Yesterday we hosted an exciting live webinar with Barchart’s Senior Sales Executive, Ryan Nelson, and Product Analyst, Kristyn Tarpey. If you attended, we hope you enjoyed the webinar! If you weren’t able to attend, here’s a recap of what we covered…

The webinar started with a discussion on how sourcing grain has evolved in recent years.  Ryan explains how as grain sourcing evolves, the sophisticated companies will still be sophisticated and the less sophisticated companies will still be less sophisticated, but because of the tools available for food and beverage companies, everyone is making a shift up the chain.  Kristyn agrees and adds that technological advances are on an exponential curve and companies that are further down on that curve have a ways to go before they can reach a fast rate of growth. 

Kristyn also dives into the importance of sustainability to customers.  She points out that a lot of companies are trying to address their environmental impact.  Ryan adds that “sustainability is the new black” and goes on to say “the days of sourcing grain and just trusting your supplier are over now that people have more and more technology at their fingertips”.  Kristyn jumps in to add that by sourcing grain locally companies are cutting down on transmissions and reducing their environmental footprint.  

The conversation transitions into the impact COVID-19 has had on food supply chains, including causing labor shortages, increasing costs, transportation issues, and inflation.  They then jump into a discussion on the challenges that food companies face when sourcing grain, including weather conditions, shifting consumer trends towards alternative proteins, and the need to reduce costs and maximize productivity

Ryan then gave a demo of cmdtyView, giving an overview of the vast commodity data available in the cmdty ecosystem, as well as the tools available for food and beverage professionals.  A few keys tools Ryan highlighted are: 

Advanced Charting
With cmdtyView, our best-in-class charting capabilities are delivered to you on any device. 

CPN Contributors
Through the Commodity Pricing Network (CPN), you can access commodity data from the leading contributors in food and ingredient data.

Benchmark Prices
Our domestic and international benchmarks provide an objective and localized measure of price.

Following the cmdtyView demo, there was a Q&A session, which provided insight into the importance of transparency in the food and beverage supply chain, as well as real-world examples on how food and beverage companies can use commodity data from Barchart to source grain more strategically.  This recap only scratches the surface, so make sure to watch the full livestream here! To learn more about the solutions available from cmdty, please visit our website.