Commodity Challenge is a joint project of Montana MarketManager, an educational program of the Montana Grain Growers Association and Dr. Kevin McNew Montana State University Marketing Specialist. The goal of Commodity Challenge is to give farmers and ranchers an opportunity to build their marketing skills in a risk-free simulated environment.

Commodity Challenge Version 1.0 was launched in February of 2002 for producers in Montana. In Commodity Challenge 1.0, participants traded commodities on the futures, options, and cash markets to lock in prices, manage risk, and execute their marketing plans in a realistic simulated trading environment. Just as in real life, participants paid commissions on their trades, paid fees for their stored crops, and sold on their actual local cash market prices.

Commodity Challenge 2.0 was launched in early fall of 2002. In addition to the features of the first round, many improvements have been made to make Commodity Challenge an even more valuable learning tool. Improvements include ability to make trades that can be filled instantly throughout the day, interactive charting software to track basis, cash prices, and futures in hundreds of locations across the country, a live news feed to monitor the moving events, and an on-line marketing resource library to answer most of your marketing questions.

In the fall of 2004 Commodity Challenge 3.0 was released. Commodity Challenge 3.0 was developed for the specific use of Soft White Wheat producers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. With the addition of Soft White Wheat Cash prices, even more producers are able to utilize the features of Commodity Challenge with the commodity that is unique to their area.

In January of 2005 the creators of Commodity Challenge created two other games. The first, MarketMaxx (www.marketmaxx.net) was created for the Corn and Soybean Digest. This game was developed for the readership of the Corn and Soybean Digest and was played primarily by Midwest corn and soybean growers. The second game was Canola Challenge (www.canolachallenge.ca) for the Manitoba Canola Growers Association and Cargill AgHorizons. This game utilized contracting applications.

With the July release of Commodity Challenge 4.0 we have added yet more features to the gamut. The two new features, we feel, strike at the core of what Commodity Challenge is all about. The first, the Marketing Plan Implementer, allows users to create a marketing plan for their crop based on price and date triggers. Setting a target price (hopefully above your breakeven) and the date for that price to be activated and then viewing your decisions in an easy-to-read format enables a producer to “implement” their marketing plan with ease.

The second feature we added is the option to utilize Forward Cash Contracts. The addition of the Forward Cash Contract allows producers to simulate a typical forward contract of “fixing” the futures and basis to cover the downside in a bear market. One of the most common marketing tools used with an elevator, Forward Cash Contracts is a welcomed addition to the Commodity Challenge game.

If you are interested in learning more about Commodity Challenge or have specific questions or inquiries about Commodity Challenge, please send an email to Montana MarketManager at mgga@mgga.org.

Thank you for your interest!