Abstract
This thesis explores the marketing strategies of Idaho wheat producers and the factors affecting their decision-making, with a primary focus on managing price and market risks. Two approaches were conducted, including focus group discussions and a statewide survey. For focus groups, we found participating producers have used various tools, including cash sales, forward contracts, derivative contracts, and the store-and-sell-later strategy. Beyond financial and operational considerations, participants emphasized the influence of social, behavioral, and external factors on their marketing decisions. This is likely due to the region’s heavy reliance on export markets and the recent unprecedented volatility caused by geopolitical events.
While focus groups helped shape initial hypotheses, the statewide survey provided a more representative sample to test whether those factors held statistical relevance. Cash sales emerged as the predominant marketing method (65.59%), followed by forward contracting (21.45%), derivatives (7.22%), and production contracting (4.27%). Although non-traditional factors such as social influences and mental health were expressed as relevant during focus group discussions, results found them to be statistically insignificant.
Two key findings emerged from this work. First, focus group participants consistently expressed a lack of formal marketing education passed down from previous generations, highlighting a potential gap in intergenerational knowledge transfer that may limit producers’ ability to navigate evolving markets. Second, regression results suggest that producers are not adjusting their marketing strategies in response to perceived market volatility, indicating an area for further research and the development of targeted extension programming.