The theme for this year’s conference is “Now More Than Ever” because in this time of unprecedented economic upheaval, it’s never been more important than it is now to understand the forces that are affecting the supply and demand for commodities.
That’s what the Outlook Conference is all about. From its inception, its mission has been to help producers, processors, and end users of food commodities to see what’s coming down the road, so that they can do a better job of preparing for and protecting against risk.
This year, as in the past, Conference speakers will address not only dairy, grains, and energy, but currencies and the global economy as well. And, as in previous years, one of the benefits of the conference will be the opportunity to meet and mingle with your peers at other companies, as well as producers, managers, and executives across the entire food-production supply chain.
But this year will be different. More than ever, our speakers are going to
focus on how you and your colleagues can prepare for the turbulence and
uncertainty ahead – in energy, in grains, and in dairy.
At this stage, we’re still finalizing speakers and topics for the 2009 Conference, but so far we’ve confirmed Jim Webster, who will address the legislative outlook; dairy economists Bill Brooks and Ken Bailey; Ryan Turner, Food Service Group Director for FCStone; climatologist Drew Lerner; Peter Ullrich, President and CEO of Ullrich Analytics; David Hightower, principal and founder of "The Hightower Report"; Douglas Southgate, Ohio State University agricultural economist and co-author of
The World Food Economy; and keynote speaker Dennis Gartman, whose influential “Gartman Letter” is read by many of the nation’s leading banks, brokerage firms, mutual funds, hedge funds, energy trading companies, and grain trading firms.
