U.S. Agricultural Futures Are Sustainable Investments, Zicklin Profs Assert

What if you could help end world hunger by trading futures contracts? 

From left: Martell, Skou, Demir

Not just any contracts, but U.S. agricultural futures—contracts to buy and sell specific amounts of corn, wheat, soybeans, and other farm commodities on a future date at a predetermined price. These contracts encourage greater production of food crops because they help mitigate price risks for farmers. 

That’s the basic logic underpinning a novel opinion posed by three Zicklin School members of the Weissman Center for International Business. In a recently published paper, they argue that because agricultural futures encourage food production, they should qualify as a sustainable investment. 

Professor Terrence Martell, PhD, Saxe Distinguished Professor in Finance (Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance) and director emeritus of the Weissman Center; Lene Skou, deputy director of the Weissman Center; and Mert Demir, PhD, director of research at the Weissman Center; collaborated on “Agricultural Futures Contracts As Part of a Sustainable Investments Strategy: Issues and Opportunities,” which was published in the Commodities journal in August 2025.

“I have been working the better part of a decade to gain acceptance of the idea that U.S. agricultural futures contracts should qualify as a sustainable investment,” Dr. Martell told Zicklin News in an interview. 

The idea is controversial, he explained, because in an ideal world, agricultural crops should be traceable to a specific origin to be considered sustainable. American farmers ship wheat, soybeans, and the like around the world; such mass goods obviously can’t be traced to a particular farm or place. The paper argues, however, that U.S. federal, state, and county regulations governing agriculture help ensure that you don’t need to know exactly which Idaho farm grew last night’s baked potato to be confident that American farm products are of generally good quality.

“Agricultural regulations in the U.S. are more deeply integrated into the structure of the farming ecosystem than they are in other countries,” Dr. Demir offered. “Our agricultural production can be considered more sustainable than production in other countries.” 

In the paper, the trio further assert that United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger, in conjunction with the strong regulatory ecosystem in the United States, results in investments in agricultural futures being sustainable investments.

“The United States is a major agricultural exporter producing goods more sustainably than many other countries,” Skou explained. “Investments in these markets keep price volatility down and thereby help stabilize food production.” 

“As far as we know, this is the first peer-reviewed publication on this topic,” Martell noted. “This is research with impact, and we hope this article generates more discussion about the positive role futures markets play in the agricultural production cycle.” 

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