All the headlines from our Agribusiness Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Feb 22 2009 // The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (the Farm Bill) authorizes farm programs for the next five years. The Act’s provisions encompass a range of issues, including commodity price supports, conservation,...
Feb 22 2009 // Thanks in part to commodity prices that are still higher than average and, thankfully, less volatile than in 2008, the agricultural economy has not yet felt the same contractions the general economy is reeling from today....
Feb 20 2009 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has updated its insured loss estimates of property losses in France from winter storm Klaus to between 500 million and 1 billion Euros.These losses represent damage to buildings...
Feb 13 2009 // A sweeping new food safety measure proposed in the wake of the salmonella outbreak easily passed its first key legislative hurdle this week as Georgia lawmakers sought to reassure antsy residents.The Senate Agriculture...
Feb 8 2009 // The independent insurance agency system is enjoying a resurgence. For years, the number of agencies in the country had been declining but that trend, while not reversed, has been halted. The number in 2008 was 37,500...
Feb 5 2009 // America First Insurance, a Liberty Mutual Agency Markets regional company based in Richardson, Texas, has appointed Stephen Stricklen to assistant vice president, Specialty Products. In this position Stricklen will manage...
Feb 5 2009 // A.M. Best Co. announced it has downgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to A- (Excellent) from A+ (Superior) and issuer credit rating (ICR) to “a-” from “aa-” of Farm Bureau County Mutual...
Jan 30 2009 // Food regulators didn’t consider salmonella a threat to most peanut products before they traced an outbreak to a peanut butter plant in Georgia two years ago. Officials in the nation’s top peanut-producing state...
Jan 25 2009 // American International Group Inc. (AIG) named Russell Johnston president and CEO of AIG Environmental, a unit of AIG Commercial Insurance.Johnston joined AIG in 1990 serving in senior management positions within...
Jan 25 2009 // Find a need, then fill it,” is a hoary business principle, but making it work is often harder than it looks. However, a number of British insurers have taken it to heart and have built substantial profit centers...
Jan 23 2009 // Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire that destroyed two barns at a western New York farm, causing about $2 million in damage.The fire broke out about 3 a.m. Monday at McCormick Farms in the Wyoming County town...
Jan 22 2009 // Ironshore Inc. has appointed Steven England as executive vice president responsible for running its newly created U.S. Property/ Casualty underwriting operations based in St. Louis, Missouri.The new unit, Ironshore...
Jan 12 2009 // Damage estimates to Oregon’s nursery stock industry from late December storms suffered by 160 growers in 12 counties range from $18 million to $31 million in a survey conducted by the Oregon Association of...
Jan 11 2009 // Jacksonville, Fla.-based Harden & Associates has added Chris Huber as a Commercial Insurance account director. Harden & Associates also named Kathryn McKenna as a Personal Insurance account director.Prior to...
Jan 9 2009 // “Agricultural insurance plays an important role in stimulating investment in agriculture and in stabilizing farmers’ income,” concludes a recently issued report from Swiss Re.The report, “Setting up...
Jan 7 2009 // President George W. Bush has declared Oahu and Kauai disaster areas, an action that provides federal aid to individuals and businesses, and for repair of public facilities damaged by mid-December storms.The aid does not...
Dec 23 2008 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long reports that Kenneth Rick Morrow of Marion, a licensed insurance agent, was arrested last week and charged with nine counts of embezzlement, nine counts of obtaining property...
Dec 19 2008 // Farmers Insurance Groups of Companies and Zurich Financial Services announced Dan Dunmoyer, who recently served as chief cabinet secretary and deputy chief of staff for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has...
Dec 19 2008 // It might have been a serious impediment to completing this year’s football season but Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, working closely with State Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), was able to provide an...
Dec 19 2008 // The giant Farmers Insurance Group blames Santa Cruz County for contributing to the spread of the summertime Trabing wildfire, which destroyed dozens of homes.Farmers filed $3 million worth of claims saying the county...