The ringing phone startled me on a sunny day about 12 years ago. We usually only remember such phone calls when babies are born, somebody we love dies, or one of our children calls with a grand announcement.

This particular call resonates through the years because it was a farmer calling to tell me he had made money on his farm — money he wouldn’t have made otherwise — because of something he learned in a marketing game we hosted at Southern Farmer magazine.

It was a good thing that I pulled over in the mountains of Georgia to take the call from Neal Isbell. Otherwise, I might have run off the road.

The call is memorable because Isbell confirmed we were doing something right at Southern Farmer, a Farm Progress publication no longer in circulation. The call was a grand announcement from a farmer.

It was also memorable, because initially, Isbell didn’t want to participate in the game. Fellow Alabama farmers Steve Ford and Nick McMichen talked him into it.

It was the second year that we hosted a virtual marketing competition for farmers from five states to participate in, with help from the University of Florida.

The farmers could trade only agricultural commodities. Each team of five farmers competed with similar teams from four other states. The winners were decided based on which team made the most money at the end of the game.

The biggest wins, however, weren’t recorded. Those wins were the personal gains each farmer made as a result of increased know-how that led to higher earnings.

I’ve heard from more of those farmers since the call from Isbell that day along the drive to a livestock field day in Blairsville, Ga. Isbell called to say thank you. And, yet, it is I who owes him.

Here’s why

Isbell sharpened my focus. That call is one of the reasons I’m now at Farm Futures. On that day, I truly understood that our calling as ag journalists is to help farmers make a profit. Call it economical sustainability. Call it generational commitment. Call it earnings.

Ag journalists write about the bugs that cause grief, the weeds that won’t die and the uncle who refuses to teach the next generation how to lead the farm. All of that — every character on the page — is worth a farmer’s time because it helps to improve profitability.

Hosting that game grew out of Ford’s answer to my oft-repeated questions: What content do you need? What information do you have trouble finding? How can we better serve you?

“Economics. Marketing,” Ford had answered.

“OK,” I replied.

What followed was a long drive home trying to get my head around his answer. Economics and marketing have been top of mind ever since.

Ag journalists are all about words. But it’s the numbers that make a generational business, support farm life and drive our rural economies.

And so I ask you: What content do you need? How can we better serve you? Contact me at 850-758-8700 or [email protected] to let us know how we can deliver content that leads you to higher profit.