Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Drought Brings Back Memories of 1988 Crop Losses
Jun 29 2012 // Just one year ago Jeff Scates saw the worst flooding on his southern Illinois farmland since 1937. Today, Scates is watching his corn fields shrivel from the driest season in 24 years. “We’ve gone from one...
Leavitt Central Coast Names Willis Senior Vice President
Jun 27 2012 // Leavitt Central Coast Insurance Services named Ted Willis senior vice president. Willis has more than 32 years’ experience in insurance. He began his career as the claims manager for an international brokerage and...
Lloyd’s Details ‘Growing Impact of Climate Change’ as UN Meets
Jun 25 2012 // Lloyd’s has published a roundup of the environmental issues inherent in as the world grows warmer. The recently concluded Rio +20 Conference was an attempt – 20 years after the first conference – “to try to...
Senate Overhauls Farm Subsidies, Crop Insurance But Time Running Out
Jun 21 2012 // The Senate approved sweeping new U.S. farm legislation on Thursday that would cut almost all traditional farm subsidies while expanding a costly crop insurance program, but odds are slim the bill will pass this...
Farm Mutual Insurance Co. Under Montana Supervision
Jun 18 2012 // Montana’s insurance commissioner has placed Great Falls-based Westland Farm Mutual Insurance Co. under her office’s supervision, citing the company’s diminishing cash reserves. Commissioner of Securities...
Senators Call for Bipartisan Support for Cap on Crop Insurance Subsidies
Jun 15 2012 // U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa. are urging the Senate to support their bipartisan amendment to end what they say are excessive federal crop insurance subsidies for large American farming...
Farm Mutual Insurance Co. Under Montana Supervision
Jun 8 2012 // Montana’s insurance commissioner has placed Great Falls-based Westland Farm Mutual Insurance Co. under her office’s supervision, citing the company’s diminishing cash reserves. Commissioner of Securities...
Feet of Sand Leave Midwest Farms Wasteland After Flooding
Jun 5 2012 // Mason Hansen guns his pickup and cranks the steering wheel to spin through sand up to 4 feet high, but this is no day at the beach. Hanson once grew corn and soybeans in the sandy wasteland in western Iowa, and his...
Argo Insurance, Britt/Paulk Form New Pest Control Program
Jun 4 2012 // Argo Insurance’s Commercial Specialty Programs unit will partner with Britt/Paulk Insurance Underwriters to offer insurance for residential and commercial pest control operators. The pest control program, which will...
Senate Favoring End to Direct Payouts to Farmers
Jun 4 2012 // A program that puts billions of dollars in the pockets of farmers whether or not they plant a crop may disappear with hardly a protest from farm groups and the politicians who look out for their interests. The Senate is...
Crop Damage in Central California Tops $79M
Jun 4 2012 // San Joaquin Valley’s crop damage estimate from a hail storm in April has reached more than $79 million. The Fresno Bee reported that Kings County, among the hardest hit areas of the region, recently increased its...
Florida City Doubles in Size Since Hurricane Andrew
May 30 2012 // The havoc wreaked by Hurricane Andrew in Homestead, Florida two decades ago still serves as a warning about the devastation even a slow tropical storm season can bring. Homestead was ground zero when Andrew plowed ashore...
Farm Traced To Listeria Outbreak Files Bankruptcy
May 29 2012 // A Colorado farm that was traced to a listeria outbreak in cantaloupe last year has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Jensen Farms declined to comment on its filing Friday. Its attorney Jim Markus told The Denver...
Swiss Re Plays Leading Role in Private Sector Plan for African ‘Food Security’
May 21 2012 // Swiss Re announced that CEO Michel Liès has signed a letter of intent to participate in a “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition,” which will begin work following the G-8 summit at Camp David. Those...
$20M-Plus Crop Damage When Storm Shreds Central California Orchards
May 21 2012 // A fierce spring storm that shredded Central California orchards last month caused more than $20 million damage in Kings County. Other San Joaquin Valley counties are still tallying the damage to crops when quarter-sized...
Crop Damage in Central California From Storm Tops $79M
May 18 2012 // San Joaquin Valley’s crop damage estimate from a hail storm last month has reached more than $79 million. The Fresno Bee reports that Kings County, among the hardest hit areas of the region, recently increased its...
Zurich Posts $1.1 Billion Q1 Net Profit; Near $1.4 Billion Operating
May 15 2012 // The Zurich Insurance Group reported a business operating profit (BOP) for the first quarter of 2012 of $1.3758 billion, a 62 percent rise from $854 million in Q1 2011, and net income after tax of $1.143 billion for the...
Ark. Farm Bureau Ratings Lowered; Louisiana Farm Bureau Affirmed
May 11 2012 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to B++ (Good) from A- (Excellent) and issuer credit rating to “bbb” from “a-” of Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. of Arkansas Inc....
La Nina Exits As Expected; El Nino Fate Uncertain
May 9 2012 // The U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said the La Nina pattern blamed for a crippling drought in Texas and severe dry spells in South America has vanished as expected and is unlikely to reappear later this year. U.S....
Farmers Rate Hike Request
May 7 2012 // Farmers Insurance Exchange has requested an average 39 percent statewide increase for its 25,500 insured homeowners in Louisiana. Details on which areas would receive the largest increases – or decreases – are...
