Patent ID: 7124108

Claim:
A method of facilitating the formation of agricultural contracts for the future contracting of agricultural commodities using the Internet comprising the steps of: (a) providing a Web server connected to the Internet; (b) providing, in operative communication with the server, a centralized database system for the storage and retrieval of data including data related to types or amounts of an agricultural commodity; (c) storing data in the database system relating to types and amounts of agricultural commodities desired by one or more potential agricultural commodity buyers and establishing a defined allocation of an amount of a type of agricultural commodity according to at least one allocation parameter, wherein at least one of the at least one allocation parameter is set to reduce risk associated with future contracting of agricultural commodities; (d) in response to a command input into the system, displaying a listing of desired commodities including information related to the types, amounts available or deliveries committed of the commodities; (e) in response to input from a buyer or supplier, designating a specific contract program; (f) after being provided the ability to review listings on the system, receiving input data from a potential supplier for an agricultural commodity relating to a specific type and amount of a commodity which the supplier is willing to commit to growing and supplying to the buyer at harvest or after harvest; (g) comparing the input data from the supplier with current data from the buyer, including desired type, amount available, and the at least one allocation parameter: (h) if the input data from a supplier exceeds the amount of an allocation parameter for the supplier, requiring resubmission of at least some input data from the supplier for the supplier to continue; for a specific type and amount of the commodity to be grown or provided by the supplier for the buyer for review and consideration by buyer and supplier; and (j) dynamically and in substantially real time automatically decrementing the current amount available for contracting each time a pending contract is issued.