2 MN farmers charged in $46M organic grain fraud scheme

Two men from southern Minnesota’s Cottonwood County have been charged in a federal superseding indictment with conspiring to defraud grain purchasers out of more than $46 million by passing off chemically-treated corn and soybeans as organically grown.

Court documents say, between 2014 and 2021, 65-year-old James Wolf, a certified organic farmer, engaged in the scheme.

The superseding indictment charges that after Wolf’s organic farming certification was revoked in 2020, 45-year-old Adam Olson, another certified organic farmer, helped Wolf sell non-GMO crops falsely described as organic.

Wolf was charged in the initial indictment last July.

The superseding indictment charges Wolf and Olson with three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.