Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Judge Orders Farmers Insurance to Pay Oklahoma Plaintiffs $15M
Mar 6 2014 // An Oklahoma judge has ordered Farmers Insurance and a subsidiary to pay a total of $15 million to three plaintiffs who filed claims for damage to their homes caused by a deadly tornado that struck Woodward in 2012. The...
California Farmers Hire Dowsers To Find Water
Mar 3 2014 // With California in the grips of drought, farmers throughout the state are using a mysterious and some say foolhardy tool for locating underground water: dowsers, or water witches. Practitioners of dowsing use rudimentary...
North Dakota Farmers Accused of Intentionally Spoiling Spuds Plead Not Guilty
Feb 28 2014 // Two brothers who operated a North Dakota potato farm pleaded not guilty to charges they intentionally spoiled their spud crop after the 2006 harvest in order to collect federal disaster payments. Aaron Johnson, 50, and...
Consumer Watchdog in California Barks at Farmers
Feb 27 2014 // Consumer Watchdog has petitioned Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones a public hearing on the new program private passenger auto filings of Farmers Specialty Insurance Co. The Consumer Watchdog petition seeks to compel...
XL Acquires Global Ag Insurance to Expand Crop Coverage
Feb 27 2014 // XL Reinsurance America Inc., a subsidiary of XL Group Plc, the insurer led by Chief Executive Officer Mike McGavick, has acquired Global Ag Insurance Services LLC to add sales of coverage to farmers in the U.S....
OSHA Denies Plans to Increase Oversight of Small Farms
Feb 25 2014 // Facing pressure from Congress, the Obama administration has made clear it has no intention of increasing workplace regulations for the country’s smallest farms. In a letter to members of Congress dated Feb. 10, a...
Michigan Farm Owner Lands Prison Sentence over Bad Cider
Feb 24 2014 // A northern Michigan man could spend up to four years in prison after improperly processed apple cider he made led to an E. coli outbreak and hospital stays for two adults and two children. James Ruster is the first person...
XL Group’s Specialty Businesses Launch Luxury Lines Program for Private Clients
Feb 24 2014 // XL Group’s Specialty insurance businesses in North America have teamed up on a new luxury lines to extend their equine, aviation, yacht, fine art, and kidnap, ransom & extortioncoverages to protect high net worth...
California Almond Farmers Face Tough Choices Amid Drought
Feb 24 2014 // With California’s agricultural heartland entrenched in drought, almond farmers are letting orchards dry up and in some cases making the tough call to have their trees torn out of the ground, leaving behind empty...
Agribusiness Insurance Segment Stable, Yet Selective
Feb 24 2014 // Crop insurance and farm bill debates have dominated the news headlines and led to uncertainty and frustration for many farm and ranchers, but insurance experts in the agribusiness industry say the property/casualty segment...
10 Things to Know About Agribusiness
Feb 24 2014 // According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s 2007 Census of Agriculture, there were 2,204,792 farms in the United States, an increase of 4 percent from 2002. The average farm in the United States has...
El Nino Threatens to Return; May Hit Global Food Production
Feb 21 2014 // The El Nino weather pattern, which can trigger drought in some parts of the world while causing flooding in others, is increasingly likely to return this year, hitting production of key foods such as rice, wheat and...
Wisconsin Bill Exempts Farmers from Liability in Agriculture Tourism Deaths
Feb 20 2014 // Farmers wouldn’t be financially liable for the death of someone participating in an agricultural tourism activity under a bill up for a vote in the Wisconsin state Assembly. Agricultural tourism is growing in...
Lea County in New Mexico Declared Disaster Area Due To Drought
Feb 20 2014 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Lea County a natural disaster area, making drought-stricken farmers and ranchers in the area eligible for assistance. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the...
Crop Insurance Now Farmers’ Main Safety Net
Feb 20 2014 // U.S. farmers and bankers have almost a year to get ready for major changes in 2015 as crop insurance rather than direct cash payments to producers becomes the centerpiece of farm policy under the five-year farm bill signed...
Connecticut Gov. Proposes Bill to Ban ‘Vicious’ Label on Horses
Feb 14 2014 // Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed legislation Tuesday clarifying that domesticated horses cannot be considered vicious, responding to a legal claim over a horse at a Milford farm in Connecticut that threatens a...
Millions in Aid for Drought-Stricken California Promises Obama
Feb 14 2014 // U.S. President Barack Obama is offering millions of dollars in aid and other assistance to California farmers, ranchers and communities beset by one of the worst droughts in the state’s history. The federal help will...
Record Hail Damage In 2013: Montana Farmers
Feb 10 2014 // Insurance claims for crop damage due to hail in Montana exceeded $14 million in 2013. The Montana Department of Agriculture told the Great Falls Tribune that’s the most expensive year in the 98-year-history of the...
Georgia Lawmakers Eye Regulations for Drones
Feb 5 2014 // Georgia would take the first steps to regulating the use of drones through legislation under consideration in the General Assembly. Rep. Harry Geisinger, R-Roswell, has sponsored a bill that would provide for the lawful...
Senate Joins House in Passing Farm, Crop Insurance Bill; President Says He Will Sign
Feb 4 2014 // The Senate passed and sent to President Barack Obama a measure that sets U.S. agricultural policy for five years, ending the toughest legislative battle on renewal of the farm bill in almost two decades with cuts to crop...
