When I graduated from Ohio State in June of 1983, I knew exactly what I wanted to do! I was going to be a grain merchandiser. I would buy and sell agricultural commodities for farmers…

I was close to that goal/dream. What I did was manage a full service co-op called Farmers Elevator Co. in Beaverdam, Ohio. The elevator had a well-rounded business in dry and liquid fertilizers, chemicals, seeds, feed, grain, hardware and field tile. The elevator itself had a small grain house of 250,000 bushels storage, however the volume of feed we sold demanded we have a steady supply of corn coming in year around. This problem was solved with forward contracts, hedging and staying in communication with the area farmers who had on farm storage.

Top row left to right: Ben and Zach Marlow. In the next row are Barry and Liat Marlow. At the bottom: Daisey Marlow.

I truly didn’t enjoy being the general manager of the elevator, but I loved contracting grain and working with the area farmers! Unfortunately after about two years of watching the futures market on my "tic by tic" screen and making recommendations to the local farmers I was feeling a certain amount of pressure building. The more I was right (or the less I was wrong), the more the fear of messing up made me worry. I continued to plow forward under more and more stress and expectations. Finally I went to a doctor who told me that I had an ulcer and that the stress was not good on my system.

When I stepped back and looked at the futures market in agricultural products I noticed a constant. The US government’s "cheap" food policy was never going to allow our commodities to trade on a level playing field. As long as our programs are being controlled or manipulated by politics or their policies, the grain markets will consistently be inconsistent. I was worrying about something I couldn’t and wouldn’t ever be able to control.

I left the grain and feed business behind and moved to Michigan in 1989 taking over the fuel department of B & W Co-op. I left after five years, but I enjoyed the dynamics of the petroleum business enough to start my own company, Miles Petroleum, Inc. As time wore on I started to trade in the markets again. I found that I enjoyed trading in the energy markets much more than the agricultural commodities. Primarily because you could look at all the variables in the world like supply, production, inventory, transportation, demand and make some educated assumptions that aren’t going to be far off. Which was really a great way to hedge against spiking prices. Normally you don’t need to worry about the government directly influencing fuel prices…these aren’t normal times though. A declaration that we are going to bomb another country does tend to manipulate the markets!

So does my past make me an expert or a well traveled jack of all trades, master of none? I think at the least it gives me a good foundation to draw some conclusions from. I’ve said many a time that selling fuel and oil are a lot like selling feed. They’re both commodities that are fed to animals…well… different types of animals, but they both require air to breath, fuel to generate energy and oil/blood going through their systems/veins! Okay, not exactly the same, but metaphorically they are!

My past experience in agriculture and knowledge of the futures markets allows me to breakdown markets easier. My past experiences have also been the basis of my programs and goals for my customers today. Providing our customers with an uninterrupted supply of quality fuel and petroleum products is my primary goal. My second goal is to provide these products at a fair and competitive price. The first goal is fairly easy to do, the second is much more difficult.

I’m honored that our customers look to us for advice and direction on the fuel market. That’s our business…we should have as good a handle on what’s happening as anybody. I feel it’s our responsibility to look out for our customers regarding supply, quality and price. If I don’t believe that and our customers don’t believe that then Miles Petroleum is no different than any other fuel supplier. We do care however, that’s why my anxiety has grown the past 60 days. I feel like I’ve gone back 20 years watching the Chicago Board of Trade.

Hindsight is 20-20. At one time or another we could of, should of or would of if we knew differently, but we don’t always have that luxury at decision time. I try to be fair and I share what I have with our customers. Sometimes it’s not much, but it’s all we have. I’m sick about these markets and what all of us have to pay for fuel. It makes me angry!

The saving grace for me is that I love what I do and I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’m thankful that I’m healthy, I have a wife who stands by me, twin sons working with me, caring employees and suppliers and a great bunch of customers. The rest will work it’s way out and I’m relatively positive the sun will come up tomorrow and I’ll be another day older.