Man sentenced for selling non-organic seed at marked up prices in South Dakota

February 23, 2021

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A man accused of using his South Dakota businesses to defraud wholesale seed distributors out of millions of dollars has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison.

Kent Duane Anderson, of Bradenton, Florida, is accused of reselling thousands of tons of non-organic seeds at a marked-up organic price through his businesses, Bar Two Bar Ranch and Green Leaf Resources and several Green Leaf spinoffs.

An indictment says that between October 2012 and December 2017, Anderson bought about $46 million worth of non-organic seed, sold it as organic for about $71 million and used the profits to buy a yacht, Florida home, jewelry, expensive vehicles and land in South Dakota, among other things.