CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Agriculture Department on Friday awarded $40.2 million in grants to farmers, ranchers and farmer-controlled rural business ventures aimed at spurring locally produced food supplies and renewable energy ventures.

USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said 298 recipients in 44 states and Puerto Rico will receive business development assistance through the Value-Added Producer Grant program.

CHICAGO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – CME Group (CME.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the
world’s largest derivatives exchange, said on Monday
it will expand its offering of “swap” contracts for grain
commodities by listing eight new grain and oilseeds swaps for
central clearing by the CME on Feb. 13.

Swaps are private, over-the-counter agreements between
traders to exchange financial obligations. They are widely used
in the currency and interest rate markets to supplement risk
management positions taken by banks and other traders in
market-based futures and options contracts listed and cleared on
exchanges like the CME.

CHICAGO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – CME Group (CME.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the
world’s largest derivatives exchange, said on Monday it will
expand its offering of “swap” contracts for grain commodities by
listing eight new grain and oilseeds swaps for central clearing
by the CME on Feb. 13.

Swaps are over-the-counter private agreements between
traders to exchange financial obligations. They are widely used
in the currency and interest rate markets to supplement risk
management positions taken by banks and other traders in
market-based futures and options contracts that are listed and
cleared on exchanges like the CME.

CHICAGO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – CME Group (CME.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the
world’s largest derivatives exchange, said on Monday it will
expand its offering of “swap” contracts for grain commodities by
listing eight new grain and oilseeds swaps for central clearing
by the CME on Feb. 13.

Swaps are over-the-counter private agreements between
traders to exchange financial obligations. They are widely used
in the currency and interest rate markets to supplement risk
management positions taken by banks and other traders in
market-based futures and options contracts that are listed and
cleared on exchanges like the CME.

By Christine Stebbins

(Reuters) – U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill Inc CARG.UL reported a third consecutive slump in quarterly earnings on Tuesday, as one of the world’s largest commodity traders took a beating from sugar losses and volatility in financial markets.

Minneapolis-based Cargill, a family-owned enterprise with a century-long history of dominating global grain markets, reported $100 million in earnings from continuing operations for its second quarter ended November 30, down 88 percent from $832 million a year earlier and the worst quarter since 2001.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Agricultural bankers and other players in the world’s grain markets say fallout from the collapse of giant broker MF Global is changing cash grain trading and fuelling calls for alternatives and reforms.

Trading changes include more “back to back” transactions and more direct contracting by farmers to end users, eliminating middlemen like MF Global, merchandisers say.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Agricultural bankers and other big players in the world grain markets say fallout from the collapse of giant broker MF Global is changing cash grain trading and fueling calls for alternatives and reforms.

Trading changes include more “back to back” transactions and more direct contracting by farmers to end users, eliminating middlemen like MF Global, merchandisers say.

CHICAGO, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Distributing biotech seeds to
American farmers before they are approved in major grain export
markets is not good for U.S. agriculture, an executive with
agribusiness giant Cargill Incsaid on Tuesday.

“We do not support the commercialization of GM traits ahead
of major market approvals,” Randal Giroux, vice president of
food safety for Cargill, told the members of the National Grain
and Feed Association, the largest U.S. grain group, at a
meeting.

CHICAGO, Dec 7 (Reuters) – U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill
Incsaid it was voluntarily recalling a year’s output
of dog food made for its brands River Run and Marksman due to
high levels of aflatoxin.

It was the second recall of pet food this week due to
aflatoxin.

At Cargill, the dog food was manufactured at its Lecompte,
Louisiana, plant from Dec. 1, 2010, to Dec. 1, 2011 and
distributed in 13 states and two territories: Kansas, Missouri,
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Hawaii, Florida, California, Guam,
the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cargill said in a statement.

CHICAGO, Dec 5 (Reuters) – The decision by commodities
giant Cargill Incto cut about 2,000 employees from
its global payrolls was prudent given world growth prospects, a
Fitch Ratings analyst said on Monday.

“They were probably looking at their overall business with
weaker performance in the first quarter and the slowing
economy, it just makes sense,” said Judi Rossetti, analyst with
Fitch Ratings.