Taste trumps value as long as consumers perceive a difference.

It may be claimed that the outlook for grain-based foods is as tied to the behavior of oil as it is to the fluctuations in wheat.

Grain markets performing like those of recent months once again reinforce skeptics about anyone’s ability to forecast grain price moves, even when undertaken by the most astute and experienced participants.

As praiseworthy as the transparency goal may be, stepped-up regulation of markets that have operated well without it makes no sense.

Exchanges assert the current C.F.T.C. system addresses ‘excessive speculation,’ while some users seek tighter controls