"Do you have any suggestions for investing in the grains & beans for the long term, as a buy and hold position? As always thanks for the wonderful service."

David Fuller's view Thanks for your comments on the service. In addition to the remarks immediately above, not for the long term because grain and bean prices are highly cyclical. While they can and sometimes do see extreme short to medium-term moves, particularly following supply disruptions, all it takes to drive prices back down is a few months of good news regarding abundant yields from the next crop cycle.

However you can participate indirectly via commodity shares.

I would suggest that you consider fertilizer and seed companies. Using the 'Search' facility (fourth item down, upper left) and looking for 'fertilizer' I found that Eoin last reviewed the sector on 4th January.