Grain merchants

Grain merchants buy grain from farms and sell it to consumers. Between the buying and the selling, they are concerned with the quality, market value, shipping, processing, and storage of the grain. In effect, they are liaisons between the farmer and the eventual user or consumer of the grain. The regulation activities of the grain merchant create an efficient market for grain around the world. Grain merchants work as either grain buyers or grain managers.

Wikipedia

The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agricultural products. Healthy grain supply and trade is important to many societies, providing a caloric base for most food systems as well as important role in animal feed for animal agriculture.
The grain trade is as old as agricultural settlement, identified in many of the early cultures that adopted sedentary farming. Major societal changes have been directly connected to the grain trade, such as the fall of the Roman Empire. From the early modern period onward, grain trade has been an important part of colonial expansion and international power dynamics. The geopolitical dominance of countries like Australia, the United States, Canada and the Soviet Union during the 20th century was connected with their status as grain surplus countries.

Grain Traders Tracking Many Issues

References

1. Wikipedia
2. https://vault.com/professions/grain-merchants
3. Mealman: a grain merchant. The earliest known use of the noun mealman is in the early 1500s. < link >
4. “The Grain Merchants: An Illustrated History of the Grain Exchange” by Dave Kenney. < link >
5. “Merchants of Grain: The Power and Profits of the Five Giant Companies at the Center of the World's Food Supply.” (Paperback – October 19, 2000) by Dan Morgan. < link >
6. “Many grain traders stay busy keeping an eye on various issues. Mark Oppold explains what some of those are.” < link >