(Dow.com)

DowDuPont completes spinoff of materials science unit

Reuters — DowDuPont said Monday it had completed the spinoff of its materials science division as part of a plan to split the chemical producer into three separate units. Shares of the new division, Dow, will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Dow and Dupont completed a US$130 billion merger in […] Read more

Edwin Hardeman, at right with his attorneys Jennifer Moore (left) and Aimee Wagstaff, speaks to the media, after Bayer was found liable for Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma arising from his use of Roundup herbicide, at a federal courthouse in San Francisco on March 27, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Alexandria Sage)

U.S. jury says Bayer must pay $80 million to man in Roundup cancer trial

San Francisco/New York | Reuters –– A U.S. jury on Wednesday awarded US$80 million to a man who claimed his use of Bayer’s glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup caused his cancer, in the latest legal setback for the company facing thousands of similar lawsuits. The jury in San Francisco federal court said the company was liable for […] Read more


U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is seeking the Democrats’ 2020 nomination for president, greets Ella Clare Campbell after speaking in Memphis on March 17, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Karen Pulfer Focht)

Democratic contender Warren targets corporate agriculture

Washington | Reuters — Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren took aim on Wednesday at agricultural conglomerates, promising her administration would break up big agribusiness mergers that she said have hurt family farmers. Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts and a fierce Wall Street critic, released a broad plan that she said would make it easier […] Read more

Louis Dreyfus’ oilseed processing plant at Yorkton, Sask. (LDC.com)

Grain trade regional tie-ups seen more likely over mega-deals

Paris | Reuters — The agricultural trading industry can expect more consolidation at a regional level in an effort to improve margins, but big deals between global merchants are becoming more difficult, Louis Dreyfus’ CEO said. Merchants have been grappling with lower profits from sourcing and shipping commodities such as grain and oilseeds, prompting cutbacks […] Read more


Tom Geisler surveys damage to his farm, following flooding at Winslow, Neb., northwest of Omaha, on March 20, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Humeyra Pamuk)

U.S. farmers face devastation following Midwest floods

Winslow, Neb./Chicago | Reuters — Midwestern farmers have been gambling they could ride out the U.S.-China trade war by storing their corn and soybeans anywhere they could — in bins, plastic tubes, in barns or even outside. Now, the unthinkable has happened. Record floods have devastated a wide swath of the Farm Belt across Iowa, […] Read more

Finance Minister Bill Morneau appears at a pre-budget event March 14 at the Toronto Kiwanis Boys + Girls Clubs. (BMorneau.liberal.ca)

Farm groups see something for everyone in federal budget

Response so far from farm and agribusiness organizations to Tuesday’s pre-election budget suggests the federal government has managed to find at least one line item for everyone in the ag sector. Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s budget pledges compensation for supply-managed sectors facing financial hits from international trade pacts, funding for a new federal food policy […] Read more






A submerged bridge over the Red River in 2011. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images)

Manitoba farmers unfazed by flood reports

MarketsFarm — As experts forecast a spring flood to hit southern Manitoba, farmers in the Red River Valley won’t be caught off guard. Manitoba’s Emergency Measures Organization held flood preparedness seminars in Morris, Brandon, and Selkirk throughout the week of March 11. Topics covered included the forecast, flood outlook, preparedness and response and disaster financial […] Read more