Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Casualty Losses and Cyber, Crop, Property Demand Driving Reinsurance Growth: Aon
Sep 12 2016 // Reinsurance demand has increased over the past 18 months, with the cession ratio across the global property/casualty insurance industry registering a small rise for the first time in several years, and the trend expected...
Alliant Acquires Farmin, Rothrock & Parrott in Washington
Sep 8 2016 // Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has acquired Spokane, Wash.-based Farmin, Rothrock & Parrott. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This marks Alliant’s fifth acquisition in the Northwest since 2014. John...
Group Touts New Sugarcane Insurance Opportunities in Louisiana
Sep 7 2016 // The American Sugar Cane League says Louisiana sugarcane farmers have until the end of September to make crop insurance decisions for the 2017 crop under a new insurance program. In a news release, the league says the new...
Court Allows Banana Farmers’ Toxic Pesticide Claims Against Fruit, Chemical Firms
Sep 7 2016 // Hundreds of banana farmers from Central America and South America will again have their day in court, after a U.S. appeals court on Friday revived six lawsuits accusing several big fruit and chemical companies of sickening...
Florida Finds First Local Mosquitoes With Zika Virus
Sep 2 2016 // Florida officials on Thursday said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local U.S. transmission of the illness that can cause...
Farmers Insurance in California Names Elliott Head of Human Resources
Aug 31 2016 // Los Angeles, Calif.-based Farmers Insurance has named Suzie Elliott head of human resources. With her new appointment, Elliott also becomes part of the group’s senior leadership team. She will report to Deborah...
Fire Destroys 19th Century Massachusetts Farmhouse
Aug 31 2016 // A central Massachusetts farmhouse dating to 1800 has been destroyed by a fire. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that emergency crews responded to a three-alarm fire early Sunday at a home known as the Goodrich...
More Than 1K Bee Hives Stolen From Florida Bee Farmers
Aug 30 2016 // Southwest Florida bee farmers are having a difficult summer because thieves have been stealing their hives, lots of them, to the tune of $150,000 or more. So far, none of the hundreds of stolen hives have been recovered,...
ADM Settles Ponzi Scheme Suit by Missouri Farmers; Terms not Disclosed
Aug 29 2016 // Agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland has settled a lawsuit over claims the company was behind a now-imprisoned grain broker’s scheme that gouged millions from dozens of Missouri farmers. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch...
Would-Be Drone Pilots Flock to Take First U.S. Licensing Test
Aug 29 2016 // Thousands of would-be drone pilots are racing to get licensed under new U.S. regulations that have opened an aerial stampede. More than 3,300 have signed up to take the test on Monday, the first day it’s available,...
Everest Re Completes Crop Insurer Sale to CGB Diversified Services
Aug 26 2016 // Everest Re Group Ltd. has finalized the sale of its U.S. crop managing general agent, Heartland Crop Insurance Inc., to CGB Diversified Services, Inc. for $49 million. In conjunction with the sale, Everest has entered into...
Connecticut Working to Improve Farm Safety After E. Coli Outbreak at Local Farm
Aug 26 2016 // With the growth of agritourism and more people visiting local farms, Connecticut officials are joining other states in educating farmers about how to mitigate health risks for their new visitors. Connecticut’s latest...
How Monsanto’s Climate Unit Is Changing Risk Profile of Farmers
Aug 25 2016 // It caught my eye when Monsanto Co. subsidiary Climate Corp. announced last week it was creating the “Industry’s First In-Field Sensor Network” and “the first Centralized Platform” digital...
20-Foot Drone Being Tested in North Dakota for Post-Disaster Use
Aug 24 2016 // A 20-foot-long drone that was brought to North Dakota to test precision agriculture methods is now part of a trial run to see if can help crews restore power to areas hit by natural disasters. The Israeli-manufactured...
Report: Thousands of South Carolina Flood Victims Still Need Help
Aug 24 2016 // Thousands of people in South Carolina still need home repairs, while the state has submitted a plan for using almost $100 million in federal housing aid almost a year after historic rains inundated the state. The state is...
AAIS Releases New Drone Coverage Forms, Rules Filings Ahead of FAA Regulations
Aug 22 2016 // The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS), a non-for-profit national insurance advisory organization, announced new filings of Unmanned Aircraft Liability Coverage forms and rules in their Agricultural General...
Crop Insurance Fraud Leads to 2 Years in Prison for Missouri Farmer
Aug 19 2016 // A southeast Missouri farmer has been ordered to spend two years in prison for crop insurance fraud of more than $200,000. The Southeast Missourian reports that 48-year-old Bobby David Lowrey, of Parma, was sentenced for...
Tennessee Investigating Outbreak of Equine Disease Affecting Race Horses
Aug 15 2016 // Tennessee’s state veterinarian office is investigating an outbreak of a disease involving 17 horses in Middle Tennessee. The Agriculture Department said in a news release that a group of racing quarter horses tested...
2 Kentucky Farmers Plead Guilty to $1.1M in Crop Insurance Fraud
Aug 8 2016 // Two south-central Kentucky farmers have pleaded guilty to crop insurance fraud. The U.S. attorney’s office says 53-year-old David Manion and 48-year-old Henry Manion of Allen County admitted making false statements...
Northeast Drought, Wildfire Risk Could Last Through October
Aug 8 2016 // The drought that has taken hold in the Northeast, from Maine to Pennsylvania, is being driven by a second year of below-average rainfall. Though not as dire as the West Coast drought of five-years running, the dry, hot...
