What a Hedging Consultant Actually Does
The word consultant covers a lot, so be specific about what you need. A working hedging consultant starts with your exposure: how many bushels you will sell and when, what your inputs cost, what your break-even is, and how much price risk your lender and your family can tolerate. From there, they help you build a written plan — what portion of the crop to price at each stage, with which tool, at what trigger levels.
Then comes the part most farmers value most: execution support. Markets move while you are in the field. A consultant who is also your broker can watch the board, call you when a target hits, and place the hedge on your instruction, so the plan actually gets executed instead of living in a drawer. That ongoing presence is the real difference between a consultant and a one-time report.
Hedging Beyond Grain Sales
- Crop revenue — corn, soybeans, and wheat sales spread across the marketing year.
- Input costs — diesel and natural gas exposure can be hedged the same way you hedge grain.
- Livestock operations — cattle and hog producers hedge both animal prices and feed costs.
- Storage decisions — carrying charge and basis affect whether the bin or the market pays you better.
- Crop insurance coordination — hedges should complement, not conflict with, your insurance coverage.
What to Expect From a Good Consulting Relationship
Expect questions before advice. Anyone recommending a hedge before understanding your operation is guessing. Expect plain language about trade-offs — every hedging tool gives something up, whether it is margin exposure, premium cost, or delivery obligation. And expect honesty about outcomes: no hedge program wins every year, and the goal is protecting your margin across the years, not beating the market in any one of them. Expect a written record of decisions and the reasoning behind them, so next year's plan starts from evidence rather than memory.
CCS has consulted with Indiana agricultural producers since 1983, and its Scale-In program — forward-contract-based, with no margin calls or daily settlement — grew out of that work. A good consultant also tells you when doing nothing is the right trade. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors.