State Auditor Susan Montee is looking at the Missouri Department of Agriculture following two alleged grain fraud schemes that cost farmers tens of millions of dollars.

Montee said the audit will focus on the department's grain regulatory services program.

State agriculture officials requested the audit, which will include recommendations that could help them spot fraud sooner and help farmers recover financial losses.

This year, state and federal authorities charged a grain in the Audrain County Community of Martinsburg with a Ponzi a scheme that, prosecutors said, could cost farmers up to $50 million.

A dealer in the northwest Missouri town of Gallatin was charged in a theft scheme in which farmers were owed 3.5 million.

They recovered only about 12 cents on the dollar.