Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Kentucky Adjuster Sentenced in Crop Insurance Fraud Scheme
Jan 3 2022 // An independent adjuster who helped Central Kentucky tobacco farmers file millions of dollars in fraudulent crop insurance claims is the latest member of a fraud ring to face prison time for the scheme. Timothy Douglas...
EPA to Revisit Bayer Dicamba Herbicide Risks After 3,500 Reports of Crop Damage
Dec 22 2021 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is assessing whether the herbicide dicamba can be sprayed on soybean and cotton plants genetically engineered to resist the chemical, without the procedure posing...
California Farm Labor Contractor Arraigned in Alleged $1.8M Workers’ Comp Fraud Scheme
Dec 10 2021 // Alfredo Casas, 62, of Stockton, California, has been arraigned on 15 felony counts of insurance fraud, grand theft and tax evasion. Casas allegedly underreported payroll for his farm labor contracting business by over $1...
Toyota Offering Auto Insurance With Farmers’ Toggle in 5 States With More to Come
Dec 10 2021 // Automaker Toyota’s insurance arm has begun selling its first branded insurance coverage, Toyota Auto Insurance, in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and South Carolina, and will soon be offering the coverage in...
Lawsuit Says Dairy Company is Misrepresenting Hawaii Links
Dec 6 2021 // A food distributor in Hawaii has filed a federal lawsuit against a dairy company because milk from the mainland is allegedly being sold under a name that advertises local ties. The lawsuit filed by Hawaii Foodservice...
USDA Revises Rules on Crop Insurance for Hemp Producers
Dec 3 2021 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture is changing some rules around crop insurance for hemp, including making the insurability requirements more flexible. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) has also added a new...
Severe Australia Floods to Worsen, Raising Costs to Farmers
Dec 3 2021 // Severe flooding episodes across vast swathes of eastern Australia this week show no signs of relenting as costs to farmers continue to mount, with another bout of heavy rain on course to hit the already sodden growing...
Hundreds of Thousands of Farm Animals Perish in Canada Floods
Dec 3 2021 // Hundreds of thousands of livestock have perished in floodwaters in Canada’s westernmost province, the British Columbia government said Thursday. Back-to-back deluges from atmospheric rivers have damaged major...
Lawsuit Says Dairy Company is Misrepresenting Hawaii Links
Nov 29 2021 // A food distributor in Hawaii has filed a federal lawsuit against a dairy company because milk from the mainland is allegedly being sold under a name that advertises local ties. The lawsuit filed by Hawaii Foodservice...
Japan’s Fukushima Farmers Fear Contaminated Water Release Will Hit Produce Prices
Nov 5 2021 // IWAKI, Japan – Farmers in Japan’s northeastern Fukushima fear the release of water from the crippled power plant there could revive concerns about contamination and again hit the price of their produce, undoing a...
California Labor Shortage Compounding Complex Agriculture Landscape for Insurance Pros
Nov 1 2021 // The labor shortage in California has hit the agriculture industry particularly hard, creating a tougher environment all around – including for insurance professionals who deal in that sector. The lack of labor in the...
Indiana Farm Bureau Offers $10K Reward for Information on Barn Arsons
Oct 26 2021 // A reward is being offered as investigators try to find whoever has set at least a dozen barn fires at northern Indiana farms this year. The Farm Bureau groups in Elkhart, Kosciusko, St. Joseph and Marshall counties created...
AM Best Drops Florida Farm Bureau Outlook to Negative After Surplus Declines
Oct 21 2021 // Credit-rating agency AM Best has downgraded its outlook for Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Co., from stable to negative, due to the company’s declining surplus in a disaster-prone state. “The revised outlooks...
USDA: New Insurance Policy Aimed at Helping Small Farms
Oct 18 2021 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rolling out a new insurance option specifically for small farms that sell their products locally. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) created this new policy based on...
Agriculture Department Readying Waivers to Address Pork Plants’ Processing Speed
Oct 8 2021 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working on a proposal for a waiver system for hog plants forced by a federal court to slow processing lines, Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday. Waivers to allow plants to speed up...
USDA: New Insurance Policy Will Help Farmers Who Sell Locally
Oct 7 2021 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rolling out a new insurance option specifically for agricultural producers with small farms who sell locally. USDA said the new Micro Farm policy simplifies record keeping and...
California FAIR Plan Files to Offer Property Coverage to Farms
Oct 6 2021 // The California FAIR Plan Association announced on Wednesday it has submitted a farm product rate filing to the California Department of Insurance ahead of a 90-day deadline. The deadline to make the filing was imposed in...
Judge Questions Army Corps’ Clean Water Act Decision on Indiana Dairy Farm; Orders Review
Oct 6 2021 // A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review its decision that a dairy farm built in northwest Indiana to house more than 4,000 cows is not subject to the Clean Water Act. Environmental groups and...
Colorado Dairy Fined over Worker’s Death in Manure Pit
Oct 4 2021 // A dairy in northern Colorado has been fined nearly $25,000 after the death of a worker whose truck slipped into a pit filled with liquid manure. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Shelton Land and...
Ida Damage to Louisiana Agriculture at Least $584M
Oct 4 2021 // Hurricane Ida’s winds and floods did at least $584 million in damage to agriculture in Louisiana, experts at the LSU AgCenter estimate. More than half of that — $315.9 million — is timber damage, with...
