AGR-Lite - short for Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite - is a whole-farm revenue plan of insurance providing protection against low revenue due to unavoidable natural disasters and revenue fluctuations, says John Hewlett of the UW College of Agriculture s Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES) AGR-Lite - short for Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite - is a whole-farm revenue plan of insurance providing protection against low revenue due to unavoidable natural disasters and revenue fluctuations, says...

Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat processing company, reported a fourth-quarter loss of 17 cents per share, compared to a profit of 33 cents per share for the same period last year. The world's largest chicken producer said the loss for the fourth quarter was $56 million, compared with a profit of $117 million, during the same period a year earlier. Tyson Foods' three other segments, chicken, beef and prepared foods all reported lower results. Only pork showed a gain for the...

Repairs, maintenance of implements cost farmers By Obert Chifamba REPAIR and maintenance costs of second-hand farming implements and dilapidated infrastructure are prejudicing farmers of cash to invest in other farming areas, the chairman of the Mazowe Farmers Syndicate Mr Garikai Musikavanhu said at his Dziva Farm in Glendale last week. Repairs, maintenance of implements cost farmers By Obert Chifamba REPAIR and maintenance costs of second-hand farming implements and dilapidated...

Governments that bail out farmers who refuse to purchase crop insurance should not be surprised when farmers respond by buying less crop insurance. The Dorgan amendment would also likely retain the provision granting additional crop disaster payments to farmers who refused to buy their own crop insurance. Its proponents asserted that the bill' enormous generosity and subsidy increases that trigger automatically when crop prices drop would end the need for annual emergency aid. Nearly 90...

Farm insurer ordered to pay $512,000 in restitution for fraud The Associated Press KALISPELL The former president of Crop Hail Management inc. in Bigfork has been sentenced to more than three years in prison and ordered to pay $512,000 in restitution for money laundering and fraud. Farm insurer ordered to pay $512,000 in restitution for fraud The Associated Press KALISPELL The former president of Crop Hail Management inc. in Bigfork has been sentenced to more than three years in prison and...

The global network of agricultural research centres warns that famines lie ahead unless new crop strains adapted to a warmer future are developed. Conversely, rising temperatures will open up areas of the world which are currently too cold for crop cultivation, in regions such as Siberia and northern North America. The vast Indo-Gangetic plain produces about 15% of the world's wheat - but the area suitable for growing is forecast to shrink by about half over the next 50 years, even as the...

The facility will turn animal and vegetable oils into biodiesel, a product that can be blended with diesel fuel for a cleaner-burning fuel that reduces petroleum consumption. According to information at www.conagrafoods.com, Nova has signed an agreement with ConAgra to purchase vegetable oil and animal-based fats for a biodiesel plant to be built in Oklahoma. The plant here will have a capacity of producing 60 million gallons per year, Robinson said. ConAgra also has agreed to buy the...

The anti-sense gene interferes with the operation of the normal gene, and no GBSS is produced. It is a European product designed to strengthen the competitiveness of the potato starch industry (which is mainly based in Europe) versus competition from other starch sources. This treatment also uses both energy and water, so increasing the cost of the starch and the environmental footprint of the process. Scientists have used biotechnology to make a back-to-front copy of the gene (called an...

A new compensation fund must be set up for future incursions, and new regimes for sourcing at-risk crops are required from MAF. Compensation must immediately be paid to farmers to allow speedy action and alternative crops to be grown. To protect a vital part of our economy Government agencies need to investigate a strategy for local development of seed supplies, and the use of techniques such as leaf-disc tests to weed out GM contamination in each generation. It in the commercial interests...