There are important challenges to the grain handling and shipping industries. The study evaluated changes in marketing costs for the primary grain marketing functions and quantified measures of risk. The results indicate that 1) basis risk has increased; 2) all marketing costs have increased; 3) the...

There has been massive investment in agricultural assets including farmland, handling and trading, technology, fertilizer, and others. Studies about investing in farmlands have been extensive, but have limited focus on investing IN non-farmland agricultural assets. This paper analyzes the role...

One of the impacts of higher prices along with greater volatility in futures and basis is that there is pressure for an escalation in cash contracting for grain. This volatility has resulted in an unprecedented level of contracting with growers for specific purchases in recent years. There is a...

Buyers of grain use premiums and discounts to convey to suppliers the value of quality characteristics. Premiums and discounts are determined by supply and demand for those quality characteristics. This report, the eighth in a series, contains the results of a 1991 survey of pricing and...