Jessica Groskopf, a Nebraska Extension Ag Economics educator based at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center, was part of a team that received national recognition for their efforts to introduce farmers to the Grain Marketing Plan smartphone application, a decision-making tool developed by Nebraska Extension.

The National Association of County Agricultural Agents recognized Professional Excellence in Applied Research Posters at the Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference recently in Chattanooga, Tenn. Third place went to the poster by Groskopf, along with co-authors Robert Tigner, Extension educator at North Platte; and Cory Walters, Extension specialist based in Lincoln.

The poster discussed adoption of the Grain Marketing Plan app by farmers who attended “Developing a Grain Marketing Plan” workshops, and the impact of the app on their decision making.

The smartphone app is a customizable electronic grain marketing plan with a built-in reminder system. Once a farmer has developed a marketing plan, they can input their decision statements into their smartphone. When a price or date target is hit, the farmer will receive a notice encouraging them to take action. The application features a pre-harvest and post-harvest marketing plans and is available for corn, soybeans and winter wheat.

Groskopf, who has been an extension educator at the Panhandle Center since 2012, and her colleagues conducted a series of workshops to help producers in developing and implementing grain-marketing plans using the Grain Marketing Plan app.