Pesticide collection set for 10 counties
The state Department of Agriculture will set up shop in 10 counties next month for the collection of old and abandoned pesticides. The 12-year-old program has kept some 3 million pounds of pesticides and other chemicals from being disposed of illegally or improperly.
The collection events will be held: March 14, Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Rison; March 15, Saline County Fairgrounds in Benton; March 16, Clark County Fairgrounds in Arkadelphia; March 17, Garland County Fairgrounds in Hot Springs; March 20, Dallas County Fairgrounds in Fordyce and the Grant County Road Department in Sheridan; March 21, Calhoun Recycling Center in Hampton and the Ouachita County Extension Office in Camden; March 23, Union County Fairgrounds in El Dorado; and March 24, at Waldo's C.W. Easter Center in Columbia County. All sites are open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the designated dates.
The collection program is free, anonymous, and available to households and farms. The program has focused on old or outdated pesticides such as various formulations of arsenic; DDT; heptachlor; 2,4,5-T; lindane; chlordane; glyphosate; and 2,4-D. The program is funded by fees charged to pesticide manufacturers.
More collection dates will be in the fall in Clay, Greene, Craighead, Poinsett, Cross, Lee, Phillips, Searcy and Stone counties.
-- Stephen Steed
Survey notes glitches in vehicle tech
DETROIT -- Technology glitches including Bluetooth phone pairing and misunderstood voice commands put a dent in car and truck reliability scores in a survey of automobile owners.
The study by consulting firm J.D. Power found that Lexus and Porsche tied for the most reliable brand. Fiat was the least reliable.
Electronic problems caused trouble across the industry, pushing the average brand up to 156 problems per 100 vehicles. That's four higher than last year and the highest number since J.D. Power changed scoring methods in 2015.
Toyota, Buick and Mercedes-Benz rounded out the five most dependable brands.
The study questioned more than 35,000 owners of 2014 model-year vehicles about issues they had had in the previous 12 months.
-- The Associated Press
Airbus profits fall on military jet woes
PARIS -- Surprise new costs for the long-troubled Airbus A400M military jet sent the European plane-maker's profits plunging last year and are projected to weigh on the company's financial prospects through next year, even as it forecast a rise in aircraft deliveries and demand.
Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders acknowledged that "the jury is still out on the long-term success" of the A400M but insisted "it's absolutely necessary" to maintain it as long as European militaries depend on it.
Airbus on Wednesday reported that its profits fell 63 percent in 2016 to $1.04 billion, from $2.85 billion the year before.
With governments delaying payments because of A400M delays, Airbus warned that cash problems "will continue to weigh significantly in 2017 and 2018 in particular."
Airbus' commercial plane forecast was more upbeat, after a year that saw a rise in deliveries but a drop in orders. It foresees a rise in deliveries in 2017 to more than 700 planes, up from 688 last year.
-- The Associated Press
Oil CEO says 6-month cuts not enough
NEW YORK -- OPEC and Russia will need to prolong their six-month deal to cut oil output if they plan to trim the global inventory glut that has kept a lid on prices, according to the chief executive officer of French oil and gas company Total.
"If they want really to have an impact on the market, which means to have the inventories going down because inventories are quite high, it will have to be extended beyond May" when OPEC has its next scheduled meeting, Patrick Pouyanne said Tuesday in a Bloomberg television interview in New York. "I'm convinced that they will do it."
The CEO added that he plans to keep lowering the company's so-called break-even point -- the oil price at which cash flow covers spending and dividends -- because he's "not fully convinced" that tough times for the industry are over. Factors that may continue to have a negative affect on prices include rising U.S. shale oil production and increasing output from Libya, Pouyanne said.
Oil has held above $50 a barrel since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 other nations started trimming output from Jan. 1. The exporters group implemented about 90 percent of the pledged cuts last month, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts the market will shift into supply deficit in the first half. At the same time, U.S. crude stockpiles have kept increasing to the highest level in more than three decades, and oil drillers are deploying the most rigs since October 2015.
-- Bloomberg News
Rising prices send farmers to soybeans
KIESTER, Minn. -- While corn is still king -- it's the largest U.S. crop by value and volume -- farmers from North Dakota to Texas are preparing to use more of their land on soybeans instead.
That's because cash prices have jumped 9.2 percent since the 2016 harvest, creating the widest premium over corn in 29 years, and the oilseed is cheaper to grow. After confronting the prospects of losses on both crops in 2016, soybeans are now more profitable, which means the world's largest grower may harvest a record crop for a second-straight year.
"It's the difference between choosing to operate in the black or in the red," said Jon Mutschler, 48, who farms 2,500 acres in Minnesota with his wife and son. "The market is telling us to plant soybeans," he said. Mutschler will sow 55 percent of his land with corn, down from 67 percent last season, and boost soybeans to 45 percent from 33 percent.
Seed technology that combats drought, bugs and disease is helping U.S. farmers produce record amounts of corn and soybeans on every acre, but demand prospects are better for soybeans used to make animal feed, cooking oil and biofuel. Rising global consumption of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy has doubled the amount of soy-based meal in animal feed since 2000. Most of that growth occurred in China, the biggest pork producer, where soybean imports have doubled in the past eight years.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 02/23/2017