North Dakota State University’s Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department will have a commodity trading room (CTR) available for students this fall.

The CTR will be a teaching platform for commodity trading, marketing, logistics and risk management. It will feature advanced information sources, trading software and analytical tools. The CTR will be in NDSU’s Barry Hall.

“The CTR will allow us to be more effective teachers of commodity trading, escalate the sophistication of training for our current students and, eventually, increase enrollment among students interested in pursuing careers in the commodity trading field,” says William Wilson, professor in the Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department.

The CTR is made possible, in part, by a donation of $250,000 from the Archer Daniels Midland Company.

“As a global agricultural business that connects crops with markets around the world, ADM relies on the acumen of our commodity merchandisers every day,” says Scott Nagel, president of ADM-Benson Quinn. “North Dakota State University has a long tradition of preparing students for the complex world of agricultural commodity trading, and we are pleased to help them continue this leadership with our investment in the Commodity Trading Room. We are confident it will help develop the next generation of industry leaders.”

The CTR will feature:

• A trading room atmosphere with market information displays
• Thirty-two seats with computers and access to information and software
• Access to information from Thompson-Reuters and other information providers
• Trading/analytical software and trade simulation packages to allow direct trading on a live platform
• Position report software
• Commodity logistics software, such as EKA and Triple Point
• Software for risk analysis, forecasting and logistics

“The CTR will be flexible to allow for the inclusion of other software and information as these become available,” Wilson says. “NDSU will include the use of the CRT in current courses and also will introduce new courses that can make use of the teaching platform.”

“This is a continuation of NDSU agriculture investing, in collaboration with industry partners, to keep its research and teaching state of the art,” says Ken Grafton, NDSU College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources dean and North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station director. “NDSU will have the ability to escalate the sophistication of training so our students are better prepared for their careers.”

The CTR also can be used for targeted industry programs, including those for individual firms, industry organizations and marketing clubs. The Northern Crops Institute at NDSU will use the CTR to teach grain importers about grain procurement and risk management. ADM will use the CTR to provide specialized training for early to midcareer ADM commodity traders.

The North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, NDSU vice president of Academic Affairs and the Technology Fee Assessment Committee also have provided funding.

NDSU Agriculture Communication