Missouri charmer led double life, masterminded one of the biggest frauds in farm history

To be “certified organic” farmers in the U.S. must follow rules spelled out in the Usda National Organic Program. By Usda/Natural Resources Conservation Service

One of the biggest organic farm scams in history

By Mike Hendricks
Kansas City Star
January 12, 2020

Excerpt:

Records showed that in 2016 he sold 7 percent of all the corn labeled organic and 8 percent of all the soybeans carrying that designation. More than $19 million worth that year, $24 million the year before and so on every year before that back to 2010 at least.

It was impossible for him to have done that legitimately. He didn’t have access to enough organic crop acres to supply so many bushels.

“Somebody who was competing with him in the organic market noticed that he was flooding the market with too much grain and at too low of a price for what organic grain should be sold for,” federal prosecutor Anthony Morfitt told The Star.

That’s what got the whole thing started. A tip rather than the government’s flawed oversight program for the organic food industry. For many years, that inspection system had failed to detect Constant’s fraudulent scheme. Now the feds were onto him.

Complete story here.

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