Farming ETF In The Hot House

This is the Forbes Stock of the week: MOO
Have you seen what's happening down on the farm? In case you've missed the fun, these are boom times for farmers, and for companies that sell them the inputs they need to grow crops like corn, wheat and soybeans.

In the past two years, the prices of corn and soybeans have more than doubled. Wheat has more than tripled. Credit the global commodity boom, government subsidies for ethanol or just what many farmers would consider an overdue turn in the cycle.
Thanks to the good fortune of farmers, a host of other companies in a variety of industries are also benefiting from the boom. Companies that sell fertilizer, like Mosaic (nyse: MOS - news - people ) and Potash (nyse: POT - news - people ), or equipment, like Deere (nyse: DE - news - people ) and CNH Global (nyse: CNH - news - people ).

For a little more than four months now, there's also been an exchange-traded fund that invests in companies tied to agriculture. The Market Vectors Global Agribusiness ETF (amex:MOO) attempts to replicate the performance of the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index, 40 companies worldwide engaged in the agriculture industry. Since inception on Aug. 31, 2007, the MOO has gained about 40% in price, closing Wednesday at $57.15.

John Schloegel and Ron Rowland of All Star Fund Traderin Austin, Texas, recommend buying the MOO. "This is a pure play on the red hot agriculture space and these names are in demand by investors," says Schloegel.

Schloegel says that the MOO will be a welcome respite from any continued selling in technology and financials. In addition, he points out that if your portfolio is underweight in commodities, this ETF is a "back door for commodity type ideas."

All Star Fund Trader uses momentum to pick its ETFs and narrowly focused sector and country mutual funds. Over the past one- and three-month periods, and for the past week, MOO has been the top-performing fund in Morningstar’s world stock category.
The fund has an expense ratio of 0.50%.