Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oregon Farmers Sue Irrigation District Over Water Cutoff
Oct 5 2016 // Malheur County farmers are suing their local irrigation district in Oregon, claiming it failed to deliver water when needed in 2014 and 2015. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Delos and Barbara Lee, who farm alfalfa...
Outlooks Revised to Negative for Texas Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance, Subsidiary
Oct 5 2016 // A.M. Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of “a” of Texas Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co....
China Insurance Market Ripe for Digital Disruption: Viewpoint
Oct 4 2016 // China’s tech giants — Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent — increasingly have a finger in every part of the economy. So why aren’t they bigger participants in what should be an easy sell online:...
Zika-Carrying Mosquitoes Found in New Area of Miami Beach
Oct 3 2016 // More Zika-carrying mosquitoes have been captured in Miami Beach, this time in a new neighborhood. The Florida Department of Agriculture said Saturday that it’s the sixth time Zika-bearing mosquitoes have been...
Investors Urge Food Giants to Lessen Meat Reliance to Lower Risk
Sep 28 2016 // A group of 40 investors managing $1.25 trillion in assets have launched a campaign to encourage 16 global food companies to change the way they source protein for their products to help to reduce environmental and health...
Sierra Specialty Taps Sergeant for Ag/Livestock Marketing
Sep 27 2016 // Sierra Specialty has named Mike Sergeant in marketing in its agri-business department. Sergeant will specialize in marketing ag and livestock insurance products. His 34 years of experience. Sergeant started with Hartford...
Ag Disaster Declared in 24 Louisiana Parishes, 2 Texas Counties
Sep 23 2016 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture has named 24 Louisiana parishes and two Texas counties agricultural disaster areas because of last month’s storms and flooding. Eleven parishes are primary disaster areas, and the...
Group Suing Chemical Giant Dow over Pesticide Used in California
Sep 22 2016 // Chemical manufacturing giant Dow fails to warn people in farming communities throughout California when a potentially dangerous pesticide is applied to nearby fields, health advocates claimed in a lawsuit filed...
NSI Insurance Group Acquires New York Based KMH Insurance Services
Sep 22 2016 // NSI Insurance Group, a Miami Lakes, Florida, based privately held insurance agency, has acquired KMH Insurance Services, a New York based specialty insurance broker focused on serving marine and equine customers. Terms of...
South Carolina to Provide $35M in Aid to 1,250 Farmers Hit by 2015 Floods
Sep 20 2016 // Nearly 1,250 farmers in South Carolina will get more than $35 million in aid for their losses during last October’s massive floods. The Department of Agriculture said in a news release Thursday that 88 farmers will...
Trump Sends Mixed Message on Food Safety Standards
Sep 19 2016 // The Trump campaign pitched rolling back food safety regulations in a fact sheet, arguing they are burdensome to farmers and “overkill.” But the campaign later deleted the proposal from its website and offered...
Connecticut Works to Improve Farm Safety After E.Coli Outbreak
Sep 19 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...
Case Before Iowa Supreme Court Pits Water Supplier Against Farmers
Sep 16 2016 // The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments and must now decide whether to weigh in on a federal lawsuit that pits the water supplier to 500,000 central Iowa residents against upstream farmers accused of contaminating rivers...
August Flood Damage to Louisiana Agriculture: $277M
Sep 14 2016 // A new study says the mid-August flooding’s wreckage of south Louisiana crops and farmland caused an estimated $277 million in damage. The estimate released Tuesday by LSU AgCenter economist Kurt Guidry is more than...
A.M. Best Withdraws Credit Ratings of Oklahoma’s Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance
Sep 12 2016 // A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of B (Fair) and the long-term issuer credit rating (ICR) of “bb+” of Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. (Farmers) in Okarche, Okla. The outlook for the...
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...
