You can buy the good (although that's a lot more expensive than buying a call); you can buy shares in a mining or refining operation whose profits will rise if the commodity prices do; you can buy shares in equipment suppliers who sell to the above; you can do any of the above for commodities that substitute for the commodity in question (e.g. rice and corn, if you expect wheat supplies to be short); or you can bet against commodities that complement the commodity in question, either in production or consumption (e.g. mining more indium will probably push zinc and gallium prices down, since the three tend to occur together; cheap energy would probably depress the price of aluminum somewhat; and similarly, cheap energy would probably elevate the price of bauxite.)
Disclaimer: I'm broke at the moment; following my financial advice would be a bad idea.
Well, yeah--- my main point is that the futures market doesn't serve as a functioning long-term pricing mechanism. That's why you have to go to other things outside the futures market if you want to speculate on/hedge against long-term price movements, like buying physical commodities, or stocks, or other such things.
Disclaimer: I'm broke at the moment; following my financial advice would be a bad idea.
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