We regret to inform long-time Ag Perspectives readers of the passing of Robert Kohlmeyer. Bob had a long and prolific career, first with Cargill and then with WPI. 

He spent the first 34 years of his professional career doing everything from managing Cargill’s elevator operations to leading the company’s futures trading desk. He was a key trader for the company during the so-called Great Grain Robbery with the Soviet Union in 1973, and later the grain embargo against the same USSR in 1980. He would later testify several times before the U.S. Congress on the machinations of the grain trade and government policies. In a classic phrasing by Bob before a House committee in 1978 he said,

The role of the private exporter in this process is to move commodities from surplus-producing areas to deficit consuming areas in the most efficient and timely manner possible. 

Bob brought his amazing insights and expertise from Cargill to World Perspectives in 1990 where he continued to educate both clients and government officials for another 30 years. Younger analysts would leave a company meeting and talk about the pearls of wisdom that would drop from Bob’s lips. He would cite old market sayings like “the market is bigger than me and thee”; and “he is your friend, but he is mine for an eighth”. While he cited the advantages of directly engaging other human beings in the Chicago trading pits, he fully embraced the digitalization of the industry and talked about the advantages of modern telecommunications.  

Bob was a history major at Princeton and saw the cyclicality of the agricultural commodity markets. Thus, in his later years he wrote a series of articles called Common Thread in which he detailed the commonality of the present with past market events. His last article for WPI was late last year before illness stole his energy. His wife Julie says that it was his hope that he could resume writing for Ag Perspectives that kept him going through his illness. Whether you knew Bob Kohlmeyer or not, the legacy of his work has left a lasting impact on our industry. We will miss him dearly.