Month: March 2014

This Week’s Commodity Comments by Jonah Bowles

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Jonah Bowles

Plows and Politics is proud to feature Commodity Comments, a weekly newsletter designed to provide agricultural producers with an analysis of current market trends by Farm Bureau Market Analyst Jonah Bowles.

Jonah 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 Bachelor’s 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 for three semesters at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Along with being published in Virginia, Commodity Comments is also published on an agricultural risk management Web site in Australia.

Click here to view Commodity Comments: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwdwqn87Kb-9TjFCLWlUdDlSWGs/edit?usp=sharing

Global Opportunities for Va. Farmers is Focus of Trade Conference

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A representative of Canada’s new trade office in Washington will meet with Virginia agribusinesses during the sixth annual Governor’s Conference on Agricultural Trade.

Those appointments are just one option for Virginia farmers and agribusiness professionals interested in learning about export opportunities at the March 6 and 7 event in Richmond.

Trade representatives from Japan, Vietnam, Panama and the European Union have been invited to talk about Virginia agricultural trade with their countries and how trade partnerships can be strengthened. Additionally, Gov. Terry McAuliffe will address his plans to make Virginia the East Coast capital for exported farm goods and will announce total figures for Virginia’s 2013 agricultural exports.

“This conference is an excellent chance for farmers and others associated with Virginia’s agricultural industry to learn more about export opportunities and to network with representatives of countries interested in trading with us,” said Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Commodity Marketing Director Spencer Neale. Farm Bureau is one of the conference’s organizers, along with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Port Authority and Virginia Tech’s Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics.

Conference details are available at here.