Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Soybean Rust Threatens Nine States, Farmers Rethinking Coverage Choices
Mar 7 2005 // A warning to prepare for the worst and hope for the best has been issued by researchers who discovered late last year that when Hurricane Ivan tore across the southeastern U.S. it brought with it wind-borne soybean rust...
Willis Forms Agri-Business Practice
Mar 1 2005 // Willis Group Holdings has announced the formation of a new Agri-Business Practice which is based in Lexington, Ky. A team of risk management and insurance professionals with experience in agriculture and animal mortality...
Texas Appeals Court Reverses Farmers Settlement
Feb 7 2005 // Justice David Puryear with the Third District Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 21 struck down a $117.5 million settlement Farmers Insurance Group reached with the state in 2002 over homeowners insurance...
Trade Ministers to Seek Doha Accord; Agreement Could Bolster International Insurance Market
Jan 31 2005 // Although the world’s developed and developing nations still appear to be far apart on concluding new agreements on international trade, they’ve at least agreed to make a new attempt to do so. The so-called Doha...
A.M. Best Affirms Ratings for Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Group; Outlook Stable
Jan 27 2005 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength ratings of A++ (Superior) of Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Group (SFB) (Ridgeland, Miss.). The rating outlook has been revised to stable from negative. Concurrently, A.M....
Farmers Survey: Red Light Running Among Top Causes of Crashes; Men More than Women Feel Need to Run
Jan 25 2005 // While most people associate fatal auto crashes with speeding or drunk driving, making a trip to the grocery store could prove just as, if not, more treacherous. A new survey conducted by the Farmers Insurance Group of...
Texas Appeals Court Reverses Farmers Settlement
Jan 21 2005 // Justice David Puryear with the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 21 struck down a $117.5 million settlement Farmers Insurance Group reached with the state in 2002 over homeowners rates. Texas Attorney...
Republic Launches New Farm & Ranch Owners Program
Dec 28 2004 // The Republic Group, headquartered in Dallas, introduced a new farm and ranch program that will be available beginning Jan. 3, 2005. According to the company, the new program includes farm and ranch property, machinery and...
Officials Revamp, Expand Western Program for Rangeland Insurance
Dec 23 2004 // A pilot program for rangeland insurance, criticized by some for how it calculated losses, has been revamped and expanded to include more producers in Montana and Wyoming, a federal agriculture official said Dec....
Court Reconsidering Miss. Crop Insurance Fraud Case
Dec 22 2004 // A two-and-a-half year old federal crop insurance fraud case has resurfaced in Mississippi, with questions arising about if a 1998 cotton crop was insurable. In 2002, Judge Neal Biggers, dismissed four federal crop...
PA. GOV. SIGNS BILLS ON CROP, SURPLUS:
Dec 20 2004 // Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell has signed into law several bills affecting the insurance industry, including one on crop insurance awareness and another on insurance company surplus contributions. Senate Bill 912,...
Feinstein to Retire; Farmers Appoints Hopkins CEO
Dec 14 2004 // An announcement from Zurich Financial Services Group notes that Martin D. Feinstein (56) will retire effective March 31, 2005, as CEO of Farmers Group Inc. (FGI). He will also step down from his position on Zurich’s...
Flood Damage at Univ. of Hawaii’s Manoa Campus
Dec 7 2004 // U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye toured the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus recently, and came away saying flood damage would top $50 million. The veteran Democrat visited the campus in preparation for asking for federal...
Ore. Court Reverses Decision in Farmers Ins. Case
Dec 7 2004 // Oregon’s highest court has ruled against Farmers Insurance, saying the insurance company had no right to deduct the payouts an injured woman received from two other insurance sources. In 1988, Terrel Ann Bergmann was...
Montemayor Issues Statement on Farmers Settlement
Dec 7 2004 // Texas Insurance Commissioner José Montemayor released the following statement on the state’s settlement agreement with Farmers Insurance Company on homeowners rate reductions: “I have reached an agreement with...
Self Insured Solutions Forms California’s First Agricultural Workers’ Comp Self-insured Group
Dec 6 2004 // Following up on the establishment of the California Contractors Network — a self-insured group (SIG) for high-risk employers — Self Insured Solutions has created California’s first Agricultural...
S.D. Court Rules on When Umbrella Kicks in as Excess Coverage
Dec 6 2004 // Deciding an issue never settled before in South Dakota, the state Supreme Court said that secondary, umbrella insurance does not kick in until another insurer’s primary coverage has paid its full limit. The unanimous...
Pa. Gov. Rendell Signs Bills on Crop Insurance, Insurance Company Surplus Rules
Dec 1 2004 // Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell has signed into law several bills affecting the insurance industry, including one on crop insurance awareness and another on insurance company surplus contributions. Senate Bill 912,...
Feds Put Brake on More Direct-to-Consumer Crop Insurance Pending Further Review
Nov 22 2004 // American farmers and independent insurance agents selling crop insurance reportedly scored an important victory late Friday, when the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) Board put the brakes on the proliferation of Premium...
Zurich Posts 35% Increase in Nine Month Net Income
Nov 17 2004 // Zurich Financial Services reported a 35 percent increase in its net income for the first nine months of 2004 to $1.902 billion, compared to $1.41 billion in the same period of 2003, despite the impact of the Florida...
