Dairy financial consultants and lending representatives are encouraged to save the date for the 10th annual Dairy Financial and Risk Management Conference, planned for Sept. 11 at the Central Penn Conference Center at 600 Valley Road in Summerdale, Pa.

It will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The annual event provides insight for dairy lenders and financial professionals to advise their dairy farm clients on how market dynamics could affect decisions, business planning and best management practices on the farm. Two of the featured speakers this year are Gary Sipiorski, Vita Plus, and Christine Brodeur, Dairy Farmers of America.

Sipiorski will speak about “Benchmarking to Avoid Financial Risk.” Currently the dairy development manager with Vita Plus, Sipiorski spent 17 years with Citizens State Bank of Loyal and worked his way up to president and CEO. In 2008, he transitioned to his current role at Vita Plus and continues to serve on the CSB board of directors. 

In addition, he served on the advisory committee on agriculture and industry for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He is also an adviser for the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin; a co-trainer of PDPW’s Financial Literacy for Dairy Program; and a regular contributor to Hoard’s Dairyman and other agricultural publications.

Brodeur is the dairy price risk administrator with Dairy Farmers of America’s Risk Management Division. She works with dairy farmer members in the Northeast and Southeast to build risk management plans for their operations, utilizing forward contracting and other options such as the new Dairy Revenue Protection Program available through the USDA. Brodeur will share risk management strategies DFA members are using and the fundamentals that should be part of any effective risk management plan.

The conference will also include two panel discussions. Mike Peachey, Acuity Advisors and CPAs, and George Cook, an attorney with Blakinger Byler & Thomas in Lancaster, will lead a session on helping producers through mergers, acquisitions and liquidations.

Kara McDonald, U.S. Dairy Export Council, and Jacqi Coleman and Judy Wisler, Dairy Management Inc., will follow Peachey and Cook with a panel on innovation and opportunities in dairy, both domestically and in the global marketplace.

The cost to attend this year’s Dairy Financial and Risk Management Conference is $200 per person, discounted to $150 for those who are representatives of the Center for Dairy Excellence Allies for Advancement.

Registration information will be available in June. For more information about the program, visit centerfordairyexcellence.org/dairy-financial-conference.

Source: Center for Dairy Excellence, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.