ABSTRACT
Paralleling the physical system for marketing grains is the pricing system, which provides for the interchange of bids, offers, and agreements to buy and sell among traders throughout the country and the world. The prices of grains, relative to each other and to other commodities, determine how much land, labor, machinery, and other inputs will be used in growing, storing, processing, and distributing grain and grain products. Sales of grains and oilseeds account for about one-fourth of US gross farm income, so farm prices for these commodities are key determinants of income for agriculture as a whole. Participants in the grain trade beyond the level of the farmer and first handler include subterminal elevators, terminal elevators, processors, feeders, exporters, and foreign buyers. Floor trading in spot grains reached its heyday in the era when country grain buyers commonly shipped grain on consignment to grain brokers at the terminal markets.
