Chicago | Reuters –– Grain merchant Bunge Ltd. has sweetened compensation packages for top executives in the case of a takeover, according to the company’s regulatory filings, around six months after rebuffing an approach by commodity trading giant Glencore. Bunge and its rivals have seen profits fall as several years of oversupply in global grains […] Read more
Bunge widens exec takeover payout scheme after Glencore approach
Monsanto halts U.S. seed treatment launch after complaints of rashes
Chicago | Reuters — Monsanto put on hold the launch of a seed treatment on Wednesday, following reports it causes rashes on people, in the latest instance of complaints about a company product that was approved by U.S. environmental regulators. Monsanto froze plans for commercial sales of the product called NemaStrike, which can protect corn, […] Read more
Monsanto, BASF herbicides strain states with damage complaints
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. farmers have overwhelmed state governments with thousands of complaints about crop damage linked to new versions of herbicides, threatening future sales by manufacturers Monsanto and BASF. Monsanto is banking on herbicides using dicamba — and seeds engineered to resist it — to dominate soybean production in the U.S., the world’s […] Read more
McDonald’s sets new welfare standards for chicken suppliers
Chicago | Reuters — McDonald’s Corp. will require suppliers to improve the living conditions and slaughter process for chickens raised to be served in its restaurants, the company said on Friday, the latest changes affecting popular menu items such as McNuggets. Under new guidelines for animal welfare, suppliers such as Tyson Foods and Cargill must […] Read more
CME plans no more changes to cattle contract for now
Chicago | Reuters — CME Group plans no further moves to reduce volatility in its cattle futures market, after making a series of changes to rein in wild price swings that drove away hedgers, a managing director said on Wednesday. Over the past two years, the exchange operator, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and […] Read more
Several U.S. scientists to skip Monsanto’s dicamba summit
Chicago | Reuters — Monsanto invited dozens of weed scientists to a summit this week to win backing for a controversial herbicide but many have declined, threatening the company’s efforts to convince regulators the product is safe to use. Monsanto faces a barrage of lawsuits over its dicamba herbicide and risks of tighter restrictions on […] Read more
U.S. EPA aims to allow dicamba use, with safeguards
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is aiming to allow farmers to spray the controversial herbicide dicamba next year, but with additional rules for its use, an official with the agency said on Tuesday. Reuben Baris, acting chief of the herbicide branch of the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, said the agency […] Read more
Irma whips orange trees, shuts meat plants
Chicago | Reuters — Hurricane Irma stripped oranges from trees and prompted Tyson Foods to shut meat plants in Florida and Georgia on Monday to keep workers safe. Tyson, the biggest U.S. meat company, hopes to resume normal operations soon at chicken plants it shuttered in Cumming, Dawson and Vienna, Ga., and at a beef […] Read more
Monsanto presses against Arkansas’ dicamba limits
Chicago | Reuters — Monsanto Co. pushed Arkansas authorities on Thursday to reject a proposed April 15 cutoff date next year for sprayings of the agricultural herbicide dicamba, which has been linked to crop damage across the U.S. farm belt. The company further said that Arkansas’ plant board should allow farmers in the state to […] Read more
U.S. farmers confused by Monsanto’s Xtendimax instructions
Chicago | Reuters — With Monsanto’s latest flagship weed killer, dicamba, banned in Arkansas and under review by U.S. regulators over concerns it can drift in the wind, farmers and weed scientists are also complaining that confusing directions on the label make the product hard to use safely. Dicamba, sold under different brand names by […] Read more
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