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Joe Foresman has a definition of “volatility” that puts the word in perspective: In any given minute, commodity prices can change seven times.

That’s 10,000 ticks a day, in the parlance of commodities traders, and those ticks can add up to thousands of dollars between the time a sale is offered and a buy is made.

With corn selling for slightly more than $3 a bushel, compared with $7 last summer, those ticks can make a farmer feel, well, volatile.

To take some of the suspense out of buying and selling grain crops, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. turned to the Internet earlier this year, launching its MarketPoint Web site, where farmers can post crops for sale at their ideal price.

Last month, Pioneer turned on another electronic service, e-Pit, which is geared toward buyers and runs off the MarketPoint Web site.

Both services link about 7,300 farmers in Iowa and Nebraska with 120 buyers who represent grain elevators, livestock operations and ethanol plants, all wanting to buy and sell at prices favorable to their markets.

“As the commodities prices have dropped, what we are seeing is that farmers are more adamant in getting the extra nickel or that extra dime,” said Foresman, Pioneer’s senior marketing director.

“We’re seeing the impact of $3.80 versus $7 corn,” he said. “Grain marketing and risk management are as important as they have ever been.”

During trial runs for MarketPoint, corn prices varied as much as 15 cents between a seller’s best- and worst-case offers.

Foresman supervises MarketPoint and e-Pit, a joint venture with Farms Technology LLC that offers hedging and purchasing opportunities for buyers. Pioneer has an equity stake in Farms Technology.

Between the two services, producers and buyers make a connection that can land them at the same spot as prices fluctuate on the Chicago Board of Trade, the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.

“It’s a nice diversity of buyers, and it’s growing every week,” Foresman said of the e-Pit program, which was announced last month.

Buying and selling occurs in seconds and results when a computer program pairs bid and ask prices.

“The majority of our active futures market is in the overnight,” Foresman said. “The interesting thing about MarketPoint is that the farmer can put their target price in the system, then the market takes over and the volatility takes over and has an opportunity to arrive at the price.”

That can happen while the pits are open from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and again while prices are ticking away between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Once the system matches a buy and sell price, the farmer receives an alert on MarketPoint and via e-mail and a text message.

By using e-Pit, buyers can accept the price while also hedging their future contracts to reduce their financial risk. The system can place a hedge order, receive confirmation of the fill order, execute a cash purchase and notify buyers and sellers in less than 10 seconds.

Pioneer has no part in the transaction aside from offering the services, which are free.

“We believe that for the basic transaction we can keep it free,” Foresman said. At some point, the services could have additional features that would be provided at a cost.

Though the company would hope that farmers are planting its seeds, that is not a requirement for using the service. Producers join up by contacting a Pioneer sales representative and obtaining a customer identification number, which is used to register a user name and password. Sellers also determine which buyers can access their offers.

Foresman said it is more important, given the nature of commodities markets, to offer additional value to its customers.

For farmers who register with MarketPoint, Pioneer offers a seminar on growing quality grains.

Just last week, it launched another service from MarketPoint in which farmers can use a satellite connection to monitor moisture levels of crops stored in grain bins.

Data is sent on average temperatures inside the bin, whether the temperatures are stratified, exceed a certain level or generate any hot spots, not to mention the temperature and humidity outside the bin.

For example, corn that dries too quickly can develop cracks that leave the grain susceptible to mold.

Buyers, who are aware of farmers using the monitors, might place an offer for corn to be delivered in February that has not been exposed to drying temperatures above 120 degrees, Foresman said.

Farmers who can meet those specs frequently can sweeten their selling price.

“One of the things that farmers have been clear on is that they like to have options,” Foresman said. “We want to deliver more value, meet more needs and do it the right way.”