Latest Agribusiness Headlines

Blaze at Western New York Farm Causes $2M in Damage

Jan 23 2009 // Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire that destroyed two barns at a western New York farm, causing about $2 million in damage. The fire broke out about 3 a.m. Monday at McCormick Farms in the Wyoming County...

Ironshore Creates U.S. P/C Operation Run By Former AIG Execs

Jan 22 2009 // Ironshore Inc. has appointed Steven England as executive vice president responsible for running its newly created U.S. Property/ Casualty underwriting operations based in St. Louis, Missouri. The new unit, Ironshore...

Oregon Nursery Damage Put at $18 Million to $31 Million

Jan 12 2009 // Damage estimates to Oregon’s nursery stock industry from late December storms suffered by 160 growers in 12 counties range from $18 million to $31 million in a survey conducted by the Oregon Association of...

People

Jan 11 2009 // Jacksonville, Fla.-based Harden & Associates has added Chris Huber as a Commercial Insurance account director. Harden & Associates also named Kathryn McKenna as a Personal Insurance account director. Prior to...

Swiss Re Analyzes Benefits of ‘Sustainable Agricultural Insurance’

Jan 9 2009 // “Agricultural insurance plays an important role in stimulating investment in agriculture and in stabilizing farmers’ income,” concludes a recently issued report from Swiss Re. The report, “Setting...

President Provides Federal Aid for Hawaii Storms

Jan 7 2009 // President George W. Bush has declared Oahu and Kauai disaster areas, an action that provides federal aid to individuals and businesses, and for repair of public facilities damaged by mid-December storms. The aid does not...

North Carolina Insurance Agent Arrested on Embezzlement Charges

Dec 23 2008 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long reports that Kenneth Rick Morrow of Marion, a licensed insurance agent, was arrested last week and charged with nine counts of embezzlement, nine counts of obtaining property...

Dunmoyer to Lead State Government Affairs for Farmers, Zurich in U.S.

Dec 19 2008 // Farmers Insurance Groups of Companies and Zurich Financial Services announced Dan Dunmoyer, who recently served as chief cabinet secretary and deputy chief of staff for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has...

Farmers Insurance Throws Pass to California’s Roosevelt High School

Dec 19 2008 // It might have been a serious impediment to completing this year’s football season but Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, working closely with State Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), was able to provide an...

Farmers Insurance Claims California County Contributed to Wildfire Damage

Dec 19 2008 // The giant Farmers Insurance Group blames Santa Cruz County for contributing to the spread of the summertime Trabing wildfire, which destroyed dozens of homes. Farmers filed $3 million worth of claims saying the county...

Court: Farmers Insurance Broke Law, Can Keep Money

Dec 15 2008 // A California appeals court says Farmers Insurance broke the law by failing to disclose a $5 service charge — but the company won’t have to pay back more than $115 million it collected. The 4th District Court of...

Farmers Insurance Ranks Most Secure Places to Live; Northwest Tops List

Dec 15 2008 // Those seeking a place to live, work or raise a family in a safe and secure environment should consider the Pacific Northwest, according to the fifth annual Most Secure U.S. Places to Live rankings from Farmers Insurance...

‘Made in China’ Label Battered by Product Contamination Scandals

Dec 8 2008 // Milk, toothpaste, cough syrup, pet food, eels, blood thinner, car parts, pork, eggs, honey, chicken, dumplings, cooking oil and rice — if you can fake it or taint it, you can almost guarantee it’s happened in...

Montpelier Group Licenses AIR Worldwide’s U.S. Crop Model

Dec 5 2008 // AIR Worldwide Corporation announced that the Bermuda-based Montpelier Group has licensed the AIR Multiple Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI) model for use in AIR’s CATRADER®, the industry standard application for...

Insurers Urge Surcharges, Reforms to Fix North Carolina Beach Plan

Dec 3 2008 // Property/casualty insurers are urging North Carolina officials to impose surcharges on policies in the state’s residual market property insurer, the Beach Plan, and take other financing and mitigation steps to...

RenRe’s WeatherPredict Acquires Assets of Commodity Hedgers

Dec 1 2008 // Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe Holdings announced that its U.S. affiliate, WeatherPredict Consulting Inc., has acquired the primary technology assets of Commodity Hedgers, Inc. RenRe described the company as a...

Nov 30 2008 // Peter Lauve, of Abilene, Texas, has been named president of Texas-based Insurors Group. As Insurors Group president, Lauve, also a partner with CBS Insurance located in Abilene, will lead a network of Texas agents that...

Former Iowa Governor Says He Won’t be Next Agricultural Secretary

Nov 26 2008 // Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack says he won’t be the next Agriculture Secretary, according to a report on the Des Moines Register Web site on Nov. 23. Vilsack says in an e-mail that he has never been contacted by aides...

XL Insurance Revamps Equine Team

Nov 25 2008 // XL Insurance, the global insurance operations of XL Capital, announced from London the appointment of Neil Robertson as head of its global Equine operation, and Ian Hull as Equine Underwriter in London. “The Equine...

California Labor Commissioner Issues Fines of $267,600 During Statewide Enforcement Activity

Nov 21 2008 // Investigators from the California Labor Commissioners’ Office issued 71 citations totaling $267,600 in fines in a two-day statewide enforcement sweep of businesses in the agricultural industry including nurseries,...