An agricultural products buyer purchases grain, milk, livestock feed, produce, tobacco or trees from farmers and sells or processes them at a profit. The job rests on three things: knowing what a crop is worth (markets, basis, quality), building trust with farmers so they sell to you, and keeping clean records and contracts. This roadmap starts with how ag markets work, moves to the math, contracts and logistics you need to get hired as a grain or commodity merchandising trainee, then builds to risk management, hedging and running a book of business. Everything here is free. You do not need a
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Every stage from beginner to expert, with lessons, practice drills, projects, interview questions and free resources. Free with a Rolearch account.
Stage 1 of 3 · about 8 weeks
Understand how farm products are grown, graded, priced and moved, and become comfortable with the numbers and the vocabulary.
How ag markets and prices work
Every buying decision starts with price. Cash price = futures price + basis. Basis is the local gap that reflects transport costs, storage and local supply and demand. If you understand this, you understand what a farmer is asking and what your company can afford to pay.
Crop and product quality and grading
Price depends on quality. Grain is discounted for moisture, damaged kernels, test weight and foreign material. Milk is priced on butterfat, protein and somatic cell count. If you cannot grade, you will overpay or lose farmers' trust.
Business math and Excel
You will convert bushels, hundredweight and metric tons, compute shrink, price per unit and margins, and track inventory. Mistakes here cost real money.
Supply chain basics: storage and transportation
Buying grain you cannot store or ship is a liability. Knowing truck, rail and barge options, and storage costs such as shrink and interest, tells you which bids make sense.
Then 2 more stages (about 32 weeks in all) with lessons, drills, projects, 6 interview questions with strong answers and free resources.