Traditionally, marketing simulation games have focused on only parts of the producers marketing world, because they follow current commodity futures markets. As a result, the ability to learn how markets interact and ask questions about different marketing scenarios is limited.
These problems were taken into consideration when IANR Media’s team of web designers and mobile developers met with Cory Walters, University of Nebraska–Lincoln grain, oilseed and biofuels economist and Tina Kotsaku, a master’s degree student in the Department of Agricultural Economics to develop MINE.
IANR Media’s solution was to allow MINE to circumvent limited marketing scenarios by allowing for interaction in cash, futures and basis markets using historical commodity prices in a flexible trading environment through a number of selling points. Additionally, MINE incorporates crop insurance into the marketing environment to make the game more realistic
Because MINE selects from historical futures price patterns, a player does not know what kind of pricing environment, such as drought or a large crop, they will be experiencing. Users must be on the lookout for clues from the markets about what could be at stake for the marketing year they are entering.
Marketing In a New Era was introduced to the public at Nebraska Extension grain marketing seminars in the spring of 2017.
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The prices of agricultural commodities are ultimately dictated by supply and demand. Understanding available marketing choices and how they work is important for grain producers’ bottom line and strategic planning. Cory Walters Extension Grain Economist - University of Nebraska–Lincoln
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