Default leaving farmers in limbo

At issue, money from grain sales

Correction: Don Wilkison is a Monroe County farmer. His last name was misspelled in this article.

An eastern Arkansas commodities broker has been shut down by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, leaving farmers uncertain about whether they can recover money for their crops, officials said Saturday.

Farmers in Brinkley said that Turner Grain Merchandising not only failed to pay them millions of dollars for grain that was harvested and delivered, but it also issued checks that cannot be cashed. A company official declined to comment.

Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Butch Calhoun said numerous farmers have called the state Department of Agriculture for help with the Brinkley commodities trader.

It is unclear how many farmers have been affected or how much money has been lost, Calhoun said.

“Several million dollars has been kicked around. There’s no way for us to know at this point,” Calhoun added. “It’s a tragedy. It’s tough out there, a tough business. They sell their crops, and they expect to get their money. They don’t expect something like this to happen.”

Don Wilkinson, who has farmed in Monroe County since 1959 and has traded with Turner Grain Merchandising for more than 10 years, said Saturday from his home outside Brinkley that there is a widespread anger in the community, but what he feels mostly is disappointment.

“Nobody is saying nothing. They want answers. There are a lot of farmers who are owed money,” Wilkinson said. He added that some individual farmers lost $1 million to $2 million.

“The amount of losses are going to be huge,” he said.

Wilkinson shrugged his shoulders and weaved his hands together as he looked down at the carpet in his living room.

“There are a lot of people who are angry,” he said. “There will be a lot of activity this coming week. I guarantee you that.”

State House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, sent a letter Friday to the chairman of the House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee asking the committee to meet and research solutions to the problem, such as requiring commodities brokers to be bonded and insured under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act or some other federal law or rule.

“Some of our Arkansas farmers may have been left holding breached commodity contracts executed by one or more commodity brokers in Arkansas. If this holds to be true, literally tens of millions of hard earned dollars that our farm families were expecting will have disappeared into the heavens,” Carter wrote.

“Our farmers need assurances that contracts negotiated in good faith will be honored,” Carter wrote in the letter.

When contacted Saturday, Carter would not name the commodities broker in question, saying only that “generally speaking, yes, that discussion about the eastern part of the state is what got my attention.”

Two signs on the doors of Neauman Coleman & Co., at 411 North Main St. in Brinkley, advised farmers that the license of Agribusiness Properties LLC has been temporarily suspended and advised clients to contact the USDA for further explanation.

Agribusiness Properties is listed on the USDA’s website as a grain warehouse with an address of 411 North Main St. in Brinkley. According to the Arkansas secretary of state’s office, the company is owned by Jason Coleman, who also is listed as the owner of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. in Forrest City.

Neauman Coleman & Co. is owned by Neauman Coleman, who was one of two people nominated in 2012 to be the state’s second secretary of Agriculture. The state Agriculture Board selected Calhoun for the position.

Carter said he had no answers nor firsthand knowledge of what caused the broker to default. But when the state’s largest industry takes a hit, the impact spreads throughout every industry and is devastating to individuals and families, especially those in the Delta, he said.

“When you hear people have lost tens of millions of dollars, that’s the first door. Then you’ve got your small community banks that take a hit. There’s the cafes where they drink coffee and eat pie. It has the potential of having a huge impact,” Carter said. “I grew up in Marianna. My family is in the farming business today. You go down to these small Delta towns, and the agriculture industry drives everything. It’s all that those communities have. That’s the whole point of my involvement. I want to look out for the family farmer.”

Addison Adams, a commodities broker for England Marketing in England, said the Brinkley issue has left the state’s grain commodities industry reeling.

“It’s a very sensitive subject. It makes me sick to my stomach,” he said. “It’s sickening; it really is. It not only affects the farmer, but the chemical companies, the banks. It’s going to affect the equipment companies. Those farmers have laborers work for them that have to get paid, and those laborers have little kids. If what I hear is true about the situation, it’s a game-changer for the state.”

Adams said commodities brokers could suffer as well with the blow to the industry’s reputation.

“It’s one bad egg that is ruining it for your honest people,” said Adams.

Neauman Coleman refused to answer questions about any unpaid commodities or insufficient checks. Coleman on Saturday showed an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter a “work of art” on the floor of the Brinkley office. The smooth, rounded rocks had been collected from the Pacific Northwest.

“Do you know why they’re smooth? Those rocks have been worn down. Water runs over them back and forth and makes them smooth,” he said.

Coleman then pointed to the wall of medals, including three Purple Hearts from his tour with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

“That’s valor,” he said. “I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

Calhoun said Saturday that the department is going to continue to monitor the situation.

“I hate that it has come to this. Sometimes it’s hard to get anything done if there’s not a problem. Sometimes it’s a reaction that causes a problem to get addressed,” Calhoun said. “I am brokenhearted. I’m sad over it for the farmers that have put their trust in someone. These are some tragic stories. My heart goes out to the farmers.”

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