizabeth.  They have two children; Jonah IV, a graduate of Coastal Carolina University and Beth, a senior at Appalachian State University.

D. Scott Brown is currently the program director of livestock and dairy at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri. FAPRI has provided U.S. Congress with quantitative analysis of alternative agricultural polices since the 1980s. Scott provides Congress with analysis of livestock and dairy policy changes and has testified before House and Senate Agriculture committees several times. FAPRI was recently recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture for the analyses conducted for the 2002 farm bill. Scott is a faculty member of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri. Scott received his Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business from Northwest Missouri State University and his Master and PhD degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. Scott grew up on a farm in Northwest Missouri that raises cattle, hogs, corn, soybeans and wheat.

Daniel M. Gramza is President of Gramza Capital Management, Inc.  He is a trader, consultant to domestic and international clients and an advisor to hedge funds.  He has published works in Australia, Europe, Japan, Singapore and the United States.  Mr. Gramza has appeared on CNN's "Moneyline" program, Reuters TV, Bloomberg TV, ROB TV in Canada, WCIU-TV in Chicago and as a market analyst for the CME Group. 

He provides free daily commentary on 21 markets and 6 sectors at dangramza.com

Mr. Gramza develops and presents worldwide public and private courses on a variety of technical trading strategies, stock, cash, options and futures markets and has given expert witness testimony in US federal court.  He has presented courses to traders from over 36 exchanges, 450 institutions, and 35 countries.  Mr. Gramza is an instructor for the CME Group, Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies, Université de Genève and the Chicago Stock Exchange.  He was a member of the Chicago Rice and Cotton Exchange and an adjunct faculty member of the Illinois Institute of Technology's Master program in Financial Markets and Trading.  He earned a B.S. in Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology on a scholarship and an M.B.A. in International Finance from DePaul University graduating with honors.  He can be contacted at:  dmgramza@att.net
 

Gregory Ibendahl is an Associate Extension Professor in Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University. His specialty area is agricultural finance. Dr. Ibendahl grew up on a grain and beef farm in Southern Illinois and worked for six years in private industry before returning to graduate school. He work experience includes Mobay Chemical and Dekalb Genetics (now part of Monsanto). His Dekalb experience included time working for both the swine division and also the quality assurance seed lab.

Dr. Ibendahl earned in Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in agricultural economics and has held academic positions at both the University of Kentucky and Mississippi State University. He also has an M.B.A. degree from Northern Illinois University. His undergraduate degree is from Southern Illinois University with a major in agricultural mechanization and a minor in computer science. Being an Extension professor has afforded Dr. Ibendahl a chance to work with farmers out in the field helping them solve production and financial problems.

Danny Klinefelter is a Professor and Extension Economist with Texas Agrilife Extension and Texas A&M University.

He is the director of The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP) and co-director of the Texas A&M Family and Owner-Managed Business Program. In addition, he serves as Executive Secretary for the Association of Agricultural Production Executives (AAPEX) and coordinator of the Planning the Return to the Farm/Ranch Program. In 2006, he was named College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Honor Professor. He is a member of the board of Ag Texas Farm Credit Services and President of his family’s Illinois farm corporation.

Prior to his academic career, he spent 10 years in commercial banking and the Farm Credit System. He is author or co-author of 8 books and over 500 articles. In 2009, the 25th anniversary issues of the Top Producer Magazine listed him as one of the 25 people in the world who will have the greatest influence on the future of American Agriculture.

Gavin Maguire, Director of E Hedger, LLC, Gavin oversees the firm's analysis of and commentaries on the commodities futures markets, ensuring E Hedger customers are kept up-to-date with all of the latest major trends in the commodities arena. Before joining E Hedger, LLC, Gavin worked as a financial commodities journalist for Dow Jones Newswires, first in London, UK and then in New York, making regular contributions to the Wall Street Journal, Barron's and other publications as well as appearing on CNBC programs. Using his international background and journalism experience, Gavin provides E Hedger customers with breaking news and strategic insights needed to succeed in today's volatile marketplace.

Ray Owens has been on the Research staff at the Richmond Fed since 1983.  He currently serves as a research advisor and senior economist as well as a member of the Bank's monetary policy group. 

Ray focuses on analyzing national and regional economic conditions, and conducts research in economic policy and urban economics.  He learns a great deal about the economy from people he meets and so maintains close contact with the business community and public.

Ray holds degrees in Economics from Virginia Tech.

Véronique PILET graduate of the National Institute of Agronomic Studies of Montpellier (France), I have an MSc degree in agricultural economics. After two years at FNPL, the French Dairy Farmers National Federation based at La Maison du Lait in Paris, I signed up at CNIEL in 2007. CNIEL is a national ‘cross-industry’ organisation that represents the interests of both dairy farmers and processors. Under the supervision of Benoît Rouyer, director of the economics department, I am in charge of economic issues such as market trends, the relations between farmers and processors, risk management.

Dr. Wisner was born and raised on a grain and livestock farm in southeastern Michigan.  He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University, where he worked as a Research Assistant in grain price analysis.  After obtaining a Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee, where he was a marketing research assistant, Dr. Wisner joined the faculty at Iowa State University in 1967.   He was University Professor of Economics and Coles (endowed chair) Professor of International Agriculture at ISU until retiring in December 2007.    He re-joined ISU in March 2008 and is now a bio-fuels economist in the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.

Professor Wisner has served on short-term foreign assignments in Eastern and Western Europe, Canada, Japan, Brazil, China, Trinidad, Turkey, Sweden, Israel, Uruguay, Israel, and Argentina.  He has served as a Senior Economist with the U.S. Cost of Living Council in Washington, D.C., a visiting professor at the University of Nebraska Agricultural Marketing Center, and a Big 12 Fellow at Texas A & M. University.  Dr. Wisner has authored over 1,500 publications on grain and oilseed marketing, international trade in farm products, biofuels economics, agricultural risk management, farm policy, and the grain and oilseed market outlook.  He also has been a consultant for several agribusiness organizations in the U.S.
Professor Wisner’s work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, New York Times, U.K. Manchester Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor, London Economist, London Financial Times, Tokyo Futures Tribune, Associated Press, Reuter News Service, Dow Jones News Service,  Fortune Magazine, and Bloomberg Business News.  His analyses also have been used by the British Broadcasting Company, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Voice of America, National Public Radio, and CBS and NBC Television.  Dr. Wisner’s work has appeared throughout the North American Grain Belt in major farm publications, electronic media, and farm radio broadcasts.  It also has been used extensively in Japan, China, and Brazil and has provided input for European biotechnology and biofuels policies.

Professor Wisner has received an unprecedented twelve outstanding economic forecasting awards from the Extension group of the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA), as well as well as two other major awards from the association for outstanding Extension work.  In 1995, he received ISU Extension’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Award.   In 1997, Dr. Wisner was promoted from full professor to University Professor.  In 2002, he was awarded the Coles Professor of International Agriculture position, an endowed chair at ISU.

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