Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
House Passes $383 million US Drought Aid Bill for Ranchers
Aug 3 2012 // The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $383 million disaster relief bill on Thursday that provides political shelter for lawmakers during the worst drought in half a century, but may not release the aid for months to...
What is insurance anyway?
Aug 2 2012 // A friend involved in the crop insurance industry recently wrote to me taking issue with a reference I had made proposed shallow loss “insurance” (my words) program in the farm bill currently pending before...
Farmers Raises Rates in Alabama; Pulls Wind Coverage on Coastal Rental Policies
Aug 2 2012 // One of Alabama’s largest homeowners’ insurers is raising rates on property insurance by as much as 35 percent per policy while dropping some 2,900 rental properties along the state coastline as part of plan to...
Monsanto Wins Patent Suit Against DuPont in Genetically Modified Seed Case
Aug 2 2012 // Shares of Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, rose on Thursday and DuPont shares fell after Monsanto won a $1 billion victory over its archrival in a lawsuit concerning patents in the agricultural seed...
Facing Paltry Yields, Kentucky Farmers Hope Insurance Will Cover Costs
Jul 31 2012 // Kentucky agriculture is reeling from a summertime one-two punch of blistering heat and dry conditions, and farmers are feeling the pain from the prospects of shrinking income and inflated expenses caused by weather-related...
Dead Cattle, Devastation In Wake Of Western Fires
Jul 27 2012 // Cecil and Delores Kolka thought they escaped the worst of the Ash Creek Fire when the 390-square-mile blaze spared their home and several pastures as it ripped through the couple’s Montana cattle ranch. But when the...
Drought Bill May Get Washington to Act on Farm Bill
Jul 27 2012 // A comparatively low-priced disaster bill for livestock producers hit by the worst U.S. drought since 1956 may be the ticket to passage for a $500 billion farm bill now in limbo in Congress. Republican leaders in the House...
House Backs Obama Quashing of Safety Rules for Child Farmworkers
Jul 26 2012 // The House of representatives this week barred the labor secretary from imposing new safety rules for children working on farms, putting a legal stamp on a Labor Department decision to put off action on the rules. The Labor...
Midwest Light Rain Not Enough to Stave Off Crop Losses
Jul 26 2012 // Light showers overnight in the southwestern U.S. Midwest were too little too late to prevent further losses to corn and soybean yields, and next week will bring the return of high heat and drought, an agricultural...
Crop Insurance Helps Farmers Now More Than in 1988 Drought
Jul 24 2012 // U.S. crops are taking a beating in the worst drought since 1988 but most farmers are not sweating like they did 24 years ago when a drought hit as they were just starting to recover from a farm depression that brought down...
Crop Insurers Can Handle Midwest Drought Losses: Fitch
Jul 23 2012 // Analysts at Fitch Ratings say they believe the leading writers of crop insurance will be able to absorb any near-term crop losses from the current drought in the Midwest. Fitch said the insurers are likely to maintain...
Some Parts of Midwest Expecting Rain This Week
Jul 23 2012 // Rain will fall early this week in the northern U.S. Midwest, with from 1 to 2 inches expected across a broad parched swath of corn and soybean land roughly north of Interstate 80, an agricultural meteorologist predicted...
PFGBest Broker Scandal Leads to Calls for Insurance for Grain Trade
Jul 23 2012 // The largest U.S. grain trade group was stunned by the latest scandal to hit the futures industry when Iowa-based brokerage PFGBest collapsed after regulators accused the firm of misappropriating customer funds. “Even...
Two Montana Counties Declare Drought Disasters
Jul 23 2012 // Yellowstone and Stillwater county commissions in Montana have declared drought disasters in their counties. Officials say low rainfall and warm temperatures have created conditions that one farmer says are not usually seen...
Severe Drought Includes Much of Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana
Jul 20 2012 // The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows that severe drought affecting much of the Midwest and Great Plains now covers more than half of Iowa and three-quarters of Nebraska. More than half of Indiana is now listed in...
Heat Waves Need ‘Re-purposed’ Climate Research: Reuters Gerard Wynn
Jul 20 2012 // A major heat wave and drought has sent world grain prices sky rocketing for a second of three summers suggesting it is time to address supply through re-purposed climate research. Tackling high food prices among the...
Record Number of Farmers Expected to File Crop Insurance Claims
Jul 20 2012 // The drought ravaging America’s prime farmland is having an unexpected consequence that could shape the future of agricultural finance: in some cases, farmers who have amped up their insurance coverage may be giving...
No Relief in Sight for Drought-Damaged Crops
Jul 19 2012 // Midday weather updates on Wednesday indicate more hot, dry weather for the U.S. Midwest, where corn and soybean crops are rapidly deteriorating amid the harshest drought in more than half a century. “It’s a...
Arkansas Rice Farmers Sue Texas Company Over Hybrid Rice
Jul 18 2012 // A group of Arkansas rice farmers has sued a company that produces hybrid seed, claiming that RiceTec Inc. supplied them with seed that produced an inferior crop and sometimes didn’t grow well enough to be...
China Reinsurance Company Licenses AIR’s Suite of Cat Models
Jul 18 2012 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced that China Property & Casualty Reinsurance Company Ltd. (CPCR) has licensed its typhoon, earthquake, and multiple-peril crop insurance models for China to better...
