Investing, like show business, is all about timing. On Tuesday, renowned commodities investor Jim Rogers told a packed conference audience at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York that agriculture will be one of the most prosperous sectors of the world economy during the next several decades. As the world scrambles to feed a growing population, all food commodities are set to rise in price, he predicted.
Hours later, a mad cow roiled meat markets. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the first new case of mad-cow disease since 2006, found in a California dairy cow. This is the fourth case reported in the U.S. The news pushed live-cattle futures down by 3 cents, or their daily limit for price movements.
This isn't to say that Mr. Rogers' enthusiasm was entirely misplaced. Beef's loss was chicken's gain—stock in poultry producer and processor Pilgrim Corp. jumped on the news and closed up 7.2% on the day. To paraphrase a real-estate truism, maybe agricultural speculation is all about species, species, species.