Commodity Carnival coming to DuPage County Fair
CME Group, a derivatives marketplace, and the National 4-H Council, the nation's largest youth development organization, have announced the sixth year of their partnership to bring the award-winning Commodity Carnival experience to state and county fairs this summer.
The program will tour nearly 120 fairs across eight states, helping families learn the basics of risk management in agriculture. Commodity Carnival also will continue to be available beyond the fairgrounds through the mobile companion app, Risk Ranch.
The Commodity Carnival booth will be at the DuPage County Fair from July 25 through 29 at 2015 Manchester Road in Wheaton.
"Agriculture has been a central part of CME Group's business for 170 years," said Tim Andriesen, CME Group agricultural products managing director. "We have a long history of investing in the next generation of food producers here in the U.S., including engaging 325,000 youth since the start of this partnership.."
"We are committed to empowering young people with the skills to lead for a lifetime," said National 4-H Council President and CEO Jennifer Sirangelo.
"We are proud of our long-standing and important partnership with CME Group as we collaborate to promote the Commodity Carnival and Risk Ranch. These key initiatives aid in developing crucial life skills such as critical thinking, communication, and technical competence, building young leaders through positive youth development whose reach can extend beyond the agriculture industry."
Developed by the Ohio State University Extension, Commodity Carnival will travel to Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin this fair season.
CME Group and 4-H first partnered in 2013, motivated by the same goal of preparing future generations of farmers and food producers with respect to risk management in agriculture.
In 2015, to reach mobile and tech-savvy young audiences, CME Group launched the first agriculture-based learning application, Risk Ranch, further helping young people understand agriculture as a complex and crucial element of our economy.
The award-winning app is available year-round online, in the App Store, as well as through Google Play.
The partnership between CME Group and National 4-H is part of CME Group's commitment to educational efforts focused on financial markets and risk management.
This also includes a partnership with Discovery Education in its Econ Essentials program, a free service for middle- and high-school classrooms that helps teachers and their students explore the important and ever-changing variables that affect our global economy, particularly in energy, agricultural, and financial markets.
For university students, CME Group offers an annual CME Group Trading Challenge, a global competition that in 2018 attracted nearly 550 teams made up of more than 2,100 students from 37 countries to compete in a simulated trading competition.
CME Group also supports Futures Fundamentals, a one-stop educational resource that explains the role of futures markets in everyday life.
For details, visit www.cmegroup.com/4hcarnival.