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What does it mean to invest in potatoes?
In order for a commodity to be offered as a future, the exact specifications must be specified by the exchange. This includes not only the particular grade, strain, etc (depending on what we are talking about) but also the exact delivery location (otherwise transportation costs is an issue as you noticed).  Once there is a standardized contract, the exchange can match up buyers and sellers who are agreeing to the terms of the contract.   From a fun little article on commodities: ... you will have to go either to Europe to trade European Processing   Potato futures on Eurex [...], or to India, to the Multi Commodity Exchange of India   (MCX). [...] On the MCX, two different types of potato are deliverable, "Agra"   potatoes with the 3797 as its "basis variety" of potato and   "Tarkeshwar" potatoes with the Kufri Jyoti as its "basis variety." So let's look at an example, the Agra future contract on MCX.  It specifies  (size measured from at  least one side by way of  passing through sieve)   • Acceptable size 4–8 cm   • Rejected If below 4 cm and above 8 cm exceeds 5% ... and more details regarding the financials.