Agricultural Finance: From Crops to Land, Water and Infrastructure (The Wiley Finance Series) - Hardcover

Geman, Helyette

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1118827384 ISBN 13: 9781118827383

Publisher: Wiley, 2015

Synopsis

A comprehensive resource for understanding the complexities of agricultural finance

Agricultural Finance: From Crops to Land, Water, and Infrastructure is a pioneering book that offers a comprehensive resource for understanding the worldwide agriculture markets, from spikes in agricultural commodity prices to trading strategies, and the agribusiness industry generally to the challenges of feeding the planet in particular. The book also goes in-depth on the topics of land, water, fertilizers, biofuels, and ethanol. Written by Helyette Geman―an industry expert in commodity derivatives―this book explores the agricultural marketplace and the cycles in agricultural commodity prices that can be the key to investor success.

This resource addresses a wide range of other important topics as well, including agricultural insurance, energy, shipping and bunker prices, sustainability, investments in land, subsidies, agricultural derivatives, and farming risk-management. Other topics covered include structured products and agricultural commodities ETFs; trade finance in an era of credit shortage; securitization and commodity-linked notes; grains: wheat, corn, soybeans; softs: coffee, cocoa, cotton; shipping as a key component of agricultural trade; and the major agricultural shipping routes and the costs. The book:

• Offers the first comprehensive resource that deals with the all aspects of agricultural finance
• Includes information that is crucial for pension funds, asset managers, hedge funds, agribusiness corporates, CTAs and regulators
• Covers a range of topics from agricultural bunker prices, futures, options to major shipping routes and the costs

This text is a must-have resource for accessing the information required to trade successfully in the agricultural marketplace.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Praise for Agricultural Finance

'This is the only real treatment of the subject of agricultural commodities, and a most excellent and complete one. Own two copies of the book, in case you misplace one!'
―Nassim Taleb, former trader and Author of The Black Swan

'An excellent book by an expert on the theory and applications of forwards, Futures and exotics in agricultural finance.'
―Emanuel Derman Author, My Life as a Quant and Models.Behaving.Badly

'Who else but Hélyette Geman could have written the definitive book on agricultural finance? Hélyette has a deep knowledge of the institutional features of these markets and she understands better than anyone else the intricacies of the mathematical models of commodity derivatives. She has produced a wonderfully written and fully enjoyable book that is a must for both practitioners and academics in this field.'
―Eduardo Schwartz, UCLA Anderson School of Management Author of the founding models for Options on Crude Oil /Energy and Real Options

'Internationally-renowned mathematical finance innovator, Hélyette Geman, is to be commended for generously providing commodity participants with a much-needed reference book on agricultural finance. This new volume includes both the analytical underpinnings of various agricultural finance advances as well as the key factors that drive the diverse constituents of the agricultural marketplace. This book comes at an opportune time, as one notes the damaging impact of recent food price volatility, especially in developing countries.'
―Hilary Till, Principal, Premia Capital Management, LLC; Co-Editor, Intelligent Commodity Investing

'This is a timely book, urgently needed due to the recent heightened interest and increasing investment in agricultural commodities. Written by a renowned expert in finance and commodities, the book will unquestionably become standard reading for everyone who wants to understand the structure, unique characteristics and very special risk management tools employed in agricultural markets.'
―Alexander Eydeland, Ph.D. Managing Director, Commodities, Morgan Stanley

'A commanding intellect in the fields of commodities and mathematics, Hélyette Geman presents the evolutionary path of agriculture from past millennia to present day. Her volume provides a clear portrait of how the intersecting trends of globalization, demographic change, and advancements in finance and trade are transforming supply the chain dynamics and risk management possibilities. Policy makers concerned with food security should welcome this book as a fundamental guide to understanding 21st Century agricultural markets.'
―Ann Berg, Former Director of the Chicago Board of Trade and Senior Advisor to UN-FAO

From the Inside Flap:

Agriculture is the most important asset class both for the world population and as an investment vehicle for pension funds and other financial institutions, and yet it receives little serious attention. Agricultural Finance is a comprehensive resource on the topic, addressing all relevant factors from both conceptual and technical perspectives. This book also introduces the major agricultural commodities and provides essential background information on their pricing cycles, risk factors, markets, trade routes, and outlooks.

The global population is projected to reach 9 billion before 2050, and food is a pressing economic, social, political, and moral issue. You will learn in Agricultural Finance what this unprecedented situation means for commodity exchanges, agribusiness equities, and a whole range of derivatives and complex instruments, including:

• Successful calendar spread and Futures-based strategies
• Swaptions and accumulators
• Crush spreads and quanto options
• Commodity-specific issues in corn, soybeans, coffee, sugar, cotton, and fertilizers
• Infrastructure development and digital farming around the world
• Real options contained in the ownership of physical assets in agriculture

Deregulation of electricity and natural gas markets created an explosion of new products in the 2000s; world food needs are bringing to this decade innovative agriculture-related instruments and strategies in the management of physical assets and infrastructure.

Written by one of the world's top derivatives experts, Agricultural Finance accounts for every eventuality. You'll learn how weather patterns, country risk, government price subsidies, new players in land acquisition, and a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions can be worked into portfolio construction and quantitative pricing models. In the volatile world of agricultural commodities where weather risk is the dominant factor, investors who proceed with a solid foundation of knowledge will be the ones who will master this fascinating subject. Agricultural Finance will help you understand a space where demand can be made predictable and supply remains the key source of price uncertainty.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1118827384
• ISBN 13: 9781118827383
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288