State to help fund organic certification
Farmers who have secured federal certification for their organic crops can apply to the Arkansas Agriculture Department for reimbursement of up to 75 percent of the cost, up to $750, that they paid toward certification.
The state Agriculture Department has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service to help defray the cost paid by organic producers and handlers to obtain organic certification through the National Organic Program.
The organic program recognizes four certification categories: Crops, wild crops, livestock and processing/handing. The certification or recertification must occur between Oct. 1, 2014, and Sept. 30, 2015.
The program will reimburse certified organic producers, processors or handlers of organic agricultural products for allowable expenses for certification in each category.
Applications must be received by Oct. 31.
More information is available by contacting Zachary Taylor, marketing director for the state Agriculture Department, at (501) 683-4851.
-- Glen Chase
Trawlers' early catches net small shrimp
GULFPORT, Miss. -- Early catches are showing small to medium shrimp coming in on trawls in Mississippi.
"We communicated with several boats that reported decent catches of 40-50/50-60-count brown shrimp between Deer and Horn islands," said Rick Burris, director of the Shrimp and Crab Bureau of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. "We also had reports of 50-60s [small] and even some 36-40s [medium] west of the Gulfport Ship Channel."
According to local media reports, an aerial survey showed 310 shrimp vessels working in Mississippi waters Wednesday. The heaviest concentrations were 42 boats east of Deer Island, 25 south of Deer Island, 41 south of the Broadwater, 36 northeast of Horn Island and 28 southwest of Long Beach.
"The unfortunate side for these guys is the large volume of shrimp already on the market is driving the price of our Mississippi shrimp way down," Burris said. At the dock in Biloxi, shrimp were selling Wednesday for $2 to $5 per pound, depending on the count.
Shrimpers said last year's imports were dramatically down because of a disease issue. As a result, local shrimpers received higher prices.
-- The Associated Press
Cenovus to start oil output stalled by fire
Cenovus Energy Inc. said its biggest Canadian oil sands site will be fully operational by Monday as firefighters make progress in bringing a nearby blaze under control.
Startup is continuing as planned at the 135,000-barrel-per-day Foster Creek project, the company said in a statement Thursday. The site near Cold Lake in northeastern Alberta was shut down almost two weeks ago because of a wildfire. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said Wednesday that it's ramping up production at its Kirby South oil sands site after a pipeline restarted, while its 80,000-barrel-per-day Primrose project remained closed.
The blaze had scorched 76,603 acres by Friday and was 79 percent contained, Wildfire Information Officer Shannon Stambaugh said in a phone interview. The fire has slowed oil sands production by about 230,000 barrels per day, 10 percent of the country's output.
Canada, the world's fifth-largest crude supplier, derives more than half of its oil from the oil-sands reserves of northern Alberta. The country will produce 2.3 million barrels per day from the sands this year, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
-- Bloomberg News
China's stock value to hit $10 trillion
The value of Chinese stocks is expected to reach $10 trillion after a rally added virtually the equivalent of Japan's equities market this year.
The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 8.9 percent this week, its biggest jump this year, to close above 5,000 for the first time since 2008. Companies with a primary listing in China were valued at $9.6 trillion at the end of trading Thursday, an increase of $4.7 trillion since the end of 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Japan's stock market is valued at $5.1 trillion while the U.S. is at almost $25 trillion.
The Shanghai measure has jumped 146 percent in the past 12 months, the most among major global benchmark indexes, spurred by surging participation among individual Chinese investors and record margin debt. Worsening economic data has only fueled bets the government will step up stimulus efforts.
The surge in China's stocks is a "big surprise" given they were among the cheapest in the world last year, said Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. "The question we'd like to ask is whether this is based on a pure bubble or whether the economy can catch up."
-- Bloomberg News
Goldman said near $2B U.S. settlement
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in talks to pay $2 billion to $3 billion to settle an investigation into its sales of mortgage bonds leading up to the financial crisis, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
The investment bank could reach a deal with the U.S. Justice Department within weeks, the person said, asking not to be identified because the negotiations aren't public.
The accord is part of a broader push by the government to hold more Wall Street firms to account for the 2008 crisis after authorities pressed the three biggest U.S. banks -- JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. -- to pay a total of more than $35 billion in cash and consumer relief. Morgan Stanley said in February that it agreed to pay $2.6 billion to end investigations into its creation and sale of mortgage-backed securities. The firm has yet to complete the deal.
Patrick Rodenbush, a Justice Department spokesman, and Tiffany Galvin at New York-based Goldman Sachs declined to comment on settlement talks.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among banks nearing agreements.
-- Bloomberg News