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 When the COVID-19 crisis began to send ripple effects through
the ag community, the farmdocDaily team reacted quickly.
“In this extraordinary time we try to get out as much
information as we can to help people understand what's going on
with agriculture, in Illinois or anywhere in the country,” says
Todd Hubbs, agricultural economist at the University of
Illinois.
The farmdoc program has always had a goal to provide the best
unbiased economic information and analysis for Illinois, says
Scott Irwin, Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing
at U of I. “Our new webinar series during the coronavirus
pandemic is another way of fulfilling that goal.”
Hubbs, Irwin, and farmdoc colleagues Nick Paulson, Gary
Schnitkey, Jonathan Coppess, Dale Lattz, and Bruce Sherrick from
the U of I Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics put
together the webinar series to cover a range of topics related
to coronavirus and agriculture.
They started out on March 20 with a panel discussion on how the
coronavirus impacts ag markets, planting decisions, and
agricultural policy.
The farmdoc team continues to hold webinars twice a week,
usually Tuesdays and Fridays, featuring a range of speakers who
are experts in their fields. Topics include livestock and
infectious disease, finances, global transportation and cash
flow, farm policy, acreage decisions, lending markets, supply
logistics, crop-planting decisions, food prices and the retail
food sector, ag trade, and more.
“Very informative and down-to-earth presentation with science
backed experience,” one viewer said in a comment. "Fantastic
presentation. I am anxious to share the webinar with friends and
family so they can understand the severity of the issue,”
another commenter wrote.
People can attend the live webinars or view
recordings on the farmdoc website or at the farmdoc Youtube
channel. Total attendance at the live webinars has exceed 4,000
to date, with viewers hailing from around the world, though most
are from Illinois and surrounding states. Subsequent tweets
about each webinar typically generate 5,000 to 6,000
impressions.
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The webinars are interactive; people are encouraged to ask
questions in the comments, and the speakers regularly conduct
polls on various topics.
The farmdoc team has webinars planned until May 5,
but they intend to continue as long as the need is there. The
group’s mission has always been to provide timely, science-based
information to help ag producers make sound management decisions,
and that may be more important now than ever before.
“We just want to get the information out so ag producers can make
decisions,” Hubbs says. “That’s why we always do what we do. And
this scenario is really extraordinary and bad.”
And it sounds like viewers appreciate the effort. “This service is a
nice touch since the stock market and commodity markets are
dreadful. We need positive input to feel good about putting our
economic resources in the ground in the next 60 days,” one commenter
said.
“We are pleased to see such a great response to the new webinars and
glad to see that they are helpful to Illinois agriculture during
this extraordinarily difficult time,” Irwin notes.
The coronavirus and ag live webinar series is available on the
farmdoc website, where you can also register for upcoming webinars.
farmdocDaily is housed in the Department of Agricultural and
Consumer Economics, College of Agricultural, Consumer and
Environmental Sciences (ACES), University of Illinois.
The farmdoc team is supported by industry donations. The team
recently announced two new sponsorships, with Strategic Farm
Marketing & Crop Insurance as Gold sponsor and GROWMARK as Platinum
sponsor. To learn more about farmdocDaily and support their work,
visit https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/
[Sources: Todd Hubbs,Scott
Irwin,
News writer: Marianne Stein]
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