CORN vs PDBA

CORNCTeucrium Corn Fund

PDBABInvesco Agriculture Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF

In short

CORN The original US corn ETF, running since 2010. Rather than riding the front-month contract, it spreads across three CBOT corn futures (second, third, and the following December) to blunt monthly roll churn.

PDBA The broad farm-commodity basket without the partnership paperwork. PDBA tracks a diversified DBIQ agriculture index from inside a 1940 Act fund, which is exactly what the "No K-1" in its name is pointing at.

Stated mandate

CORN The Fund seeks to give investors price exposure to corn for future delivery by tracking the daily movement of its benchmark. It normally invests in corn futures contracts and cash equivalents.

PDBA The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• CORN The ladder is the whole idea: 35% second-to-expire, 30% third-to-expire, 35% the following December contract, so it is never glued to the front month.sec.gov
• At 0.61% it undercuts the median fee in its agriculture-futures peer group, and comes in below DBA (0.90%) and PDBA (0.75%).
• Single-crop exposure with no dilution: corn futures and cash equivalents, nothing else, operating continuously since June 2010.sec.gov

• PDBA One ticket, many crops: it follows the DBIQ Diversified Agriculture Index Excess Return instead of betting on a single commodity the way CORN or CANE do.
• Registered as a 1940 Act fund rather than a commodity pool, so shareholders skip the Schedule K-1 the fund's own name calls out.
• Fee sits at 0.75%, right on the category median and below Invesco's older ag fund DBA at 0.90%.

Worth knowing

• CORN One crop, one weather map. Drought, planting surprises and export policy land on the whole fund at once, with no basket of other commodities to cushion the move.
• You own corn futures, not corn in a silo. The three-contract ladder softens roll costs but does not remove them, so results can drift from spot corn.sec.gov
• It is structured as a commodity pool rather than a standard stock-ETF wrapper, so the tax and reporting mechanics work differently.teucrium.com

• PDBA 0.75% is real money in commodity land. TAGS packages a diversified ag basket for 0.17%.
• Exposure runs through futures-linked instruments, not farmland or farm companies, so contract pricing and rolls shape the ride as much as crop prices do.
• Launched in 2022, a short history next to ag funds that have lived through more full commodity cycles.

Full CORN profile⁠

Full PDBA profile⁠