MF Global Mucks Up Heartland

Trades are tied to real-world transactions, doncha know. Reuters: MF Global fallout delays U.S. farm seed, land deals:

For the first time in 25 years, Minnesota farmer Dean Tofteland has missed his deadline to buy seed for next spring's corn and soybean crops.

With $200,000 of his money yet to be returned from the accounts of MF Global, his former broker, the 49-year-old farmer has missed a $5,000 discount for early buyers, and is watching friends and neighbors snap up the best varieties of seeds.

In the latest sign of how MF Global's failure is continuing to cascade across the commodity industry, Tofteland and other farmers who have yet to recover more than a third of their money from the bankrupt broker now find themselves in a cash crunch that risks rippling far beyond the futures market.

Farmers hedge their crop in the futures market to lock in a price. This market mechanism has worked for over a century--until Jon Corzine, O and Bill's pal got involved. The Bernie Madoff of the commodity markets.

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