A good job, if you're prepared to be universally despised

Agricultural traders are in the news. On one hand, Anthony Ward, a former motorbike courier turned cocoa trader, has bought a large amount of cocoa.

On the other, banks in general, and Goldman Sachs in particular stand accused of driving up food prices through rampant speculation.

In the circumstances, working as an agricultural products trader may seem tantamount to disguising yourself as Tony Hayward and talking about 'small people' in the Gulf of Mexico.

However, agricultural derivatives are a large and growing product sector, and one that may offer more opportunities in future.

"Banks agricultural teams are fairly tiny," says one commodities recruiter. "But SocGen, Deutsche and JPMorgan have all been building their desks this year."

Given banks' small teams, the real opportunities in soft commodities trading come with the funds sector and specialist trading houses. Various new agriculture funds have appeared this year, with prices expected to rise long term. Blackrock launched its Agriculture fund this week.

"A lot of people trading agricultural products started out in a trading house like Cargill, ADM, or ConAgra," says George Lee, manager of the agriculture fund at Eclectica.

The clear danger is that speculation in agricultural products will be restricted by governments if prices increase as predicted. The US Financial Reform Bill passed this week places limits on agricultural product trading for non-end users, and the EU has indicated it would like to do something similar.

Mild-mannered Lee appears unworried, however. "A ban on speculative trading can't be ruled out, but it would lead to a massive outcry from the farmers. Ultimately, it's difficult to distinguish who's really a producer," he says.