Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tokio Marine’s ProAg to Acquire AmTrust Financial’s Crop Insurance MGA
Apr 22 2019 // Producers Ag Insurance Group Inc. has agreed to acquire Leawood, Kan.-based managing general agent AmTrust Agriculture Insurance Services. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close by May 1....
New Crop of Satellites Will Identify Biggest Contributors to Climate Change
Apr 18 2019 // A wave of satellites set to orbit the Earth will be able to pinpoint producers of greenhouse gases, right down to an individual leak at an oil rig. More than a dozen governments and companies have or are planning to launch...
Georgia Gov. Blasts Congress for Inaction on Hurricane Aid Package
Apr 16 2019 // Georgia’s governor and other state leaders are blasting Congress over its failure to approve a package of disaster relief measures. The $14 billion aid package is desperately needed by farmers and others who suffered...
Farmers Grow to Like Crop of Technologies Helping Them Manage Weather Risk
Apr 16 2019 // When surprise hailstorms hit the 6,000 acres Trevor Scherman plants each year with peas, wheat, canola and lentils, his first move isn’t to his truck to assess the damage. These days, it’s to his iPad. Nine...
Census: Number of Kansas Farms Drops 5% in 5 Years
Apr 15 2019 // The government’s latest Census of Agriculture for Kansas shows the number of farms in the state has dropped 5% from the count taken five years earlier. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Thursday...
Bill to Shield Farmers from Nuisance Suits Advances in Nebraska
Apr 12 2019 // A bill that would expand protections for Nebraska farmers against public nuisance lawsuits has advanced in the Legislature despite objections that it could infringe on neighbors’ property rights. Lawmakers gave the...
French Court Rules Bayer’s Monsanto Weedkiller Liable for Farmer’s Health Problems
Apr 11 2019 // A French appeals court ruled on Thursday that Bayer’s Monsanto business was liable for the health problems of a farmer who had inhaled a weedkiller product. The ruling in favor of farmer Paul Francois was announced...
Lloyd’s Syndicate Ascot Insures Farmers in 16 Nations Against Crop-Price Volatility
Apr 11 2019 // Farmers can now for the first time insure their produce against price volatility as easily as insuring their homes, with a global platform based on hundreds of niche commodity indexes, underwritten by a Lloyd’s of...
AM Best: Most Homes in Midwest States Uninsured for Flooding
Apr 9 2019 // In a commentary on the recent Midwest flooding, AM Best said the states hit hardest by these floods — such as Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota — generally have National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) insured...
Kansas Lawmakers OK Bill Allowing Farm Bureau Non-ACA Compliant Health Plan
Apr 7 2019 // Republican lawmakers in Kansas pressed ahead with allowing the state Farm Bureau to offer health coverage to members that doesn’t satisfy the Affordable Care Act, a state-level effort to circumvent an Obama-era law...
Government Relief Bypasses Farmers Who Lost Stored Crops in Floods
Apr 2 2019 // The Black Hawk military helicopter flew over Iowa, giving a senior U.S. agriculture official and U.S. senator an eyeful of the flood damage below, where yellow corn from ruptured metal silos spilled out into the muddy...
1 Million Acres of Midwest Farmlands Flooded as Corn Planting Deadlines Approach
Apr 1 2019 // At least 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of U.S. farmland were flooded after the “bomb cyclone” storm left wide swaths of nine major grain producing states under water this month, satellite data analyzed by...
A Mix of Flood Insurance Reforms
Apr 1 2019 // Conservation, CarFax-Like Disclosure, Means-Test for Rates Up for Discussion The federal flood insurance program has a knack for inspiring ideas from reformers across the political spectrum on how to improve government. If...
Africa Re Joins World Bank’s IFC to Build Crop Insurance Market for Nigeria’s Farmers
Mar 29 2019 // The International Finance Corp. (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, announced it has signed an agreement with Africa Re, the pan-African reinsurance company, to help small holder Nigerian farmers more easily access...
California Commissioner Yet to Move on Petition from Climate Activists for More Insurer Regs
Mar 28 2019 // Nobody’s saying much as California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara considers how he will respond to a petition submitted by climate change activists urging him to place new regulations on insurers to disclose...
Report: Farm Income Continues to Drop in Minnesota
Mar 27 2019 // A report finds Minnesota farm income continues to drop and hit a new low last year. University of Minnesota Extension and Minnesota State tracked the past 23 years of data and found after adjusting for information,...
In ‘Trump Country’ Farm Belt, Flooding Woes Add to Trade War Stress
Mar 26 2019 // Nebraska grain farmer Ryan Ueberrhein was barely breaking even after the U.S.-China trade war pushed prices for his soybean crop to a decade low. Then the nearby Elkhorn River burst its banks as flooding swept across the...
Governor Signs South Dakota Law That Targets Labeling of ‘Fake Meat’
Mar 26 2019 // Gov. Kristi Noem has signed legislation that requires “fake meat” products to be correctly labeled, hoping to reduce the impact of lab-cultured products on the local beef market. A product is misbranded if it...
Arkansas ‘Truth in Labeling’ Bill Signed by Governor
Mar 22 2019 // Food manufacturers will soon have to comply with “truth in labeling” legislation that aims to protect Arkansas’ meat and rice producers from outlets who, the bill’s sponsor says, mislead consumers...
Missouri, Kansas Residents Rush to Fill Sandbags as Floodwaters Move Downstream
Mar 22 2019 // Floodwaters that devastated swaths of Nebraska and Iowa rolled downstream on Thursday, swamping more Midwestern farmland as waterfront communities in Missouri and Kansas hurried to shore up strained levees. Flooding of the...
