Argentine president announces farm export tax cuts

BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentine President Cristina Fernandez says she’s cutting export taxes on many farm goods to help stimulate production.

The president said taxes on exports of fruits and vegetables will be halved. Rates now vary by product. Reductions are also on tap for a 28 percent tax on wheat and a 25 percent levy on corn. Small producers will get a 5 percent break. The biggest will see taxes trimmed by 1 percent.

The announcement of Dec. 22 doesn’t mention any break for soy producers, who staged large-scale protests over recent hikes in export taxes meant to stimulate local sales and hold down domestic prices. Leaders of Argentina’s farm groups say the new measures will have little effect.

Larger fine sought against Branstad’s brother

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State environmental officials want the Iowa attorney general to impose a larger-than-normal fine against a brother of former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad for pollution violations.

Investigators say Monroe “Monty” Branstad of Forest City should be fined more than the maximum $10,000 for alleged pollution violations in the Winnebago River that officials claim killed 31,000 fish valued at $63,000. Officials say the silage spill at Branstad’s cattle farm in August ranked among the 40 deadliest for Iowa wildlife since 1995.

Kelli Book, a lawyer for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said the fine amount could be based on past problems, a prior fine remaining unpaid and the severity of the spill. Branstad could be fined $100,000.

An attorney for Branstad, Jim Pray, says regulators have failed to prove the severity of the fish kill.

Feds find $1.6 million buried at north-central Ohio farm
NORWALK, Ohio (AP) — Federal authorities have found $1.6 million in cash buried at a north-central Ohio farm after receiving a tip that drug money was hidden there.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave DeVillers said the money was in seven metal ammunition boxes at the farm in Huron County. He declined to specify the location of the farm. The boxes held various denominations, including $20, $50 and $100 bills.

The money is believed to be from a drug ring that took in $10 million from the sale of marijuana in central Ohio this year and in 2007. Fifteen people have been indicted in the ring, and authorities previously confiscated more than $4 million, 80 firearms and marijuana valued at $2.5 million.

Authorities: Indiana man drowns in manure lagoon

BLUFFTON, Ind. (AP) — Authorities say a Bluffton man apparently drowned when a skid loader he was operating fell into a manure lagoon in Wells County.

An Indiana conservation officer said 23-year-old Nicholas Cruz had been cleaning out a cattle lot at Sunny Park Dairy and dumping manure into the lagoon the morning of Dec. 19 when he apparently lost control of the skid loader.

A dairy employee found Cruz underneath the skid loader and Wells County firefighters removed him from the lagoon. He was pronounced dead at a hospital in Bluffton. An autopsy was being conducted at a hospital in Fort Wayne.

Northwest Iowa man killed in tractor accident

REMSEN, Iowa (AP) — A northwest Iowa man has died after the tractor he was using to remove snow rolled onto its top.

The Plymouth County sheriff’s office said 46-year-old John Hamman died in the accident Dec. 20, south of Remsen. Officials said Hamman was using a farm tractor and loader to move snow when the left rear tire of the tractor slid off the driveway and the tractor rolled onto its top.

Dairy Farmers of America settles with CFTC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The board of directors and management of Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (DFA) announced that DFA reached a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The settlement ends the CFTC’s investigation into DFA’s trading activities on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in 2004.

Without admitting or denying the CFTC’s findings in the administrative order, DFA and two of its former officers agreed to pay a negotiated aggregate civil monetary penalty of $12 million, according to the DFA. The cooperative also agreed to not engage in speculative trading in milk futures contracts for two years and to retain a monitor to review its trading activities on the CME during that period.

DFA President and CEO Rick Smith said that agreeing to the settlement was in the best interests of the cooperative and its members. He said the long-pending probe was expensive and diverted time and resources from DFA’s main mission of serving its members.

Prior to reaching the settlement agreement, DFA management stated they voluntarily developed and implemented new policies and procedures designed to ensure that all trading complies with both the spirit and the letter of the law.