On August 23, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Family Farmer Relief Act of 2019, which increased the debt limit under Chapter 12 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to $10 million from about $4.15 million. This means that Chapter 12 is now a viable option for larger family farming operations,...

When people think of agriculture, they think of long-term businesses in steady markets. They think of family-owned businesses passing from generation to generation. They think of farmer-owned cooperatives serving their members and feeding the world. That has been changing in a dramatic manner over...

The food processing industry is consistently an active category for M&A activity, and changes in consumer preferences have been driving the activity level even higher in recent years. The Food Institute reported in July 2015 that it had recorded 206 transactions, year to date. Even a slight...

In December 2003, mad cow disease was identified in the North American market, and the Japanese government immediately banned imports of U.S. beef for two years. The 2014-15 avian flu epidemic resulted in 17 percent of U.S. poultry either dying from the disease or being euthanized to halt its...