(AP) — Two longtime leaders of the Missouri Soybean Association are out of their jobs as part of an organizational shakeup following an audit of how the prominent agricultural group managed millions of dollars of merchandising fees paid by farmers.

Board members of the soybean organization declined to release the audit and, in interviews with The Associated Press this week, provided no specific reason for the staffing changes. But the ousted executives blamed their departure on an internal political squabble involving state and national leaders in the soybean industry.

Gone are Dale Ludwig, who served as executive director of the soybean association for more than 20 years, and the organization’s field services manager, J.P. Dunn. Both resigned under pressure Dec. 19.

Their departures are notable because soybeans are a multi-billion-dollar business in Missouri, which ranked seventh nationally last year in soybean production. Missouri’s soybean organization has been a national leader in developing soy-based fuel used in diesel vehicles. It’s also a significant political player, making endorsements of state officials and contributions through a political action committee.

Ludwig said he was placed on paid administrative leave for about a month before his departure as an audit was underway at the behest of the United Soybean Board. The national board, created by a 1990 U.S. law, oversees about $180 million annually of “check-off” fees paid on all U.S. soybean sales to help promote the industry. Half of that money goes to the national group and half stays with state organizations.

Ludwig blamed his departure on pressure from national soybean leaders.

“This whole thing has some politics involved,” he said.

Dunn, who also cited “internal politics,” said he was asked to resign by the state soybean board.

“I did ask for an explanation and wasn’t given one,” Dunn said, adding that there was “no wrongdoing, no scandal or anything like that.”

Both Dunn and Ludwig said they never were shown the audit. But Ludwig said concerns were raised during the auditing process about how the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council used its share of the farmers’ check-off fees. Among other things, he said there was criticism for providing research money to private companies and for buying university laboratory equipment. The United Soybean Board’s compliance manual states that it “strongly discourages the funding of equipment.”

Registration is now open for the 2014 Kansas Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Leaders Conference, scheduled for Jan. 24 to 26 in Manhattan.

Highlights include the Collegiate Farm Bureau luncheon; opening keynote by Charlie Arnot of the Center for Food Integrity, followed by a two-part training breakout; a workshop hosted by international cover crop expert Dave Brandt from Ohio’s Walnut Creek Seeds, LLC; and Sunday morning keynote from New Mexico ag leader Matt Rush.

Miss Kansas Theresa Vail will speak at the Jan. 24 luncheon. Vail is a senior at Kansas State University.

 

 (AP) Business leaders in Iowa and Nebraska are joining forces to promote economic development in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area.

Govs. Terry Branstad and Dave Heineman signed an agreement Friday to add Advance Southwest Iowa Corp., a new public-private partnership, to the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership. The group includes business leaders from Douglas, Cass, Washington, Dodge and Sarpy counties in Nebraska.

David Brown, president of the Great Omaha Chamber of Commerce, says the partnership will work to market the area for new business investment and expansion.

Pete Tulipana, president and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, says about 18,000 Council Bluffs residents cross the Missouri River each day to work in Omaha, and roughly 6,000 employees travel from Omaha to work in Council Bluffs.

 

Kansas City (AP) — R. Crosby Kemper Jr., a banker, philanthropist and civic booster in Kansas City, has died at the age of 86. The family said on a website that he died Thursday night in Indian Wells, Calif. A cause of death was not announced.

Kemper was chairman emeritus of Kansas City-based UMB Financial Corporation. His banking career spanned more than five decades before he retired from UMB in 2004.

In 1990, he gave $6 million to build the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design. His many contributions to Kansas City included support for the Agriculture Future of America, the Kansas City Symphony, the Metropolitan Performing Arts Fund, the American Royal and Kemper Arena, named in honor of his father, R. Crosby Kemper Sr.

Services for Kemper were pending.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is opening the door to commercial sales of genetically engineered corn and soybean seeds that are resistant to a weed killer best known as an ingredient in the Vietnam War-era herbicide Agent Orange.

The weed killer is called 2,4-D. It’s legal and commonly used in the U.S. by gardeners, and scientists don’t believe it was responsible for the health problems linked to Agent Orange.

The USDA, which has oversight over the seeds and not the herbicide, released an environmental impact statement Friday. It says the biggest risk from the seeds is that greater use of the herbicide could hasten the development of herbicide-resistant weeds.

But the agency also says resistance is inevitable because the herbicide is already the third most-used weed killer in the U.S.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Libertarian party will pick its candidate for governor at the party’s convention in Wichita on April 26.

About 150 registered Libertarians will choose between Keen Umbehr and Tresa McAlhaney. Because Libertarians are not considered a major party in Kansas, they are prohibited from picking their candidate by ballot in a primary election in August.

Some Libertarians say having a primary election like Democrats and Republicans would improve their candidate’s chances for a good showing during the general election in November.

A political party in Kansas must get 5 percent of the vote in a governor’s race to be considered a major party. In 2010, the Libertarian candidate for governor got 2.6 percent of the vote.