[aphextron]

>The trading firm would then pay the farmer months or years after.

What is the incentive here for the farmer though? Why would they go along with this rather than just sell their beans at the market price?

[s73v3r_]

The incentive is not starving. People stuck in situations like this often had some kind of hardship befall them. Combine that with unscrupulous traders, and you get something like this.

[rhizome]

It sounds like a variant of sharecropping to me.

[jamez1]

They pay them more for waiting, effectively moving the working capital up the supply chain where it accumulates to where it can be used.