FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CRM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1997                         (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


                                 
          FORMER ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND VICE PRESIDENT 
               PLEADS GUILTY IN FRAUD PROBE


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A former vice president of Archer
Daniels Midland Company today pleaded guilty in U.S. District
Court in Chicago, Illinois, to a charge of conspiracy to commit
wire fraud and to transmit checks taken by fraud in interstate
commerce.

     The information charges, that from about the fall of 1991
through about September 1995, Marty W. Allison, 39, of Woodridge,
Illinois, conspired with others to obtain money and property from
his employer, Archer Daniels Midland Company of Decatur,
Illinois, for which Allison served as a vice president of its
bioproducts division.

     The information is the result of an investigation conducted
by special agents of the FBI field office in Chicago and the
Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS.  The prosecution is
being handled by the fraud section of the Department of Justice
in Washington, D.C.

     Sentencing has not been scheduled.

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