Matt Carstens, president and CEO of Iowa-based Landus Cooperative, discusses "optimization" as an alternative to traditional mergers and acquisitions in the grain industry. Carstens describes the benefits Landus and its partners hope to realize from sharing each others' strengths while continuing to put the best interests of farmers first. Carstens likens the process to dating, engagement, and marriage. Optimization gives a partnership an opportunity to develop without necessarily tying the knot via a merger.