Dan Manternach
Dan Manternach is a seasoned Agriculture Economist currently serving as Senior Economist for Commstock Investments of Royal, IA. In that capacity he welcomes opportunities to address farm groups of all kinds via webinar or live on-stage engagements.
Price range
- $4,000 - $7,000
Expert
- Chart technical analysis
- Crop price outlook
- Farm income outlook
- Farm succession planning
- Hedging strategies
- Livestock price outlook
- Performance benchmarking
- Trading strategies
Experience
- Agriculture
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About
Dan is currently on staff as a Senior Economist with Commstock Investments of Royal, Iowa. He writes the firm’s morning report and helps keep clients informed of market developments in corn, soybeans, wheat, cattle and hogs that will impact price trends. He also helps develop specific price risk management tactics and strategies as well as trading opportunities for clients.
Dan is also Founder and President of Perfect Fit Presentations LLC, where he does customized research and speaking engagements to ag groups of all kinds, now focused specifically on commodity price risk management for hedgers and commodity trading for Commstock clients.
Prior to forming Perfect Fit Presentations and later joining Commstock Investments as Senior Economist, Dan has been an executive with four of the leading ag consulting firms and addressed hundreds of meetings. He was named Ag Communicator of the Year by the National Agricultural Marketing Association (NAMA) and taught futures and options trading as Adjunct Instructor to graduate classes at the University of Northern Iowa while serving as President of Professional Farmers of America.
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Video Clips
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Topics
2023-24 Grain Price Outlook Under Three Weather Scenarios
Few of USDA’s reports impact markets more than its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates known as WASDE for short. Using his exclusive WASDE Wizard forecasting model, Dan enters the latest acreage estimates for corn and soybeans under three weather scenarios for the coming growing season and the impact on average farm price and even the likely range of prices under each.
2023-24 Beef & Pork Price Outlook by Quarter
Dan analyzes USDA’s latest quarterly price forecasts for cattle and hogs against current futures market offerings to separate what could be wise hedging opportunities for producers from those that aren’t. He even has a proven methodology using historical price relationships to convert USDA’s fed cattle price forecasts into “implied” forecasts for feeder cattle as well.
Likely Impact of Changes in New 5-Year Farm Bill
With the world facing the potential for a long-term food crisis, the stakes couldn’t be higher and much of what’s proposed for changes to farm policy will be dependent on the make-up of Congress after the mid-term elections this fall. Critical changes to crop insurance, existing conservation programs, and new programs to incentivize carbon capture and ongoing support for biofuels are all in the mix of issues with implications for farm income and risk management.
Current Farm Financial Health Situation & Outlook
Dan evaluates the latest data on key financial ratios for farmers in general and how they compare with the past for perspective. He identifies bands of relative strength, weakness, or “neutral” zones for these ratios and offers suggestions for how they can be used as “benchmarks” for evaluating individual farms for their current financial health, competitiveness, and outlook.
Latest Trends in Farm Succession Planning
With land values quickly rising to levels that make it near impossible to cash flow without heavy equity investment, gifting or inheritance, keeping legacy family farms “in the family” has gotten increasingly difficult. – especially true when there are multiple siblings involved. Dan offers the latest tactics for parents to “pass the torch” to the next generation without anyone getting “burned.”
Key Metrics of Competitive Costs of Production
Few questions are more loaded than asking a producer how competitive they are in costs of production or their marketing skills. The only answers that make sense are “Compared to what” or “Compared to who.” Dan has an ingenious way of utilizing university analysis of actual farm business records of hundreds of farms, enterprise-by-enterprise, as “performance benchmarks” updated each year.
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Testimonials
11 people have recommended this speaker
“Dan had great energy and passion for his material. He spoke intelligently about the markets and used his own spin on the data to give practical reasoning for his forecasts. He was great!”
“We asked for a motivational speech which would leave our producers feeling proud of the role they play in U.S. agriculture. You did it! The humorous, yet thought-provoking speech you gave in Minot seemed to go over very well with those in attendance.”
“Dan is a multi-talented ag market analyst, ag risk advisor and ag communicator. Although I worked with Dan for only a short while when I was at Doane, I've known him professionally for years. Dan offers years of experience and unique insight to his role.”
“I appreciate all the time and effort you put into making this a valuable webinar for our members. We had 108 people sign in and all but a couple stayed online to the very end. You could tell by the number and quality of questions that they were engaged!”
“You gave an excellent overview and your remarks were timely and informative. Your presentation style was bound to hold the attention of the audience. We received many compliments on the quality and substance of the meeting.”
“The amount of research that Dan did to present to our group was very evident. He really does make sure that his presentations are designed specifically for your company and what you want.”
“Thank you for again presenting cutting edge information for our program. I thought your Thursday morning session was one of the more important ones we've held in several years. Your presentation was on target, informative and entertaining at times, which I liked.”
“We SO enjoyed having Dan at our conference. He was a hit!”
“Dan was wonderful and exactly what I was wanting. The feedback was very positive. He was the only speaker that has spoken on marketing the last 10 years that actually talked about a marketing plan. Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions!”
“Last Winter, I saw a presentation given by Dan Manternach at an event hosted by InterAg/Bayer CropScience in Regina, Saskatchewan. I was impressed by the level of excitement he brought to a topic that is not always that exciting.”
“Wow! You did a great job! I have heard nothing but positive comments about your presentation. Your humor, tips, facts, anecdotes and professional manner gave our members attending knowledge and current information that was upbeat and kept their attention from first word to the last.”