Kluis Grain Trading Academy is a professional development program that includes 6 classes and 6 review classes throughout the year for farmers to improve their marketing skills. Marketing and risk management are the top concerns of farmers.
Al Kluis developed Kluis Grain Trading Academy after spending over 40 years trading commodities and advising farmers. He is the managing director of Kluis Commodity Advisors in Wayzata, Minnesota, and writes the “Your Profit” column for the Successful Farming magazine.
2024 Kluis Training Academy
The 2024 Academy will be held online and available throughout the year. Our first two classes will be held on Thursday, February 15, 2024, with four additional classes held monthly online. The cost is $950 per student.
Deadline to sign up is February 8, 2024
Class 1: Commodity Futures
- The futures market and why it exists
- How futures work
- The concept of being short and being long
- Long hedge example
- Short hedge example
- The impact of futures prices on farm income
- Examples of how to use futures
Class 2: Charting Grain Prices
- Building charts using CQG
- Basic chart analysis methods
- Understanding trends and trend analysis
- What defines an uptrend
- What defines a downtrend
- How to identify trend reversals
Class 3: Using Options
- The basic concept of option trading vs. futures trading
- Introduction to calls and puts
- How call and put options work and when to use them
- Bull spreads as a method of storing grain
- Minimum and maximum contracts
- how puts work to protect your risk of lower prices
- How calls work to protect your risk of higher prices
Class 4: Grain Merchandising Decisions
- Key concept in grain merchandising
- Grain merchandising alternatives, benefits and risks
- Cash contracts vs. futures hedges
- Basis contracts vs. options
- Carrying charges, basis
- Storing with call options
- Your best marketing alternatives
Class 5: Grain Fundamentals
- World and U.S. grain fundamentals
- Global supply/demand: today, next year, last year, and 10 years ago
- Understanding USDA Reports
- How and when do fundamentals change
Class 6: Creating a Marketing Plan
- How to create a farm marketing plan
- How to use price objectives
- The 3-step risk management plan for your farm
- “A” bushels and “B” bushels
- Hedging and put options
- Spreading out risk
Our Instructors
Al Kluis
Al Kluis developed Kluis Grain Trading Academy after spending over 40 years trading commodities and advising farmers. He is the managing director of Kluis Commodity Advisors in Wayzata, Minnesota, and writes the “Your Profit” column for the Successful Farming magazine.
Cory Bratland
Cory Bratland is a Chief Grain Strategist for Kluis Commodity Advisors. He formerly worked at Cargill, Inc. as a Grain Trader and has taught seminars and classes for KluisU since 2012.
Mark Mason
Mark has experience as a Trader in the pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, trading bonds and equities. Mark works on a personal level with farmers helping them to implement a complete marketing strategy. He also enjoys charting the various grain markets.
Bob Linneman
Bob grew up on a farm in eastern South Dakota. He’s worked as a Portfolio Manager and has been with Kluis Commodities since 2012. Bob writes articles and daily and weekend commentary for Kluis Commodity Publishing.
Nick Repke
Nick started working with coins, selling bullion, and trading futures and options for retail customers. In 2014 he joined Kluis Commodity Advisors to focus on the grain markets and work with farmers. His knowledge of commodity markets and technical analysis is a great resource for investors.
Learn…
HOW TO READ THE MARKETS
You will learn the basics of marketing, and how to interpret the signals that affect grain prices every day–and night. You will start to learn about putting those signals together to make a marketing plan and be a strategic farm marketer.
HOW TO MAKE A SOLID PLAN
You will learn how to use more tools that let you harness your marketing plan and make it work, and learn good practices that can help you survive tough years, and shine in good years. You’ll also learn how to make the right grain merchandising decisions.
HOW TO USE THE MARKETS TO MAKE YOUR PLAN WORK
You will learn how to use your farm risk management skills as a part of your normal farm routine. You will learn to use advanced tools that let you profit from opportunities in the grain markets, while still managing your exposure to risk.
Testimonials from Past Students
Take the Next Steps - Learn More to Earn More
Trading futures and options contains the risk of substantial loss and may not be suitable for all investors.
Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results.