Agribusiness Update for Friday 10/02/15

With profits shying away from record levels just a couple years ago, Deere & Co. is working on a new labor agreement with union employees. The current six-year contract expired yesterday and talks are underway between Deere and United Autoworkers to reach a new labor contract covering 10,000 employees. Most of those employees make farm and construction equipment in Iowa and Illinois. The Union is likely to work under the current contract until a new deal can be reached. A strike does not seem likely; one expert said there may be a ten percent chance of a strike.

Major food companies are urging U.S. and foreign lawmakers to back the climate change agreement expected to come out of United Nations talks in Paris later this year amid growing concerns that shifting temperatures could hurt their businesses. Diane Holdorf, chief sustainability officer for Kellogg Company said lawmakers shouldn't stop there. Congress should keep climate change concerns in mind when looking at the next farm bill, adding that "anything we can do within that type of legislation is really important."

That's today's Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network of the West.