Bob Lane is the Vegetable Oil, Biodiesel, and Grain Editor for The Jacobsen. Bob Lane got his start at The Jacobsen in a very typical way- by answering an online ad that John, the President, had posted in 2012. “The job seemed too good to be true,” says Bob, “work from home and earn a real wage.”

The ad was looking for someone who had commodity knowledge, agriculture experience and a willingness to learn. Although all of Bob’s agriculture experience came from growing up a family farm in Evanston, Illinois, he did have an eagerness to learn. Bob also has a masters in Finance and has spent 15 years trading options and futures at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago
Board of Trade.

“I’ve always had an interest in commodity markets, probably due to our family farm, which we still manage,” Bob explains. “The biodiesel industry was completely new to me.” The lack of transparency in a market like Biodiesel makes it a challenge, but allows for a lot of room for opportunity for him to pay attention and study the everchanging market.

As editor for Vegetable Oil, Biodiesel and Grain, Bob writes reports for each bulletin as well as updates pricing daily. Bob explains that although the first two areas do not change much day to day, the Biodiesel bulletin is still evolving so it is important to make an effort to stay ahead of the market as it changes. A few things that effect this change are the low carbon programs such as ones running in California and upcoming programs in Oregon and Canada.

In his free time, Bob loves to spend as much time as he can with his three children and his grandchild. Working at The Jacobsen from home has allowed him to have invaluable time with his loved ones. Bob is also very interested in health and fitness- running two marathons this past year and planning to run a triathlon come 2015.