Latest Agribusiness Headlines

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

Senate Overhauls Farm Subsidies, Crop Insurance But Time Running Out

Jun 21 2012 // The Senate approved sweeping new U.S. farm legislation on Thursday that would cut almost all traditional farm subsidies while expanding a costly crop insurance program, but odds are slim the bill will pass this year.Passed...

Farm Mutual Insurance Co. Under Montana Supervision

Jun 18 2012 // Montana’s insurance commissioner has placed Great Falls-based Westland Farm Mutual Insurance Co. under her office’s supervision, citing the company’s diminishing cash reserves.Commissioner of Securities...

Senators Call for Bipartisan Support for Cap on Crop Insurance Subsidies

Jun 15 2012 // U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa. are urging the Senate to support their bipartisan amendment to end what they say are excessive federal crop insurance subsidies for large American farming...

Farm Mutual Insurance Co. Under Montana Supervision

Jun 8 2012 // Montana’s insurance commissioner has placed Great Falls-based Westland Farm Mutual Insurance Co. under her office’s supervision, citing the company’s diminishing cash reserves.Commissioner of Securities...

Feet of Sand Leave Midwest Farms Wasteland After Flooding

Jun 5 2012 // Mason Hansen guns his pickup and cranks the steering wheel to spin through sand up to 4 feet high, but this is no day at the beach.Hanson once grew corn and soybeans in the sandy wasteland in western Iowa, and his...

Argo Insurance, Britt/Paulk Form New Pest Control Program

Jun 4 2012 // Argo Insurance’s Commercial Specialty Programs unit will partner with Britt/Paulk Insurance Underwriters to offer insurance for residential and commercial pest control operators. The pest control program, which will...

Senate Favoring End to Direct Payouts to Farmers

Jun 4 2012 // A program that puts billions of dollars in the pockets of farmers whether or not they plant a crop may disappear with hardly a protest from farm groups and the politicians who look out for their interests.The Senate is...

Crop Damage in Central California Tops $79M

Jun 4 2012 // San Joaquin Valley’s crop damage estimate from a hail storm in April has reached more than $79 million. The Fresno Bee reported that Kings County, among the hardest hit areas of the region, recently increased its...

Florida City Doubles in Size Since Hurricane Andrew

May 30 2012 // The havoc wreaked by Hurricane Andrew in Homestead, Florida two decades ago still serves as a warning about the devastation even a slow tropical storm season can bring.Homestead was ground zero when Andrew plowed ashore in...

Farm Traced To Listeria Outbreak Files Bankruptcy

May 29 2012 // A Colorado farm that was traced to a listeria outbreak in cantaloupe last year has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Jensen Farms declined to comment on its filing Friday. Its attorney Jim Markus told The Denver...

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 // 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 establishment of an industry-wide definition, a number of...

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...