© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Rural commodities brokers still dealing with MF Global fallout

Rural commodities broker Tom Leffler checks the markets and speaks to a client on the phone.
Jeremy Bernfeld
/
Harvest Public Media
Rural commodities broker Tom Leffler checks the markets and speaks to a client on the phone.

This week: Harvest Public Media takes an in depth look into rural commodity brokers, and the tug of war battle between MF Global and rural farmers, and a look back on the store Cool Stuff.

http://cpa.ds.npr.org/kbia/audio/2012/05/BIZBEAT050212_0.mp3

It was literally a place where you could find “Cool Stuff.” Now the store is closing in downtown Columbia after being in Business for twenty three years.

When futures trading firm MF Global went bankrupt at the end of October, regulators discovered 1.6 billion dollars in customer funds missing, much of it belonging to Midwest farmers and ranchers.
As the bankruptcy drags on clients continue their efforts to claw back their missing funds. But one group of small businesses remains caught in the middle of uneasy markets and miles of red tape: rural commodities brokers.