DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Agribusiness giant
Cargill Inc [CARG.UL], a major producer of biofuels, said on
Thursday the U.S. government’s move to allow more ethanol in
U.S. gasoline would have no immediate effect on its investment
plans.

“I think it’s something that has to be considered. At this
moment it’s unlikely to be an immediate stimulus,” Cargill
chief executive Greg Page told Reuters in an interview on
Thursday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. agribusiness and trading giant Cargill Inc CARG.UL said quarterly earnings rose 68 percent, boosted by its majority stake in fertilizer maker Mosaic Co (MOS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and its food and trading sectors.

Minneapolis-based Cargill, one of the world’s largest privately held corporations, reported net earnings of $883 million for the quarter that ended August 31, from $525 million a year earlier.

BLAIR, Nebraska (Reuters) – From the road, an hour north of Omaha, the giant industrial plant looks like a typical oil refinery, sprawling over more than 600 acres with massive storage drums, miles of piping, clouds of steam and exhaust.

But this refinery is tied more to corn oil than crude oil.

It also presents visitors with an intriguing glimpse into what boosters like President Barack Obama call “the green economy,” an industrial base centered on renewable resources like crops and on products like ethanol and biofuels.

CHICAGO, Sept 2 (Reuters) – RJ O’Brien, the largest
independent U.S. brokerage, announced on Thursday that top
grains analyst Rich Feltes will join the firm as vice president
of research beginning Sept. 30.

Feltes, 61, who served as senior vice president and
director of commodity research at MF Global (MF.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s
largest futures retail broker, left that company this week.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Agribusiness and trading giant Cargill Inc CARG.UL said quarterly earnings more than doubled, with all five of its main global business segments posting profits.

Minneapolis-based Cargill, one of the world’s largest privately held corporations, reported net earnings of $691 million for the fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31, up from $327 million a year earlier.

CHICAGO, June 20 (Reuters) – China’s surprising move over
the weekend signaling a new willingness to let its currency
gain strength may give grain prices an initial boost this week,
but recent adverse weather for world crops will be more
important.

“I, and a few other commercials, see the news as mildly
supportive. More important may be how the external commodity
markets react to the news,” said Dan Basse, president of grain
and livestock industry consultant AgResource in Chicago.

CHICAGO, June 15 (Reuters) – Usually sleepy oats futures
have staged a ferocious rally in the latest week, for their
biggest price jump in nearly a decade, as worries have mounted
about a short crop in Canada, the largest supplier of U.S. oat
imports.

“The oat market is up 40 percent in a week — it is the hot
commodity globally right now,” said Rich Feltes, senior vice
president of MF Global Research in Chicago.

KANSAS CITY, June 11 (Reuters) – U.S. farmland prices have
been firming as China’s heavy purchases of the country’s farm
exports have fueled a boom in agriculture.

Still, many veteran U.S. farm lenders are nervous about
agriculture’s historical tendency to boom-and-bust cycles.

KANSAS CITY (Reuters) – Renewable fuels like corn-based ethanol will get a boost as the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico feeds worries by Americans about long-term dependence on oil, a top U.S. private agricultural economist said on Tuesday.

“The spill has heightened the concern about our dependence on fossil fuels so that quite naturally is causing people to want us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. That brings us to renewables,” JB Penn, chief economist at farm equipment maker John Deere, said in an interview on the sidelines at a Kansas City Federal Reserve ag banking meeting.

KANSAS CITY, June 8 (Reuters) – Renewable fuels like
corn-based ethanol will get a boost as the massive oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico feeds worries by Americans about long-term
dependence on oil, a top U.S. private agricultural economist
said on Tuesday.

“The spill has heightened the concern about our dependence
on fossil fuels so that quite naturally is causing people to
want us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. That brings
us to renewables,” JB Penn, chief economist at farm equipment
maker John Deere (D.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said in an interview on the sidelines
at a Kansas City Federal Reserve ag banking meeting.