MGEX reached its highest open interest total of all-time yesterday, closing the day at 91,935 and surpassing the previous record by more than 1,300. It is the best open interest total in the 135 year history of the Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO). Each day of the last two weeks has been a top three day, …
Meet @CIRBdc Crop Insurance Coalition Members
The Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau coalition members have been instrumental in being a voice for the industry on Capitol Hill. Representatives from four of those coalition partners joined the CIRB annual meeting last week to talk about what they do to advocate for crop insurance. The panel included Ed Elfmann with the American Bankers Association; Kay Rentzel of the …
Policy Forecast at #CIRB2017
Last year at the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB) annual meeting, there were still lots of candidates for president and Informa Economics Senior VP Jim Wiesemeyer talked about what they might mean to the future of agriculture. This year, he only had to focus on the one who actually made it to the White House. “It’s a great time …
Benefits of Membership in @CIRBdc
For over 50 years, the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB) has provided advocacy and support services for the industry and membership has never been more important. American Farm Bureau Insurance Services Vice President and General Manager Tim Green says CIRB is focused on maintaining the risk management tools that farmers and ranchers need. “We all have the same end …
Outgoing @CIRBdc Chair Had a Great Year
Shari Bane of COUNTRY Financial had a challenging but fabulous year as chair of the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau. “CIRB had a lot of challenges and it was instrumental that we had a trade association with a coalition of partners across the ag industry dedicated to crop insurance and rural America to get through a tough year,” said Bane. …
New @CIRBdc Chair Honors Former RMA Admin
New Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau chairman Ron Rutledge of Farmers Mutual Hail had the pleasure of presenting the inaugural Distinguished Service Award to now former USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) administrator Brandon Willis. “Brandon has been a friend of the industry who has been very supportive and worked very hard with us and we really wanted to give him …
Wheat and Sorghum Producers Honor Sen. Roberts
The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee was honored by both wheat and sorghum producers this week in Washington. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) was presented with the National Sorghum Producers 2017 “Friend of Sorghum” Congressional Award in recognition of his long-running work representing the U.S. Sorghum producers. “Senator Roberts is a formidable champion for U.S. farmers,” said Don Bloss, NSP …
Meet Two @CIRBdc Emerging Leaders
Last year at the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau annual meeting, we heard about the first class of the organization’s Emerging Leaders Program. The program was so popular that the second class has almost twice the members and I had a chance to talk with two of those emerging leaders at the meeting this week. Chock Hefner started his crop …
Farm Economy Update at #CIRB2017
The team of Gary Schnitkey and Jonathan Coppess from the University of Illinois gave an update on the farm economy during a presentation at the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau annual meeting this week. “We’re seeing deteriorating financial conditions on many farms and we’re likely to continue to see that as long as we have corn prices below four dollars …
Meet the New USPOULTRY Chair
New officers for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) were elected this week during the International Poultry Expo, part of the 2017 International Production & Processing Expo. Jerry Moye, recently retired president of Cobb-Vantress, was elected chairman of the organization. Moye has a degree in economics from Washington College in Maryland and spent 16 years in integrated chicken production …