Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Homeowners Around Minnesota Lake Sue Farmers, Claiming Pollution
Aug 22 2012 // Homeowners who live on the shores of Lake Independence near Minneapolis, Minn., say a dairy farm is to blame for turning the lake into a noxious mix of pollutants. Twenty-one individual homeowners and the Lake Independence...
Maryland Officials Encourage Crop Insurance, Boost Advertising Budget
Aug 22 2012 // Maryland agriculture officials are encouraging farmers to buy crop insurance. Photo: Maryland Dept. of Agriculture Steve Connelly, an Agriculture Department marketing specialist, told The Salisbury Daily Times that the...
Rains Fail to Offset Oklahoma Drought Conditions
Aug 21 2012 // Rains that have fallen across Oklahoma during the past week have not provided significant relief from drought conditions that have plagued the state in recent months, according to a state climatologist, and left the...
Investor Sues Promoter of Failed New Mexico Hospital Project
Aug 21 2012 // A man who says he invested more than $1.5 million in a failed northwestern New Mexico hospital project is suing the project’s promoter for fraud. Michael Atchison’s lawsuit claims promoter Bobby Willis spent...
El Nino Seen Having ‘Modest Impact’ on Australia
Aug 21 2012 // An emerging El Nino weather pattern is likely to have only a modest impact on crops and mining in Australia and could benefit sugar cane growers in Queensland, a senior forecaster said. Drier conditions have already...
All 92 Ind. Counties Now Farming Disaster Areas
Aug 17 2012 // The federal government has now declared all 92 Indiana counties as agricultural disaster areas following the state’s worst drought in decades. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has added 12 Indiana counties as...
11 N La. Parishes Named Drought Disaster Areas
Aug 17 2012 // Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain says the U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 11 north Louisiana parishes as disaster areas because of drought. He says he was notified Wednesday that four –...
Zurich Insurance Group Posts $2.2 Billion 1st Half Net Income
Aug 16 2012 // Zurich Insurance Group posted a $2.2 billion net after tax income available to shareholders. Other selected highlights from the earnings report are as follows: Q2 2012 Q2 2011 Business operating profit...
McCaskill, Akin Explain Farm Bill Differences
Aug 13 2012 // Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri stressed her support for federal crop insurance legislation and other rural interests on Aug. 10 while her new Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, defended his...
Crop Insurers’ Payouts Already Top $800 Million This Season
Aug 10 2012 // U.S. crop insurers have already paid out $822 million in indemnities this season, but it is still far too early to tell how large the industry’s losses will ultimately be, National Crop Insurance Services said on...
El Niño Almost Certain to Arrive In Next 2 Months: U.S. Forecaster
Aug 10 2012 // The U.S. government forecaster warned on Thursday that the feared El Niño phenomenon, which can affect global weather, is almost certain to occur over the next two months, potentially adding strain to global food...
U.S. Crops Get a Break from Historic Drought
Aug 8 2012 // Rain and cooler temperatures in the drought-stricken U.S. Midwest crop belt will provide relief for late-season soybeans, but the change in the weather is arriving too late to help the already severely damaged corn crop,...
Aon Benfield Monthly Cat Report Highlights China Floods; Agriculture Losses
Aug 8 2012 // The latest report on the world’s catastrophes from Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc, highlights flooding in China that generated more than $8.3 billion in economic...
Copper Theft on Rise in Alabama
Aug 6 2012 // Copper thefts are becoming a growing problem for Alabama farmers. Southeast Alabama farmer Trey Martin said someone stole the copper wiring from his irrigation system. The copper wire was worth $50, but the damages to the...
Crop Insurance Helps Farmers Now More Than in 1988 Drought
Aug 6 2012 // U.S. crops are taking a beating in the worst drought since 1988 but most farmers are not sweating like they did 24 years ago when a drought hit as they were just starting to recover from a farm depression that brought down...
House Passes $383 million US Drought Aid Bill for Ranchers
Aug 3 2012 // The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $383 million disaster relief bill on Thursday that provides political shelter for lawmakers during the worst drought in half a century, but may not release the aid for months to...
What is insurance anyway?
Aug 2 2012 // A friend involved in the crop insurance industry recently wrote to me taking issue with a reference I had made proposed shallow loss “insurance” (my words) program in the farm bill currently pending before...
Farmers Raises Rates in Alabama; Pulls Wind Coverage on Coastal Rental Policies
Aug 2 2012 // One of Alabama’s largest homeowners’ insurers is raising rates on property insurance by as much as 35 percent per policy while dropping some 2,900 rental properties along the state coastline as part of plan to...
Monsanto Wins Patent Suit Against DuPont in Genetically Modified Seed Case
Aug 2 2012 // Shares of Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, rose on Thursday and DuPont shares fell after Monsanto won a $1 billion victory over its archrival in a lawsuit concerning patents in the agricultural seed...
Facing Paltry Yields, Kentucky Farmers Hope Insurance Will Cover Costs
Jul 31 2012 // Kentucky agriculture is reeling from a summertime one-two punch of blistering heat and dry conditions, and farmers are feeling the pain from the prospects of shrinking income and inflated expenses caused by weather-related...
