Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Swiss Re Plays Leading Role in Private Sector Plan for African ‘Food Security’
May 21 2012 // Swiss Re announced that CEO Michel Liès has signed a letter of intent to participate in a “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition,” which will begin work following the G-8 summit at Camp David. Those...
$20M-Plus Crop Damage When Storm Shreds Central California Orchards
May 21 2012 // A fierce spring storm that shredded Central California orchards last month caused more than $20 million damage in Kings County. Other San Joaquin Valley counties are still tallying the damage to crops when quarter-sized...
Crop Damage in Central California From Storm Tops $79M
May 18 2012 // San Joaquin Valley’s crop damage estimate from a hail storm last month has reached more than $79 million. The Fresno Bee reports that Kings County, among the hardest hit areas of the region, recently increased its...
Zurich Posts $1.1 Billion Q1 Net Profit; Near $1.4 Billion Operating
May 15 2012 // The Zurich Insurance Group reported a business operating profit (BOP) for the first quarter of 2012 of $1.3758 billion, a 62 percent rise from $854 million in Q1 2011, and net income after tax of $1.143 billion for the...
Ark. Farm Bureau Ratings Lowered; Louisiana Farm Bureau Affirmed
May 11 2012 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to B++ (Good) from A- (Excellent) and issuer credit rating to “bbb” from “a-” of Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. of Arkansas Inc....
La Nina Exits As Expected; El Nino Fate Uncertain
May 9 2012 // The U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said the La Nina pattern blamed for a crippling drought in Texas and severe dry spells in South America has vanished as expected and is unlikely to reappear later this year. U.S....
Farmers Rate Hike Request
May 7 2012 // Farmers Insurance Exchange has requested an average 39 percent statewide increase for its 25,500 insured homeowners in Louisiana. Details on which areas would receive the largest increases – or decreases – are...
2012 Super Regional P/C Insurers™
May 7 2012 // Demotech Inc. Reveals Leading Multi-State P/C Carriers The original criteria and objective definition for Super Regional P/C Insurersª was established in the Feb. 12, 2007, issue of Insurance Journal. Prior to the...
West Coast Farmers Brings New Jobs to East
May 7 2012 // Farmers Insurance is a household name on the West Coast. But on the East Coast? Not so much. The 85-year-old insurer wants to change that, with a big expansion plan east of the Mississippi. “We are the third-largest...
$20M-Plus Crop Damage When Storm Shreds Central California Orchards
May 3 2012 // A fierce spring storm that shredded Central California orchards last month caused more than $20 million damage in Kings County. Other San Joaquin Valley counties are still tallying the damage to crops when quarter-sized...
Senate Committee Votes to End Direct Farm Subsidies, Backs New Insurance Plan
Apr 27 2012 // U.S. farmers will get a new crop-subsidy program that protects them from ruinous declines in revenue, the biggest threat to survival with today’s high and volatile prices, a Senate committee decided on Thursday. The...
Ohio’s Exotic Animal Bill with Insurance Requirement Advances
Apr 26 2012 // A proposal to regulate ownership of lions, monkeys and other dangerous exotic animals in Ohio cleared a state legislative panel on April 25 and was headed to the full Senate for an afternoon vote. The state Senate’s...
Pennsylvania Farmers Highlight Safety on Rural Roads
Apr 23 2012 // Jim Rexroth knows what happens when drivers don’t pay attention to large farm equipment traveling on rural roads. The Lower Windsor Township, York County, Penn., farmer and his employees at Rexroth Farms have been...
Senate Bill Would Revamp Federal Crop Insurance Program
Apr 23 2012 // U.S. farm subsidies would get a 21st Century make-over to protect grower revenue from ruinous losses, the biggest threat to their operations from today’s high and volatile market prices, under a bill unveiled by...
Missouri Bill Criminalizes Undercover Videos at Farms
Apr 19 2012 // The Missouri House has endorsed legislation that would make it a crime for undercover activists to produce videos portraying poor conditions at livestock farms or other agricultural facilities. The legislation given...
6 of 13 E. coli Cases in Missouri Linked to Single Farm
Apr 18 2012 // Six of Missouri’s 13 recent confirmed cases of E. coli have been linked to the consumption of unpasteurized milk or raw dairy products from a farm in Howard County although the source of the infection has not been...
Drought Brings Outbreak of Horse Disease in Louisiana, Arkansas
Apr 18 2012 // Agriculture officials in Arkansas and Louisiana have warned veterinarians to watch for signs of a potentially fatal horse disease if there’s another drought this year. The disease is often called pigeon fever because...
East Insurance Employment: Hiring Is ‘Slightly Elevated’ in 2012
Apr 16 2012 // The insurance employment market in the East and Northeast regions — as in most other parts of the country — can be summed up the following way: hiring is “slightly elevated” compared to last year, but there...
Cap on Subsidy of Crop Insurance Premiums Would Save $1 Billion: GAO
Apr 13 2012 // A cap on crop insurance premium subsidies could save the federal government up to $1 billion a year, according to a government report. If a limit of $40,000 had been applied to individual farmers’ crop insurance...
Farmers Insurance Asks for Rate Hike in Louisiana
Apr 12 2012 // Farmers Insurance Exchange has asked Louisiana regulators for an average 39 percent statewide increase for its 25,500 homeowner policyholders. The state insurance department is examining the request, which was filed last...
