from that article: "Analysts in Asia, where rice is a staple food, said it was not possible to eliminate speculators from the market, despite growing concerns over food inflation around the world. "I think there is heightened attention to food inflation and to the La Nina effect floating through our economies," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Sydney. "But the argument is that speculators create liquidity so that producers and end-users can actually participate ... if you excessively stop traders in the market then the liquidity dries up and it becomes even worse that you get exaggerated price movements." somebody gets it
Yes, these two Illinois traders, Andrew Daniels and Edward Taylor, trading rice futures, "get it". $2 million fine is not going to stop them.