Latest Agribusiness Headlines
All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Sierra Specialty Taps Sergeant for Ag/Livestock Marketing
Sep 27 2016 // Sierra Specialty has named Mike Sergeant in marketing in its agri-business department. Sergeant will specialize in marketing ag and livestock insurance products. His 34 years of experience. Sergeant started with Hartford...
Ag Disaster Declared in 24 Louisiana Parishes, 2 Texas Counties
Sep 23 2016 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture has named 24 Louisiana parishes and two Texas counties agricultural disaster areas because of last month’s storms and flooding. Eleven parishes are primary disaster areas, and the...
Group Suing Chemical Giant Dow over Pesticide Used in California
Sep 22 2016 // Chemical manufacturing giant Dow fails to warn people in farming communities throughout California when a potentially dangerous pesticide is applied to nearby fields, health advocates claimed in a lawsuit filed...
NSI Insurance Group Acquires New York Based KMH Insurance Services
Sep 22 2016 // NSI Insurance Group, a Miami Lakes, Florida, based privately held insurance agency, has acquired KMH Insurance Services, a New York based specialty insurance broker focused on serving marine and equine customers. Terms of...
South Carolina to Provide $35M in Aid to 1,250 Farmers Hit by 2015 Floods
Sep 20 2016 // Nearly 1,250 farmers in South Carolina will get more than $35 million in aid for their losses during last October’s massive floods. The Department of Agriculture said in a news release Thursday that 88 farmers will...
Trump Sends Mixed Message on Food Safety Standards
Sep 19 2016 // The Trump campaign pitched rolling back food safety regulations in a fact sheet, arguing they are burdensome to farmers and “overkill.” But the campaign later deleted the proposal from its website and offered...
Connecticut Works to Improve Farm Safety After E.Coli Outbreak
Sep 19 2016 // With the growth of agritourism and more people visiting local farms, Connecticut officials are joining other states in educating farmers about how to mitigate health risks for their new visitors. Connecticut’s latest...
Case Before Iowa Supreme Court Pits Water Supplier Against Farmers
Sep 16 2016 // The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments and must now decide whether to weigh in on a federal lawsuit that pits the water supplier to 500,000 central Iowa residents against upstream farmers accused of contaminating rivers...
August Flood Damage to Louisiana Agriculture: $277M
Sep 14 2016 // A new study says the mid-August flooding’s wreckage of south Louisiana crops and farmland caused an estimated $277 million in damage. The estimate released Tuesday by LSU AgCenter economist Kurt Guidry is more than...
A.M. Best Withdraws Credit Ratings of Oklahoma’s Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance
Sep 12 2016 // A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of B (Fair) and the long-term issuer credit rating (ICR) of “bb+” of Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. (Farmers) in Okarche, Okla. The outlook for the...
Casualty Losses and Cyber, Crop, Property Demand Driving Reinsurance Growth: Aon
Sep 12 2016 // Reinsurance demand has increased over the past 18 months, with the cession ratio across the global property/casualty insurance industry registering a small rise for the first time in several years, and the trend expected...
Alliant Acquires Farmin, Rothrock & Parrott in Washington
Sep 8 2016 // Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has acquired Spokane, Wash.-based Farmin, Rothrock & Parrott. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This marks Alliant’s fifth acquisition in the Northwest since 2014. John...
Group Touts New Sugarcane Insurance Opportunities in Louisiana
Sep 7 2016 // The American Sugar Cane League says Louisiana sugarcane farmers have until the end of September to make crop insurance decisions for the 2017 crop under a new insurance program. In a news release, the league says the new...
Court Allows Banana Farmers’ Toxic Pesticide Claims Against Fruit, Chemical Firms
Sep 7 2016 // Hundreds of banana farmers from Central America and South America will again have their day in court, after a U.S. appeals court on Friday revived six lawsuits accusing several big fruit and chemical companies of sickening...
Florida Finds First Local Mosquitoes With Zika Virus
Sep 2 2016 // Florida officials on Thursday said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local U.S. transmission of the illness that can cause...
Farmers Insurance in California Names Elliott Head of Human Resources
Aug 31 2016 // Los Angeles, Calif.-based Farmers Insurance has named Suzie Elliott head of human resources. With her new appointment, Elliott also becomes part of the group’s senior leadership team. She will report to Deborah...
Fire Destroys 19th Century Massachusetts Farmhouse
Aug 31 2016 // A central Massachusetts farmhouse dating to 1800 has been destroyed by a fire. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that emergency crews responded to a three-alarm fire early Sunday at a home known as the Goodrich...
More Than 1K Bee Hives Stolen From Florida Bee Farmers
Aug 30 2016 // Southwest Florida bee farmers are having a difficult summer because thieves have been stealing their hives, lots of them, to the tune of $150,000 or more. So far, none of the hundreds of stolen hives have been recovered,...
ADM Settles Ponzi Scheme Suit by Missouri Farmers; Terms not Disclosed
Aug 29 2016 // Agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland has settled a lawsuit over claims the company was behind a now-imprisoned grain broker’s scheme that gouged millions from dozens of Missouri farmers. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch...
Would-Be Drone Pilots Flock to Take First U.S. Licensing Test
Aug 29 2016 // Thousands of would-be drone pilots are racing to get licensed under new U.S. regulations that have opened an aerial stampede. More than 3,300 have signed up to take the test on Monday, the first day it’s available,...
