USDA extends milk-coverage deadline
The deadline to enroll in the dairy Margin Protection Program for 2016 has been extended to Nov. 20, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday.
The voluntary program, established by the 2014 farm bill, provides financial assistance to participating farmers when the margin -- the difference between the price of milk and feed costs -- falls below the coverage level selected by the farmer.
Vilsack encouraged farmers to use the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency website at www.fsa.usda.gov/mpptool to calculate the best levels of coverage for their dairy operations.
Farmers who were enrolled in 2015 need to make a coverage selection for 2016 and pay the $100 administrative fee. Farmers must pay any unpaid premium balances for 2015 by the enrollment deadline to remain eligible for higher coverage levels in 2016. Premiums for 2016 are not due until Sept. 1, 2016.
To enroll in the Margin Protection Program, dairy farmers should contact Farm Service Agency offices in their areas.
-- Scott Morris
Pilot program to assist rural mayors
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission is working with the University of Central Arkansas on a pilot assistance program for rural communities, the university announced Wednesday at the state Capitol.
The Technical Assistance Program for Arkansas Mayors will provide education and training for Arkansas mayors in rural areas, including the Delta region, according to a news release.
The program will address affordable housing and nonhousing community development. Other topics include community and economic development and locating funding sources and grants, the release said.
Funding for the Technical Assistance Program will come from several sources. Those sources include $27,500 from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission; $5,750 from the Arkansas Community Foundation; $4,000 from the Delta Regional Authority; and $4,000 from UCA's Center for Community and Economic Development, through a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.
-- Jessica Seaman
2 who stole secrets told to pay $10M
ST. LOUIS -- A judge has ordered a former employee of a mid-Missouri tech firm and his wife to pay $10 million for stealing trade secrets and working with a Chinese firm to sell knockoff products, including to the U.S. Navy.
Franklin County Associate Circuit Judge Robert Schollmeyer this month awarded Rolla-based Brewer Science $8.4 million in punitive damages and $1.6 million in compensatory damages to cover the company's lost profits and research and development costs because of the actions of Brewer Science engineer Hai Xuan and his wife, Hong Sheng, along with the company they formed, Best Tools LLC.
Brewer Science makes coatings used for microchips, along with spin coater machines, which apply thin, uniform films to flat substrates. The judge determined that the couple partnered with a Chinese manufacturer to make and distribute spin coater machines that used Brewer Science technology and was in direct competition with the company.
In 2013, the Department of the Navy awarded a $5,580 contract to Best Tools LLC for laboratory equipment and supplies, according to a website that tracks government contracts.
The couple's whereabouts are uncertain.
-- The Associated Press
Europeans: Won't rush stimulus move
Mario Draghi said it's too soon to say whether risks to the economic outlook warrant a step-up in the European Central Bank's stimulus.
"More time is needed to determine in particular whether the loss of growth momentum in emerging markets is of a temporary or permanent nature," the central bank's president said Wednesday in his quarterly testimony to European Parliament lawmakers in Brussels. Officials need to "assess the driving forces behind the drop in the international price of commodities and behind the recent episodes of severe financial turbulence," he said.
While central bank policymakers have repeatedly said the bank is willing to bolster its bond-buying program if necessary, some officials are reluctant to rush in. Draghi's comments echo sentiment expressed by Governing Council members Ewald Nowotny and Bostjan Jazbec, who both said earlier Wednesday that it's too early to judge whether expanding purchases would be appropriate.
-- Bloomberg News
Tech firm Square opens St. Louis office
ST. LOUIS -- The tech company Square has opened an office in St. Louis and plans to hire more than 200 people in the next five years.
The San Francisco-based company announced the new location Wednesday. The company was founded in 2009 by two St. Louis natives, Jim McKelvey and Jack Dorsey. Dorsey is co-founder of Twitter.
Square is behind a mobile payment device that plugs into the headphone jack of smartphones and tablet computers, facilitating credit card payments. The company processes about $30 billion in transactions each year.
Company officials plan to hire 40 full-time workers in St. Louis immediately, with positions including customer support, recruitment and office management.
-- The Associated Press
Post Holdings to acquire egg producer
ST. LOUIS -- Post Holdings plans to spend $90 million to buy an egg producer that serves the Northwest in a deal announced a few months after the cereal maker's egg supply took a hit from a bird flu outbreak.
St. Louis-based Post said Wednesday that Willamette Egg Farms LLC will be combined with Post's Michael Foods egg business after the deal is completed. The company expects that to happen early in its first fiscal quarter of 2016.
Post Holdings Inc. said in May that about 20 percent of its egg supply had been affected by a deadly bird flu outbreak that hit the Midwest.
Shares of Post Holdings closed at $67.89 on Wednesday and have soared more than 60 percent so far this year.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 09/24/2015