Farmers will also be able to find marketing information and get good advice on the site. But a lot of the specifics had to be worked out. For example, Rooster's execs still hadn't decided on the source of revenue for its marketing service, whether it will charge elevators, farmers, or a combination of the two. But the site has important advantages, he added. Its backing by large companies shows it will have staying power, something that elevators and grain buyers see as an advantage.
Rooster also brings impressive grain marketing expertise to the Internet.
He has managed oilseed processing plants in the U.S. and Brazil and was later in charge of Cargill's worldwide oilseed risk management. Schulze understands the relationship between oilseed prices in Rotterdam and your local basis. He says he wants to help farmers understand grain markets from the same perspective he had at Cargill. If Schulze can really do that, Rooster will be a formidable competitor. At this point, Rooster plans to launch its own online grain selling service sometime around late November.