Jaton Shaffer

​I write to you all again from the Deland Farmers Cooperative in Deland, IL. After completing my second job-shadowing experience with Leland the manager, I am continuing to learn more about the importance and challenges of managing an elevator. Similar to the last time I met with Leland we spent much of the day visiting with farmers over the phone and providing much the same advice and continuing to build many of the same personal relationships that Leland stressed upon building during my last visit. I continued to observe as he guided customers in key marketing decisions and helped them make the best decisions for their operations. We discussed many of the preparations that must be made for new crops to be brought into the elevator such as maintenance to the conveyors, legs, and pits as well as cleaning the bins to limit contamination or damage from crops stored through the summer months or leftovers that weren’t originally hauled out. Leland talked about many of the challenges and factors that he must deal with when considering how and when to sell or market grain. Sharing that one of the most important decisions he must make is to understand how local markets will react to something that may be occurring across the globe. Often you may expect a big rally or shift on a localized basis that will not materialize or simply no reaction will happen at all and that creates a challenge for the elevator to be able to capture profits. He challenged me to think outside of the typical pricing measures and ways of gaining a profit that I am used to using from my family's farm and understand more in-depth how an elevator captures profit utilizing many of the hedging procedures we had previously discussed. He also cited that often basis can be much more predictable than commodity prices and he as the elevator manager must find ways to use the predictability to his advantage and create profit for the elevator. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time learning from Leland and as a part of the Grain and Feed Scholarship program. As I continue to pursue a career in the grain industry I hope that the connections I have built through this scholarship program will continue to be invaluable.