AgClips
Recent AgClips
BASF to buy seeds, herbicide businesses from Bayer for $7 billion
Reuters | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Agriculture NewsBASF has agreed to buy seed and herbicide businesses from Bayer for 5.9 billion euros ($7 billion) in cash, as Bayer tries to convince competition authorities to approve its planned acquisition of Monsanto
Digging Out After Harvey
Farm Policy Facts | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in NewsHurricane Harvey’s toll on the southeastern Texas cotton crop is still being tallied. An expert with Texas A&M says up to 400,000 bales of cotton were still on the stalk.
As energy transactions become more complex, Chicago firm seeks to simplify
Midwest Energy News | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Energy NewsA Chicago-area startup is garnering the attention of major industry players with a cloud-based platform for settling energy trades in the decentralized, digital 21st century. Aquilon Energy Services, based in Lisle, Illinois, has developed an Energy Settlement Network that leverages the power of web-based communication technology and big-data analytics to make it easier for energy companies and other firms to trade commodities like power, oil and natural gas.The need for this kind of service is growing.
The U.S. solar industry's new growth region: Trump country
Reuters | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Energy NewsData provided to Reuters by GTM Research, a clean energy market information firm, shows that eight of the 10 fastest-growing U.S. solar markets between the second quarters of 2016 and 2017 were Western, Midwestern or Southern states that voted for Trump, with Alabama and Mississippi topping the list. And solar firms are ramping up investments in these regions, signaling their faith that key renewable energy incentives will remain in place for years to come.
Lawmakers slam DOE’s proposal to help coal, nuclear power
The Hill | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Energy NewsLawmakers used a Thursday hearing with Energy Secretary Rick Perry to criticize his recent proposal to prop up coal and nuclear plants with higher payments for their electricity. Numerous Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy subpanel, and one Republican, said the plan would be unnecessarily disruptive to energy market and prop up power plants that aren't competitive.“You are distorting the market, damaging the environment and delivering preferential treatment to favored industries,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.
Ground is shifting under brick and morter merchants
Minneapolis Federal Reserve | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Rural NewsA rash of store closings is a sign that the ground has shifted under bricks-and-mortar merchants, with consequences for the retail sector and district communities. The death notice typically goes out several months before the sad event. In a terse press release, the retailer explains why it must close the store and dozens of others across the country in order to position the company for future growth and enhance shareholder value. A liquidation sale follows, and over the next few weeks, shoppers and resellers hunting for bargains strip the store down to its fixtures.
Despite ag downturn, shoots of optimism sprout in southwest Minnesota
Federal Reserve Bank | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Rural Newssix-county area of southwest Minnesota has all the makings for a classic tale of economic hardship. The area—Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Pipestone, Redwood and Yellow Medicine counties—is dominated by a farm sector struggling with another year of low commodity prices. The region also has gradually lost population as larger cities have lured away young workers and families. But in farm country, every year is a new growing season bringing new shoots of optimism, literally and figuratively.
How much debt can a government sustain?
KC Fed | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Federal NewsSince the global financial crisis, public debt has risen rapidly in many advanced and emerging market economies. Every country faces a fiscal limit at which taxes and spending can no longer adjust to stabilize debt. But quantifying fiscal limits can be challenging. Different countries have different capacities to service their debt. Moreover, two countries with similar debt levels may face drastically different default risks.
Nestlé USA specifies how suppliers raise, slaughter chickens
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Agriculture, Food NewsNestlé’s USA announced that by 2024 the company will strive to source all of the broiler chickens used as ingredients for its U.S. food portfolio from suppliers that raise chickens in certain ways, including slower growth rates. The company is also dictating some slaughter procedures. In a news release, the company said it is committed to working with its U.S.
Nebraska researchers win grant to study livestock-crop links
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onOctober 18, 2017 in Agriculture NewsResearchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will receive a $1-million grant to probe how to improve land use efficiency through the integration of livestock and crop production systems, the school announced. The Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR) will provide the grant, which will support research on various outputs, including yields, soil health and greenhouse gas emissions in addition to the economic feasibility of adopting new practices.