Léopold Louis-Dreyfus

Grain, Basel and Paris. Louis-Dreyfus, an Alsatian farmer's son, began buying wheat from local farmers and selling it in Basel in 1851, then used the telegraph and railways to buy grain cheaply across Russia and the Danube basin and ship it to Western Europe. Knowing prices in distant markets before rivals did was the edge. Louis Dreyfus became one of the handful of houses that still dominate world grain trading.