Nov. 24, 2010 at 4:53 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Earnings
By Reuters
Deere & Co. reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as sales of its tractors and harvesters in North America and other markets offset continued poor demand in Europe.
The world’s largest maker of farm equipment offered a cautious preliminary forecast for 2011 that fell short of Wall Street’s forecasts, however, sending its shares lower in premarket trading. It warned that the coming year would be complicated, with a record number of new model introductions as a result of new, more stringent emissions standards in many markets. Get the full story »
Nov. 19, 2010 at 8:27 a.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Chicago executives
From Canada’s Globe and Mail | Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan CEO Bill Doyle, of Winnetka, exercised 124,100 stock options this week, worth about $1.26 million less than two months after predicting the company’s stock price would “blow the doors off” its previous record high of about $240.
The options issued to Doyle a decade ago, had an exercise price of $10.16 and were set to expire Sunday. Earlier this year, Doyle exercised a batch of nearly 200,000 options from that same grant for pretax profits of $17.5 million.
BHP Billiton last week withdrew its $38.6 billion hostile takeover bid for Potash, saying it could not convince Canada’s federal government to approve the deal.Get the full story>>
Nov. 18, 2010 at 5:05 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming
By Reuters
Farmland values in the U.S. Midwest, one of the world’s top grain growing regions, jumped 10 percent in the third quarter compared to a year ago due to rising agricultural prices and the low cost of money, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said on Thursday. Get the full story »
Nov. 17, 2010 at 3:48 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Investigations
By Reuters
Accidents in grain silos, storage bins and other facilities killed and injured a record number of workers through October this year, a study by Purdue University showed. Get the full story »
By Associated Press
Commodity prices are sinking amid concerns about inflation in China and European talks about bailing out Ireland.
Some of the steepest declines came Tuesday in agriculture products and industrial metals. Traders are concerned that demand may diminish because of the developments in other countries.
Nov. 16, 2010 at 6:25 a.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming
By Reuters
Russia’s Phosagro, chaired by an ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday it would consult with Canada’s government on a bid for Potash Corp., which has its offices and CEO in Northbrook, after BHP Billiton withdrew.
“Phosagro intends to consult with all interested parties, including the government of Canada, on the advisability of a bid to buy Potash Corp as an alternative to BHP Billiton’s previous bid,” the Russian fertiliser producer said in an e-mailed statement. Get the full story »
Nov. 15, 2010 at 11:25 a.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
International,
M&A,
Updated
By Reuters
Potash Corp. said it was vindicated in its decision to reject BHP Billiton’s offer of $130 a share as too cheap and was in a strong position to grow on its own.
Shares of Potash Corp. have traded consistently above the bid price, closing at $139.91 on Friday.
BHP Billiton scrapped its $39 billion bid for Canada’s Potash Corp. on Sunday and bowed to calls from investors to return cash, a move that came days after regulators blocked the year’s biggest takeover deal. Get the full story »
Nov. 11, 2010 at 4:59 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Economy
By Associated Press
Many Indiana farmers who had been worrying about a late summer drought are now looking forward to some extra spending money thanks to high grain prices, which a Purdue University farm analyst expects will boost the state’s farm income about 25 percent this year.
Nov. 9, 2010 at 1:43 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Energy,
Food,
Government
By Reuters
Livestock producers and food industry groups filed a suit on Tuesday seeking to overturn a U.S. decision to allow higher levels of ethanol in gasoline, saying it could push up food prices.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Meat Association and other groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency, saying regulators overstepped their authority when they ruled last month that gasoline retailers could sell fuel containing up to 15 percent ethanol, up from 10 percent now. Get the full story »
Nov. 9, 2010 at 11:02 a.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
M&A
By Reuters
A U.S. court will rule on Potash Corp.’s request for a preliminary injunction against unsolicited suitor BHP Billiton ahead of the November 18 deadline on the Anglo-Australian miner’s $39 billion tender offer, Judge David Coar said on Monday. Get the full story »
Nov. 8, 2010 at 5:10 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
M&A
From Bloomberg | A lawyer for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s biggest fertilizer company, say the company’s shareholders need more information about BHP Billiton Ltd.’s plans to acquire the company or to compete against it.
Nov. 5, 2010 at 6:07 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Chicago executives,
Food
By Reuters
Bunge North America, a division of agribusiness giant Bunge Ltd., said it bought Indiana-based Morristown Grain Co Inc, which includes two grain elevators in Morristown and Rushville. Get the full story »
Nov. 5, 2010 at 9:39 a.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
International,
M&A
By Reuters
Canada’s farm minister offered one reason that Canada blocked the proposed takeover of Potash Corp. on Thursday, but markets will have to wait a month for all the details to emerge.
Farm Minister Gerry Ritz, in comments his office later said were just speculation, argued that letting BHP Billiton buy the fertilizer giant would have offered Australia’s farm sector too much of an advantage. Get the full story »
By Reuters
The Canadian government on Wednesday blocked BHP Billiton’s $39 billion bid for Potash Corp., the world’s biggest producer of a key crop nutrient, halting what had been the world’s biggest takeover attempt this year and sending Potash Corp. shares tumbling.
Ottawa said the Anglo-Australian miner’s takeover bid offered no likely net benefit to the country as required by Canadian law. BHP has 30 days to make additional representations to the Canadian government before the decision is final. Get the full story »
Nov. 3, 2010 at 10:53 a.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Food,
International,
Trade
By Reuters
(David Pierini/Chicago Tribune)
The U.S. chicken industry, which in September resumed shipping meat to Russia, has contacted the U.S. embassy in Moscow in an attempt to learn if Russia intends to stop such imports beginning Jan. 1.
The head of Russia’s consumer protection watchdog on Wednesday told Reuters in Moscow the country will ban sales and processing of deep-frozen poultry meat from Jan. 1, both domestic and imported, because freezing hurts the quality of the meat. Get the full story »
