Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

Some of the creditors who lost millions of dollars in the complex case involving the former Olsen's Mill have been paid settlement money from the recent sale of the grain handling properties to Archer Daniels Midland. Last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley approved the purchase by ADM, in which the Illinois-based company will take over ownership of five grain storage elevators from Olsen Brothers Enterprises for $16.7 million; as well as four other elevators from Olsen's Mill Acquisition

The Ontario Trucking Association has increased the reward it is offering for help apprehending individuals who pelted three trucks with rocks. The OTA says on Friday three truckers were put in danger when their vehicles were pelted with rocks as they drove along Highway near Woodstock. The drivers were all able to bring their vehicles safely to a stop. One driver was injured when a rock smashed his front windshield. He was sent to hospital and has been released. Witnesses say th

No Montana community would scoff at landing a dozen new primary sector jobs, but the impact is much bigger in a rural farming county, said Paul Tuss, who heads up the five-county Bear Paw Development Corporation. He is talking about the impact of the approximately 12 permanent workers who will staff two new shuttle loader grain facilities being completed this fall in Chester. "A dozen new workers might not sound like many new jobs in one of Montana's major cities," Tuss said, "but it's pre

The flooding and record heat that have combined to shrink this year's corn crop are feeding new calls from livestock producers to weaken the government's ethanol mandates. Producers told the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday that tightening grain supplies are driving up feed costs further and threatening to push many poultry farms and others out of business. "We have serious, immediate concerns about the availability and cost of feed ingredients caused by the mandated use of corn-ba

BILLINGS- Truckers make tracks to help Special Olympics. Some big rigs are getting in and gear and revving up their motors all to be part of one the biggest international convoys. Local truckers and law enforcement officers will be participating in a nationwide convoy to help Special Olympics. The convoy starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at I-State Trucking and runs from South Billings Boulevard to Johnson Lane along I-90 and then heads back west to the East Laurel exit. From there the conv

Pelham, GA - A fire that started Thursday night at a Mitchell County ethanol plant continues to smolder in one of the dry grain silos. Four fire units battled a fire at the FUEL Ethanol Plant in Pelham. The fire was spotted around 8:30 Thursday night after crews spent the day dealing with a mechanical issue within the dome of the silo. Firefighters were able to use a thermal imaging camera to see the fire got as hot as 270º. They were able to cool it down overnight but it flared up ag

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Kelsey Tortoreo fell to her death in an Amarillo grain elevator last May. Since then, Tom Tortoreo, her father, has been on a mission to get that building condemned. He has worked with city officials and even State Senator Kel Seliger to do that. An inspector has been out to the elevator to do a follow-up to make sure the owner has closed off its access points. "We've went out and performed a follow up inspection to our original letter and the structure is secure a

TWIN FALLS - Strong local demand coupled with the opportunity to plant winter barley is helping the once popular grain earn a place in crop rotations again. "This is a great year for grain producers in the Magic Valley to consider a fall planted barley - either feed or malt - for 2012," said Kelly Olson, administrator for the Idaho Barley Commission. But they've got to plant it soon. Although winter barley accounts for only 10,000 acres in Idaho, the winter varieties can yield 140 to 180 b

RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that Perdue Agribusiness, Incorporated, which owns and operates a major deep-water export terminal for grains and oilseeds in Chesapeake, has reached agreements to begin exporting soybeans to China's Dandong Port Group Co. and its affiliate Dandong Pasite Grain and Oilseed Co. Ltd. The companies also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to commemorate their new business relationship and to explore future business opportunities in addition

On Monday night, Collingwood councillors started the process of selling off the grain terminals. The terminals (which included the Collingwood Yacht Club basin) were purchased from Hamilton Bros. in 1997, after sitting idle for four years, for $550,000 -- a debenture that was funded through the lease with the yacht club. The purchase coincided with an overall deal for pieces of the town's waterfront, including the spit, between the municipality, the federal government, and CN. Both deal

Gov. Terry E. Branstad today will sign a proclamation to allow the transportation of overweight loads of soybeans, corn, hay, straw and stover. The proclamation takes effect September, 15, 2011, and expires after 60 days. "Many Iowans' livelihoods depend on a smooth, efficient harvest season," said Branstad. "I am pleased sign this proclamation, which will allow the movement of Iowa's commodities and help Iowa farmers during harvest." This proclamation applies to loads transported on all

Commercial truck drivers may have to hang up their cell phones if they want to keep on trucking, as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended a nationwide ban on the use of mobile phones by commercial drivers. NTSB took the action after its investigation of a deadly traffic crash showed that the driver of an 18-wheeler was distracted by "the use of a mobile phone" when he crossed a 60-foot-wide highway median and cable barrier, striking a 15-passenger van. Eleven people, i

WAPAKONETA, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio company has delivered truck drivers a thank you in the form of free pork rinds. Rudolph Foods marketing manager Amanda Helmstetter says the company's snacks would not reach consumers if truckers didn't deliver them. To show its appreciation, Rudolph on Wednesday had about a half-dozen employees hand out bags of spicy, barbecue and traditional pork rinds to drivers at a truck stop in Wapakoneta (wah-puh-kuh-NEHT'-uh), near the company's western Ohio headquarte

I recently saw a poll on what carriers/brokers/shippers consider as cheap freight. Obviously we all have different prospectives on the definition of "cheap", whether cheap being referred to as unprofitable, break even or barely profitable. Rates have also changed within the past 10 years with the rising costs of energy that have added costs to all segments of transportation, which has changed our meaning of "cheap". We created a survey, http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RFJGTKL, which is 6 quic

Just the Facts: •The National Transportation Safety Board is pushing for a ban on handheld and hands-free mobile phones by commercial truck drivers. •The recommendation is a dramatic step by the safety board, which had previously urged that young drivers and bus drivers be banned from using cell phones while driving. •It is the latest action in the federal government's ongoing battle against distracted driving. WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board is pushing for a ban

Freeport, Ill. -- While the local business community struggles with declining consumer spending, there is a silver lining on the cloud hovering over the Stephenson County economy -- agriculture. Outside Lena near the Adkins Energy ethanol plant, the Pearl City Elevator Inc., (Alliance Commodities), is expanding its grain storage capacity with new construction. No new residential subdivisions have been platted and no new construction begun around Freeport in the past four years, area bu

Jessie Soliz Sr. watched in disbelief Tuesday as police lifted the mottled tarp beneath which his cousin lay. "I just don't understand how it happened," he said, hardly taking his eyes off the scene. Soliz's cousin Rudolfo "Rudy" Telles, 67, of Amarillo, was killed when he was hit at 8:24 a.m. Tuesday by a Dodge Charger driven by Willie Adams, 28, at 100 S. Lakeside Drive, authorities said. Telles was standing outside his Mack truck in a turn lane talking with Jimmy Soliz, 50, when Adams

For the eighth straight year, BNSF Railway Co. is honoring truck drivers nationwide as part of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. Employees at BNSF intermodal facilities in California, Illinois and Texas will greet truck drivers -- estimated to total 1,500 by week's end -- and distribute appreciation gifts. In addition, the Class I plans to send celebration kits to truckload customers. "This is a small way for BNSF to say thanks to the truck drivers who help move the nation's freig

Purdue University researchers have found an alternative environmentally friendly and energy-efficient way to dry corn ethanol, and their proof is in the pudding. Ads by Google Molecular Sieve, 3A, 13, - Silica Gel Desiccants, ORDER NOW! Desiccant Mole Sieve, In Stock Now - www.DeltaAdsorbents.com/mole_sieve Michael Ladisch, a distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering; Youngmi Kim, a Purdue research scientist; and Ahmad Hilaly, director of process research at A

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - He made a call that lasted just one second, but the crash that followed killed 11 people. The accident happened in March of 2010 on an interstate in Kentucky. A hearing revealed that the truck driver from Jasper, Alabama was making a call on his cell phone. Kenneth Laymon's truck crossed the median and crashed into a van carrying a Mennonite family. After that horrific crash, a national highway safety agency wants states to ban texting and hand-held cell p

Carol Lee Rawn, Senior Manager of the Transportation Program for Ceres, discusses the impact of the new fuel-efficiency standards that the Administration passed for heavy and medium-duty trucks. Full Transcript: Ben Lack: The Obama Administration has recently passed some new fuel-efficiency standards for heavy and medium-duty trucks that are really going to impact the transportation sector. I would like to get your thoughts on how you think these new standards are going to play out? Car

Waikato grain company J Swap has been ordered to pay $4.6 million in damages after being found guilty of "dishonest" behaviour. The stoush between the family-owned company and Tauranga firm Hunter Grain involved claims of conspiracy, secret overseas meetings and attempts to hijack $80m worth of animal feed business. In the High Court in Hamilton earlier this year, Hunter Grain accused its former chief executive Richard Price of being in cohorts with J Swap director Stephen Swap to exclud

With a lot of talk about potential frost looming later this week, early corn yield reports from the southern parts of the Corn Belt are coming in higher than just a couple weeks ago, and that's got the corn market under pressure. Corn futures took a big hit Tuesday, with the December '11 contract ending the day 22 1/2 cents lower at $7.23 per bushel. A common mindset in Chicago since Monday's USDA crop production and supply/demand reports is that even if the agency trims corn yields in future

OMAHA, Neb., Sep 13, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. /quotes/zigman/95339/quotes/nls/gpre GPRE +0.10% announced today that it is ranked 8th on FORTUNE Magazine's 2011 "100 Fastest-Growing Companies" list. The full list and related stories will appear in the Sept. 26, 2011 print issue and is online at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2011/index.html "We are honored to be on FORTUNE's list of the 100 fastest-growing companies,"

In July, for the first time, the USDA World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate report projected more corn would be used for ethanol than feed. That report suggested that 5 billion bushels of the 2010-'11 corn crop will go for feed while 5.05 billion bushels will get sucked up into ethanol production. For the next corn crop, the numbers are projected at 5.15 billion bushels of corn for ethanol and 5.05 billion bushels for feed. Those numbers only tell part of the story and when viewed onl

BULK handlers and marketers have plans to build more than 750,000 tonnes of extra grain storage in Victoria. The extra storage is needed to cope with the second consecutive big harvest the state has experienced. GrainCorp is planning to build more than 415,000 tonnes of temporary storage - mostly in the Mallee - for this harvest. AWB Limited will build up to 100,000 tonnes of bunker storage at its four Victorian sites. Meanwhile, Viterra is building a new 200,000-tonne bulk handling

The company Gavilon became the sponsor of the II Ukrainian Grain Congress, which to be held on October 17-18 in Kiev. Ukrainian Grain Association and APK-Inform Agency are the organizers of the conference. Gavilon is one of the leading companies in the sphere of primary goods management, linking commodity producers and consumers of forages, food products and fuel. The company manages the third-largest grain merchandising operation and leading feed ingredient business in the USA. Gavilon is e

It's fashionable these days to talk about how America's in the dumps. Stocks go up and down by a few hundred points every day -- gyrating on the latest rumor. According to MIT's Andrew Lo, since 1980, "10 of the biggest 20 daily upswings and 11 of the largest 20 daily drops" since the beginning of 1980 happened after September 2008. But the disconnect between stocks and company performance seems to be wider than ever. How so? A quick glance at second quarter 2011 earnings reveals that Americ

3-year average Revenue Growth: 299% Profit Growth: 102% Total Return: 22% Green Plains Renewable Energy's first ethanol-producing plant came online in Iowa in 2007, producing 15 million gallons that year. Now the company's nine plants produce 740 million gallons of the fuel annually, making Green Plains the fourth-largest ethanol producer in North America. In the last 12 months, the company posted $37 million in net income, $2.9 billion in revenue, and saw its ninth consecutive quarter o

Technology increasingly helps truckers find more space for shippers without adding equipment Trucking companies loath to add capacity by buying new tractors or trailers are turning to technology to unlock capacity hidden within their existing fleets. They're looking for ways to optimize networks, whether by using routing software or equipment-tracking View Original Post

In the US, Gavilon, a commodity management company, and Heron Lake BioEnergy, a Minnesota-based ethanol plant, entered into an agreement which took effect on 1 September. Under the agreement, Gavilon supplies the plant with corn for the production of ethanol. It also markets the ethanol and DDGs produced at the plant. Heron Lake BioEnergy manufactures around 50 million gallons a year of ethanol from 18 million bushels of corn, all of which will be supplied by Gavilon. Gavilon will ma

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Western Canadian farmers have voted to keep the Canadian Wheat Board's marketing monopoly over wheat and barley, but Ottawa says the CWB's nonbinding vote is flawed and will not affect its plans to open the market. Sixty-two percent of farmers who responded, or 22,764 farmers, voted to keep the CWB's single-desk system, with 38 percent, or 14,059, voting for an open market system, the vote's election coordinator said on Monday. The vote was nearly evenly spli

Yokohama Tire Corp. will implement a price increase of up to 8% on all of its light and medium commercial truck tires in the U.S., effective Oct. 1, 2011. There will be in-line adjustments, as well, which will be announced at a later date. "Several factors make the increase necessary, unfortunately," says Rick Phillips, Yokohama director of commercial sales, "The costs of raw materials, manufacturing and transportation remain at highly elevated levels. These, regrettably, have to be reflecte

The U.S. Department of Transportation has indicated that the first Mexican truck may receive operating authority to enter the United States by early October, according to the National Pork Producers Council. The action will finally bring to an end a long-standing dispute between the nations over a trucking provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Earlier this summer the U.S. and Mexican governments signed an agreement that will allow the Mexican trucks to haul goods into th

Hundreds of longshore workers in Longview, Washington state, broke into a new $200 million grain terminal and dumped more than 10,000 tons of grain on railroad tracks on Thursday, September 8. The ports of Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett were all reportedly shut down by wildcat actions as longshore workers spontaneously flocked to Longview in support. This militant action is the latest development in a dispute between the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) Local 21 and EGT Development

After a volatile August, are the nation's shippers bracing for more weakness or just exercising caution going into the fall peak season? Separate surveys from two top investment firms delivered very different answers. A group of 120 shippers that combined account for more than $25 billion in annual freight spending forecast continued economic and freight sluggishness heading into the peak holiday shipping season and beyond, with an increasing number planning to pare back inventory levels in

Washington – While oil and environmental interests seek to block the growth of the ethanol market in the United States, other nations around the world are increasing their use of American-made ethanol. According to data released today by the federal government, U.S. ethanol exports in July set a new monthly record. Exports of denatured and undenatured (non-beverage) ethanol totaled 127.4 million gallons in July, edging out the April 2011 total of 120.1 million gallons to set a new record. July e

What the truck?! This toppled big rig yesterday added a new layer of calamity on the site of a Long Island home that was blown to bits in a natural gas explosion earlier this week. Already rattled Elmont residents got a new scare when the truck, working at the explosion site, flipped over and took down the neighborhood power lines with it. "When it happened, I just said, 'It's the same house, oh my God!' '' said Mary Simpkins, eyeing the latest round of wreckage where her neighbor Mi

The Twomey Company has opened a large new grain processing facility just north of Little York. The company had an open house Thursday to introduce the facility to the public and area farmers. President and General Manager Craig Twomey said it was the first "big project on virgin soil" in some time for the company, noting they have added new equipment at other facilities but haven't opened anything new. The project started in April 2010 and has been hampered at critical junctures by heavy

Galesburg's Mayor Sal Garza says talks between Archer Daniels Midland and the city will pick up a week from Thursday, in Galesburg. Mayor Garza tells WGIL the city understands the decision to close the ADM plant in Galesburg, but says the city is exploring the opportunity of re-purposing that facility. "ADM is fully aware of that intention, and so there is still opportunity on the table, either with ADM or with other potential prospects," he says. We have already received several inquirie

Straughn High School JAG students learned Friday that with a less than a month of training, they can make upward of $30,000 a year. William Hawkins, CDL instructor for LBW Community College's MacArthur Campus, spent Friday afternoon speaking to students about job potential in the over-the-road trucking industry. Hawkins told students that an entry-level driver can make $30,000 a year, traveling some 2,000 miles a week and only working four days. "You can make that kind of money with ver

A worker at Viterra's Rosetown grain elevator died Thursday, the company said in a statement. The statement confirmed an "incident occurred at its Rosetown elevator in which an employee was fatally injured. "Viterra is working closely with the proper authorities to investigate the situation. Out of respect for the employee's family, we are not releasing any other details at this time. "Viterra's sympathies are with the family and the community.," the statement said. Darcy Olson,

It used to be that natural gas producers holding onto a limited supply of coveted product didn't need to spend time and money on marketing. But with a recent push by energy firms to furiously tap vast shale deposits across North America for the fossil fuel, those days are over. An abundance of cheap natural gas has industry players the continent over clamouring to advertise the fuel's use for anything from power generation and home heating to the latest craze - transportation. Espous

CALGARY - Those hoping to see truckers across Canada ditch diesel for cheaper and cleaner liquefied natural gas fuel might be in for quite a wait -- though a handful companies are working toward making that a reality. Last week, Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced plans to sell LNG -- natural gas that has been cooled into a liquid state -- at truck stops between Edmonton and Calgary starting some time next year. By 2013, it aims to produce some of its own at a plant west of Calgary. "It's a so

NEW YORK, NY, Sep 09, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Poor manufacturing data has weighed heavily on the trucking sector this summer. American Trucking Association (ATA) Chief Economist Bob Costello explains that the strength of truck tonnage is directly linked to manufacturing output -- which has stagnated in recent months. The Bedford Report examines the outlook for companies in the trucking industry and provides equity research on YRC Worldwide, Inc. /quotes/zigman/122992/quotes/nls/yrcw YRCW

Great Range Capital, a Kansas City private equity firm, has acquired ethanol trucking company LLL Transport Inc. The company, based in Brookfield, Mo., employs more than 130 in the Midwest and could increase that number. Terms of the acquisition, which closed Aug. 24, are not being disclosed. GRC's sweet spot is controlling equity investments in Midwestern companies with revenue of $10 million to $150 million. It's partially backed by the Brandmeyer family, which committed more than $25

SKOKIE, Ill., Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed legislation aimed at enhancing truck safety in the state by making truck routing and restrictions more accessible to the commercial trucking industry. The new law also provides a program to educate professional truck drivers about the vast differences between truck and car GPS devices. House Bill 1377, now signed into law, was the result of recommendations made by a State of Illinois Task Force char

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Great Falls wheat man and aviator J.C. Kantorowicz hoped to plant at least 3,000 acres of spring wheat earlier this year at his Meadowlark Farms. He got in 400 muddy acres. So that means less fly time in his spotless blue and yellow Aviat Husky A1B back to back two-seater bush plane, checking over the grain? Don't believe it for a second. See, J.C. loves to fly and will find just about any reason to get airborne. "Charlotte (his wife) likes to fly with me, she re

Viterra Inc. said on Wednesday its quarterly profit nearly doubled, driven by record grain shipments through ports in Australia, higher grain prices, and strong demand for fertilizers in North America. Viterra, the biggest grain handler in Canada and South Australia, said strong shipment volumes are expected to lift its grain-handling and marketing operations going into its fiscal 2012, beginning in November. The Calgary, Alberta-based company stands to benefit from bigger grain and

Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to acquire Cargill Inc.'s hedge-fund administration and middle-office service provider, LaCrosse Global Fund Services, in an effort to expand its hedge-fund administration business. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Wells Fargo said the move will also add operational support, derivatives processing, bank debt processing and cash/collateral management services to the structured product services division within Wells Fargo Corporate Trust Services. The San Fra

Bunge North America .. plans to purchase a West Memphis, Ark., grain elevator from Riceland Foods .. . The sale is set to close by the end of 2011, but Bunge will begin operating the facility immediately under an agreement with Stuttgart, Ark.-based Riceland and the West Memphis Crittenden County Port Authority. Financial terms were not disclosed. The facility's seven employees will transfer to Bunge, according to a company statement. All open contracts with Riceland customers will be

Spring wheat harvest in Montana progressed to 49 percent harvested, with some reports of grasshopper and hail damage, according to the Crop Weather Report released Tuesday by the Montana Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. The spring-wheat harvest is ahead of last year's 32 percent harvested at this time, as well as the five-year average of 37 percent. Farmers rate spring-wheat conditions as 52 percent good to excellent, behind last year's 77 percent. The state

There was light volume last Friday, but decent volume for most of the week and it was in higher fashion. With seasonal peak volumes, will prices crumble or hold tough? The CME spot cheese market has stopped falling. The barrel has moved up to correct the spread imbalance, but it hasn't shown any bull horns. Butter has started to break and that was the early year bull leader. Dairy cow slaughter under federal inspection was up 6.9%, at 54,200 head, compared with the same period the previ

Winkler, Manitoba holds the the official mark in the Guiness Book of World Records---but a group of Saskatoon area farmers want to set the new record on October 6th, 2012. The event is called Harvest for Kids and proceeds from the crop will be used to send children to summer camp in countries such as India, Cambodia, Fiji, Cuba, Belize and Kenya. The land, as well as the inputs and labor, will all be donated. The current record is 200 combines harvesting simultaneously on the same fiel

I have been reading two groups are doomed in the face of the single desk being extinguished. The first is producer cars and the second is the inland terminals. With the elimination of the single desk, the Inland Terminal Association of Canada finds itself faced with a number of challenges to overcome and a number of opportunities if it does. Those challenges depend heavily on what the regulatory system will look like after August 1, 2012. Will the government help to create an environment tha

UNDATED (WSAU) One of the nation's largest corn processors will soon take over a chain of 10 grain elevators in Wisconsin. Archer Daniels Midland is buying Olsen's Mills. Olsen's went into bankruptcy two years ago due to its partial ownership of the financially-troubled Renew Energy ethanol plant in Jefferson. The lead creditor, the French bank B-N-P Paribas, objected to a court-approved sale of the mills to two investment groups involving the Olsen brothers. The bank had submitted a higher

Truckers will now be able to scan, send, and store freight documents with an iPhone or Android smartphone using a new cloud-based technology called Drive Axle introduced by Eleos Technologies. Documents can be scanned from anywhere with no need to locate a fax machine, scanner, or overnight mail drop box, the company said. Documents are organized and stored securely online for one year, where they can be easily retrieved from any web browser. The service is priced at a flat $29/month. "Own

The Teamsters union and Public Citizen have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Transportation seeking to block the government's plan to allow Mexican trucks back into the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported. The suit, filed Friday, challenges the U.S.-Mexico trucking deal signed in July by the two countries, in part to end Mexican tariffs on U.S. goods. The suit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco by the Teamsters and Public Citi

ZHENGZHOU (Dow Jones)--Chinese feed mills are expected to consume 17 million metric tons of wheat to produce animal feed this year compared with around 12.5 million tons last year, as wheat prices have become more attractive given a steep discount to corn, Wang Xiaohui, director of the market forecasting department of the state-backed China National Grain & Oils Information Center, said Monday. Demand for wheat as animal feed will continue to rise if corn prices remain high, he said at an in

WORLDWIDE – Freight by its very nature will always depend to some extent on the delivery truck. Whether it be the express parcel van or a tail lift artic the end user can expect to see a driver at the door albeit now days with a hand held RFID terminal not the previously favoured clipboard – trains simply can't deliver door to door. The recent race between the Commercial Motor and Railways Illustrated magazines from Daventry to Glasgow resulted in a victory for the Mercedes Benz articulated

The Big Move is a new series that I plan to periodically post exclusively at Seeking Alpha. Over the past several years, I have closely studied and played big moves. As evidenced by my public track record, I have a knack for calling 'em right most of the time – Silver, Biotech, Oil, and now Corn. ETF Long and Short Ideas: (1) Teucrium Corn (CORN) or (2) PowerShares Agriculture Double Short (AGA) click to enlarge I know - corn isn't sexy. For this reason, many investors don't follo

PRINCETON -- Most truckers, especially independent owner/operators, don't know where their next load will take them. That was certainly true for Russell Vereen of Princeton who was delivering a load in Arizona on Sept. 11, 2011, when the terrorist attacks on the United States changed his life. "I was leased to Bennett Motor Express out of Georgia, and I had just delivered on base out in Yuma, Ariz., when I heard about the attacks," Vereen said. "Bennett was FEMA's [the Federal Emergency Manag

The Rev. Harold McMillin didn't want to stop at prayer. He thought he could take action, too. The pastor of a small Iowa church, McMillin knew that farmers in his congregation had plenty of hay from a near-perfect alfalfa growing season. He also knew that farmers and ranchers in Texas were desperate for bales because of a withering drought. Out of McMillin's mouth, the generosity of his congregants and the financial help of Lutheran Disaster Response came an old-fashioned, 1,000-mile hay

Limiting driver hours, enforcing maintenance standards, reducing load sizes and keeping unsafe drivers out of the cab are importants strategies for reducing truck accidents. September 04, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Government officials should do everything in their power to reduce the likelihood of commercial truck accidents. The most dangerous reality on American highways is the close proximity within which passenger vehicles operate alongside massive semis and tankers. Limiting drive

A man hit his wife then stood over her with a knife threatening to kill her and himself. He was later found overdosing on pills after having climbed 90 feet up a tower. That's the picture drawn from allegations in La Porte Circuit Court where Jed Saunders, 31, was arraigned on Class C felony intimidation; battery and strangulation, both Class D felonies, and Class A misdemeanor battery. On August 21, police were called to the Saunders residence in Wanatah where, according to court docum

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced last month that it will not propose new regulations governing the transport of agricultural products. The FMCSA also released guidance to ensure states understand existing exemptions to federal highway legislation that allow farmers to move their products to market. "We want to make it absolutely clear that farmers will not be subjected to new and impractical safety regulations," said U.S. Transpo

In a development that will help hundreds of U.S. companies regain their Mexican customers, two Mexican trucking companies are on track to receive U.S. operating authority by the end of the month. At that time, Mexico is obligated under an agreement signed in July to drop the remaining 50 percent of the punitive tariffs against nearly 100 U.S.-made goods that began in 2009. The Department of Transportation on Thursday notified the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio that seven Mexican long-ha

WASHINGTON--The Teamsters union filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration on Friday seeking to block the government's plan to allow Mexican trucks back into the U.S., in a sign of the growing rift between unions and the administration over trade. The suit challenges a deal the U.S. signed with Mexico in July to resolve a longstanding dispute over cross-border trucking. The agreement ended a two-decade-long ban on Mexican trucks entering the U.S. The North American Free Trade Agreeme

Two months after an acrimonious late-night standoff on a related issue, Gov. Jerry Brown and farmworker advocates have struck a deal to give state regulators new powers that could help agriculture workers unionize. The measure, introduced in the Legislature on Friday, would allow the state's Agriculture Labor Relations Board to certify a union if it finds that a grower has acted illegally to affect the outcome of a labor election. The legislation would also accelerate the mediation process fo

Wisconsin's largest grain handling conglomerate is once again under new ownership. The Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Company announced it has acquired five grain storage elevators from Olsen Brothers Enterprises, as well as four other elevators from Olsen's Mill Acquisition Company/Ag Services of Wisconsin. ADM has also assumed a lease for another elevator from OMAC. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. The news comes about six weeks after the Wisconsin State Supreme Court ruled tha

DECATUR, Ill. -- It's a small city that rises up for three days every two years at a Decatur site with the smell of crushed soybeans wafting from a nearby Archer Daniels Midland plant. The Farm Progress Show creates a city of buildings, grain bins and heavy equipment and fills it with lots of people. The Decatur Chamber of Commerce estimates that 150,000 visitors attend the three-day event, which is sometimes referred to as the World's Fair of Agriculture. As the largest farm show

The U.S. unemployment rate held at 9.1% in August, while payrolls also remained unchanged, the Labor Department said Friday. Trucking jobs declined by 900 workers, while the total transportation and warehousing sector lost 2,400 workers, Labor figures showed. The unemployment rate was in line with economists' projections, Bloomberg reported. The unchanged payrolls figure followed a revised 85,000 increase in July that was less than originally reported. The payroll and unemployment fi

The sharp eyes of a trucker helped nab a thief in Quebec earlier this week, along with a trailer containing $150,000 worth of stolen cheese from Moncton. Codiac RCMP say the refrigerated trailer was parked in a lot on Caledonia Road in the Caledonia Industrial Park last Saturday. Sometime after 3:15 p.m. the trailer was stolen and the crime was discovered the next day and reported to police. Cpl. Mike Gaudet said the trailer was gone, but a transport truck was found in that same lot that d

CHICAGO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill [CARG.UL] said on Thursday it will not accept Syngenta's (SYNN.VX) genetically modified Agrisure Viptera corn at its North American wet milling plants until the corn variety receives regulatory approval from the European Union. Another major grain handler, Bunge North America (BG.N), has also barred Agrisure Viptera from its facilities, awaiting additional export market approval, particularly from China -- a top U.S. grains and oilse

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited /quotes/zigman/288539/quotes/nls/bg BG -0.23% , announced that it is purchasing the Riceland Foods elevator strategically located at the Crittenden County Port in West Memphis, Ark. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions. In the interim, Bunge will begin operating the facility immediately under an agreement with Riceland

Cargill Inc. .. is buying up the inland barge operations of Iowa-based Alter Barge Line Inc .. ., in a deal that will significantly expand its fleet. Wayzata-based Cargill already owns nearly a thousand barges, which it uses to ship grain and other cargo up and down rivers, the trade journal WorkBoat reported. A spokesman called the deal "a good fit". It isn't likely to change the competitive picture in shipping; there are still some other big rivals in the market. Mark Reilly manag

Quebec's federation of ag co-operatives, La Coop federee, has sealed a deal to further expand its market reach by buying a southwestern Ontario grain marketing company. Coop federee on Monday announced it's completed a deal it signed in June to buy the shares of Grower Direct Exports, based at Mitchell, about 55 km north of London. Montreal-based Coop federee, which represents 85 agricultural and agrifood co-operatives in its home province, didn't disclose the deal's financial terms, oth

WASHINGTON – The American Trucking Associations wrote to U.S. regulators to point out a myriad of trucking rules that merit revision. "ATA believes that DOT's regulations improve public safety on our nation's roadways; however, several regulations have become outdated or obsolete, are no longer cost effective, or have proven to be ineffective in achieving their stated purpose," the ATA stated in comments filed with the US DOT. The trucking group drafted a list of regulations that no longer

DECATUR, Ill., Aug 31, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Archer Daniels Midland Company /quotes/zigman/218265/quotes/nls/adm ADM -0.87% today announced it has acquired five grain storage elevators from Olsen Brothers Enterprises and, in a separate transaction, has contracted to acquire four grain storage elevators from Olsen's Mill Acquisition Company/Ag Services of Wisconsin. ADM has also assumed a lease for an elevator from Olsen's Mill Acquisition Company. All 10 elevators are located in Wisconsin, and