Latest Agribusiness Headlines

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

Crop Insurance Rates Skyrocket After Summer Floods

Dec 15 2011 // Midwestern farmers who saw their land swamped by summer flooding may be socked again with steep increases in their crop insurance premiums, the expensive result of the failure to fix broken levees before the winter snow...

India’s Private Insurance Market Keeps Growing – Slowly but Surely

Dec 13 2011 // Even though China gets most of the headlines, there’s been slow, but steady, progress for private insurers in Asia’s other billion plus people country – India. Although its rate of growth has slowed recently,...

U.S. Court Affirms $50M Verdict for Rice Farmers

Dec 12 2011 // The Arkansas Supreme Court has affirmed a nearly $50 million verdict for farmers who say they lost money because Bayer’s genetically altered rice seeds contaminated the food supply and drove down global crop...

Iowa Agent Pays $835K to End Crop Insurance Case

Dec 12 2011 // After five years of litigation, an Iowa insurance agent will pay $835,000 to settle allegations that he filed false federal crop insurance claims.The Justice Department announced the settlement with Russell Hawley of Vail,...

Zurich Names Dailey to Executive Committee; Farmers Group CEO

Dec 8 2011 // Zurich Financial Services Group announced that Jeff Dailey (54, U.S. citizen) has been appointed as a member of the Group Executive Committee effective January 1, 2012.He is currently President and COO of Farmers Group,...

Risk Management Agency Starts Olive Program in 12 California Counties

Dec 7 2011 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency on Wednesday announced a new pilot insurance program for table and oil olives in 12 California counties beginning with the 2012 crop year. The sales closing...

Utah Prepares for Spring Flooding

Dec 6 2011 // After coming out of this year’s spring flooding with damage limited mostly to Utah farmlands, state and county officials are beginning preparations for next year with a wary eye toward the state’s...

Insurers Finally Get Right to Jury Trial in New Jersey

Dec 5 2011 // Forty years ago the New Jersey Supreme Court in Rova Farms Resort, Inc. v. Investors Ins. Co. of America, 65 N.J. 474, 323 A.2d 495 (1974), recognized a cause of action against an insurance company in situations where the...

Camelina Crop Insurance Available in Selected Montana Counties

Dec 2 2011 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a pilot program to provide crop insurance for camelina in selected counties in Montana and North Dakota beginning with the 2012 crop year.Oil from crushed camelina seeds can...

USDA Sets up Pilot Program to Insure Biofuel Crops

Dec 2 2011 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency will insure camelina through a pilot program in 2012. It will be available in Montana and North Dakota, and sales will close Feb. 1, 2012.The USDA has...

ACE Completes $107M Acquisition of Agribusiness Insurer Penn Millers

Dec 1 2011 // ACE Limited announced on Wednesday that it has completed its acquisition of Penn Millers Holding Corp. for approximately $107 million in cash. The two companies first announced the deal in September. Penn Millers...

James River Still Above Flood Stage in Parts of South Dakota

Nov 30 2011 // South Dakota officials say some stretches of the James River remain well above flood stage heading into the winter freeze, setting the stage for more flooding next spring.The James, which has been out of its banks for much...

Feds Say Farmers in Upstate New York Can Get Flood Loans

Nov 29 2011 // Federal authorities say farmers in eight upstate New York counties are primary natural disaster areas eligible for assistance recovering from tropical storm Lee. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also said 16 counties...

Ohio Businesses Awarded More Than $273K for Workplace Safety

Nov 23 2011 // The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) awarded 13 businesses safety intervention grants totaling more than $273,000 during October to make Ohio workplaces safer, the agency announced.BWC designed the Safety...

Deadline at Hand in $750M Rice Settlement

Nov 21 2011 // Rice growers who lost sales after genetically modified rice seed mistakenly entered the U.S. market five years ago have until today to sign on to a $750 million settlement proposed by the company blamed for the...

Congress Eyes New Income Insurance for Farmers

Nov 8 2011 // Farm-state lawmakers are moving to create a whole new subsidy that would protect farmers when their revenue drops — an unprecedented program that critics say could pay billions of dollars to farmers now enjoying...

State Fund Announces Rate Filings, Incentives for California Farm Bureau

Nov 7 2011 // The government-controlled State Compensation Insurance Fund announced it has filed a new rating plan with the California Department of Insurance. The plan adopts the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating...

Crops Rebound Better Than Expected at Birds Point

Nov 7 2011 // When the Army Corps of Engineers was forced to breach the Birds Point levee in southeast Missouri at the height of spring flooding, many feared the rich 130,000 acres of farmland would be a total washout for 2011.But the...

The Demotech Company Classification System Reveals State Specialist Property/Casualty Insurers

Nov 7 2011 // Company Name State of Speciality 2010 TOTAL DPW Texas Mutual Insurance Co. TX 596,191 Old American County Mutual Fire Insurance Co. TX 575,100 SAIF Corporation OR 327,373 St. Johns Insurance Co. Inc. FL 257,106 Brickstreet...

The Climate Corp. Introduces Total Weather Insurance 2012

Nov 2 2011 // The Climate Corporation (formerly WeatherBill) have launched Total Weather Insurance (TWI) Corn 2012 and TWI Soybean 2012 which provide profit protection for growers against increasingly extreme weather.Total Weather...