CORPUS CHRISTI  –  A South Texas crop risk management workshop will be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 25 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi, 10345 State Highway 44.

The workshop will be conducted by Texas AgriLife Extension Service grain and cotton marking specialists, according to Jeff Stapper, the agency’s agriculture and natural resources agent in Nueces County.

“As we look ahead to 2012, it’s obvious that continued dry weather and high input prices will make crop production and marketing risk management decisions even more difficult,” he said.

The workshop will focus on incorporating crop insurance products with marketing strategies to help growers develop a marketing plan to manage risks and thereby improve overall farm risk management, Stapper said.

“A new software tool will be demonstrated that will evaluate risk implications with various insurance alternatives,” he said. “The software will be made available free to all workshop participants.”

A market outlook for feed grains and cotton as they pertain to planting and marketing decisions will be among the topics discussed, Stapper said.

“The workshop will conclude with a hands-on decision exercise where participants choose crops, insurance products, pre-harvest marketing strategies and post-harvest strategies. This exercise is a realistic learning activity designed to integrate the discussion about crop mix, production costs, insurance, marketing and risk,” he said.

The workshop is sponsored by AgriLife Extension, Texas Ag Finance, Capital Farm Credit, Frontier Risk Management and Secrest Crop Insurance.

Registration is $20 per participant. For more information, call the AgriLife Extension office in Nueces County at 361-767-5223.