Optimal Grain Marketing Revisited: A German and Polish Perspective

Increasing grain price volatility over the last year has revived the discussion on optimal marketing strategies. Various models of optimal grain marketing have been proposed and simulated in the literature. In this study an overview on these models is presented and critical aspects are discussed. Optimal strategies are then applied to the wheat market in Germany and Poland. Results indicate that gains from optimal marketing are rather small and uncertain in the real world, indicating that scientific assistance might be of limited importance. However, an understanding of optimization and price generating processes is likely to improve farmers’ decisions, e.g. if farmers have additional (private) information to improve price forecasts.