Latest Agribusiness Headlines

All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Farmers Insurance to Pay $1.5M in Labor Settlement

Jul 18 2011 // Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Inc. has agreed to pay $1.52 million in overtime back wages to 3,459 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that disclosed...

Farmers Insurance to Pay $1.5M in Labor Settlement

Jul 18 2011 // Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Inc. has agreed to pay $1.52 million in overtime back wages to 3,459 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that disclosed...

U.S., Mexico Agree to Cross-Border Trucking Program

Jul 18 2011 // Agreements resolving the dispute over long-haul, cross-border trucking services between the United States and Mexico have been signed, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Mexico will lift retaliatory...

People

Jul 18 2011 // Barbara Zito has been named senior vice president of Marketing at Founders Insurance Co. in Des Plaines, Ill. Founders is a member company of the Utica National Insurance Group of New Hartford, N.Y. Zito is responsible for...

People

Jul 18 2011 // Novato, Calif.-based Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. named Bill Kenny vice president of tax. He will lead the tax function for Allianz of America in the United States, and will lead the teams responsible for tax...

$750M Settlement Reached with U.S. Farmers over Genetically Modified Rice

Jul 18 2011 // A settlement of up to $750 million has been reached with the German conglomerate Bayer CropScience on behalf of U.S. rice farmers in a series of rice contamination lawsuits, according to Don Downing, an attorney with Gray,...

Farmers Insurance to Pay $1.5M in Labor Settlement

Jul 18 2011 // Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Inc. has agreed to pay $1.52 million in overtime back wages to 3,459 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that disclosed...

Farmers Insurance to Pay $1.5M in Back Pay

Jul 18 2011 // Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Inc. has agreed to pay $1.52 million in overtime back wages to 3,459 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that disclosed...

Florida Says BP Oil Spill Victims Still Suffering

Jul 14 2011 // Nearly 15 months after the massive BP oil spill blighted the Gulf of Mexico and beaches across the southeast, Florida’s top agriculture official said that an untold number of residents whose livelihoods were...

Southwest Kansas Economy Could Take a Hit From Drought

Jul 12 2011 // Crop losses linked to severe drought conditions are expected to take a toll on the economy in southwest Kansas. The Garden City Telegram reported that the Garden City Co-Op is estimating taking about 35 to 40 percent less...

Farmers Insurance to Pay $1.5M in Labor Settlement

Jul 8 2011 // Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Inc. has agreed to pay $1.52 million in overtime back wages to 3,459 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that disclosed...

Farmers Insurance Employees to Get $1.5M in Back Wages

Jul 8 2011 // Farmers Insurance has agreed to pay just over $1.5 million in back overtime wages to workers at 11 customer service call centers in Texas and five other states after a U.S. Labor Department investigation. The federal probe...

$750M Settlement Reached with U.S. Farmers over Genetically Modified Rice

Jul 7 2011 // A settlement of up to $750 million has been reached with the German conglomerate Bayer CropScience on behalf of U.S. rice farmers in a series of rice contamination lawsuits, according to Don Downing, an attorney with Gray,...

Pres. Obama Signs Disaster Declaration for Texas Wildfires

Jul 5 2011 // President Barack Obama has signed a major disaster declaration for parts of Texas ravaged by wildfires in April and early May, ordering federal aid to help state and local recovery efforts. The White House had previously...

Holborn Adds Brost and Hawn to Executive Ranks

Jul 5 2011 // Holborn Corporation, an independent provider of reinsurance brokerage services, announced that James Brost and Jeffrey Hawn have joined the firm as senior vice president and vice president, respectively, in the...

People

Jun 20 2011 // Iowa-based United Fire & Casualty Co. announced new executive appointments and the election of four new directors for full terms on its 12-member board. Denver Regional Office Underwriting Manager Jolene Grow was...

Use of Credit-based Insurance Scores in Texas Upheld

Jun 20 2011 // Texas law permits an insurer to use race-neutral factors in credit scoring to price personal lines of insurance. That’s the conclusion of the Texas Supreme Court, which considered a certified question from the Ninth...

Crews Racing Floodwaters to Build Up Iowa Levee

Jun 15 2011 // Crews in Hamburg, Iowa, were busy June 14 building up a secondary barrier to protect the small Iowa town after the swollen Missouri River punched a massive hole in the main levee. The river ruptured two levees in northwest...

Low Yields Best Insurance as U.S. Farmers Plant Corn

Jun 10 2011 // Ohio farmer Jeff Hoak was excited and anxious at the same time. His wedding was coming up, and many of his corn fields had yet to be planted. The grain gods smiled on him. The weather broke and he finished planting his...

Swiss Re to Reinsure Ethiopian Microinsurance Project

Jun 10 2011 // Swiss Re is to reinsure a five-year project that provides drought insurance for crops in Ethiopia, in a microinsurance program developed by the World Food Program (WFP) and Oxfam America. The world’s biggest...