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☆ Investment has been pouring into technology in the agriculture space. How to play it
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, the agriculture industry was dealing with a number of headwinds, from hurricanes and poor planning disrupting crop growth cycles to the impact of retaliatory tariffs slashing exports. These issues have highlighted an immense need for investment in agriculture and specifically technology to improve the efficiency of the industry. Last year, Deere also purchased Bear Flag Robotics, a Silicon Valley agriculture technology startup that develops autonomous farm equipment, for $250 million. AGCO , an agricultural machinery manufacturer, has also made several investments or acquisitions in the last few years in new technology in the space. The agriculture company in September bought Symborg, a Spanish microbiological technologies firm that makes biostimulants and biofertilizers for many kinds of crops and agriculture systems that boost results.

☆ How Liz Truss’ term as British prime minister went from bad to worse
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Sana Noor Haq | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Here are the lowlights – and lowerlights – of Truss’ term as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister. Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/ReutersThe prime minister later defends her government’s controversial tax cuts in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. October 20: Truss quitsAfter a chaotic six-week spell in Downing Street, Truss announces her resignation. She will remain UK prime minister until her successor is chosen. Her swift exit as prime minister prompts calls for an early general election in Britain.

☆ Can sustainable soya farming come fast enough to save the Cerrado?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Mark Hillsdon | Mark Hillsdon Is A Manchester-Based Freelance Writer Who Writes On Business | Sustainability For The Ethical Corporation | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

“Crop finance is a key part of soy farmers' business models and there is a huge appetite and market for green finance,” he explains. It’s a message consistent with the UK Soy Manifesto, which now covers 60% of the soy coming into the UK. Unlocking green investment means this can now happen, he adds, by supporting sustainable agriculture and protecting forests in a financially sustainable way that rewards farmers. And ultimately it is the involvement of these traders in screening out “bad soy” on which any sustainable soy scheme succeeds or fails. The Retail Soy Group’s roadmap commits members to deforestation-free soy with a cut-off-date of August 2020, but soy traders aren’t following these guidelines, says Wijeratna.

☆ The era of free returns may be coming to an end. Here's why retailers have started charging return fees – and how you can avoid them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Some retailers have started charging customers a fee to ship back their returns. The easiest way to avoid paying a return fee is to bring your items back to the store in person. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyThe era of free returns may be coming to an end. Here's how we got here, which retailers are changing their tune, and what shoppers can do to avoid paying for returns. Some companies have taken a different approach by offering free returns only to its most loyal shoppers.

☆ Wall Street is being shortsighted on Meta Platforms, ignoring things that can go right
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Club holding Meta Platforms (META) seems to be a hated stock on Wall Street no matter what it does. The stock hit a new 52-week low Wednesday, one day after the company unveiled its new Quest Pro headset at its 2022 Meta Connect conference. Quest Pro Starting with the Meta Quest Pro, at $1,500, the headset is targeting a different audience than its Meta Quest 2 counterpart, which starts at $400. Tools and partnerships While the Quest Pro is impressive in its own right, what makes it really intriguing are the tools and partnerships that were announced with it. The Meta Quest Pro headset during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

☆ Premarket stocks: Ronald Reagan's tax lesson for Britain
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Citibank analysts called the decision a “huge, unfunded gamble for the UK economy.” Markets dropped precipitously on the news. But much like Truss, Reagan argued that massive tax cuts and deregulation would stimulate productivity and he championed a sweeping tax cut that was passed by Congress that year. According to US Treasury estimates, Reagan’s tax cuts reduced federal revenues by about 9% in the first couple of years. A lesson from history: “When tax cuts are really too big to be sustainable, they’re often followed by tax increases,” wrote David Wessel, director of The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. The US dollar appreciated during the Reagan tax cuts because it benefits from global reserve currency status.

☆ Cops on Brazil's campaign trail call for backup as violence spikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Gabriel Stargardter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

They asked the top Federal Police officers in each state to reinforce Lula campaign events with bulletproof cars, tactical teams, drones and intelligence reports. Some of them have responded by stockpiling guns and lashing out at leftists during a tense campaign marred by high-profile cases of violence. Ten years of troubles have resulted in stark political polarization - embodied by Lula and Bolsonaro - that has become increasingly menacing on the campaign trail. BOLSONARO STRONGHOLDSThe Federal Police have also sought to open two other criminal probes over threats to Lula, according to the source. Lula has just 27% support in Santa Catarina, against 49% for Bolsonaro, according to the latest survey by pollster Ipec.

☆ Forget a soft landing. The market’s best hope is a ‘growth’ recession
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It wants to achieve a soft landing — that Goldilocks ideal of cooling the economy enough to bring down prices but not enough to cause a recession. The new aim appears to be for a so-called growth recession: A prolonged period of meager growth and rising unemployment. The pain is sharper and lasts longer than that of a soft landing, but a “growth” recession doesn’t pull the entire economy into contraction the way a proper recession would. It looks like a recession, and feels like a recession, but it isn’t a recession — at least not officially. A growth recession is still painful.

☆ Here's why U.S. fiscal policy is undermining the Fed's aggressive efforts to fight inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Central bank tightening — under the umbrella of monetary policy — is only one side of the equation when it comes to managing inflation. The other is fiscal policy, which is controlled by lawmakers in Congress. Coordinated fiscal- and monetary policy can have a compounding effect in stamping out inflation. But given that U.S. fiscal policy is not acting in concert with monetary policy, the Fed's efforts to bring down inflation have become all the more complicated. In the years since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, expansionary fiscal policy — and monetary policy for that matter — has not posed much of a problem due to overall low inflation.

☆ Why it's getting even harder to keep a roof over your head
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Anna Bahney | Cnn Business | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Americans are now spending more than 35% of their median income on monthly principal and interest payments for that newly purchased median-priced home. Historically, Americans spent closer to 25% of median income on payments. Instead, mortgage rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year US Treasury. As investors anticipate the Fed's rate hikes, they often sell government bonds, which sends the yield higher and, with it, mortgage rates. In May, the Biden administration announced a Housing Supply Action Plan to close the affordability gap and ease housing costs.

☆ Millennials and Gen Z want to stop a climate catastrophe. But first they have to get elected.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, told young climate activists in 2019, "You didn't vote for me." AP Photo/Gemunu AmarasingheBut most policy debates aren't genuinely existential in the way climate change is. "Younger Democrats tend to have a much more friendly relationship and response to the party's activist class than older Democrats do." Fossil-fuel interests have played a central role in stymieing progress on climate change for decades. Nearly a decade later, Trump ran for and won the presidency — with Gingrich's early and staunch support — while calling climate change a "hoax."

☆ How The Dogist Instagram account reignited engagement by shaking up its content strategy
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Tanya Chen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The account saw a 75% engagement drop when Instagram changed its algorithm to prioritize video. For years, 34-year-old Elias Friedman was always out of frame in the photos on his famous dog Instagram account, The Dogist. As his account has introduced short-form video Reels, he's been visible in almost every single one since April, and become an active subject of his Instagram posts for the first time. But declining Instagram engagement compelled him and his team of six employees to completely change the account's aesthetics, and its approach to content. @thedogist / InstagramThe account saw an immediate and dramatic increase in engagement when it began posting ReelsThe Reels pivot worked and engagement surged.

☆ Biden's stimulus may have helped pay for Ron DeSantis' political stunt flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Joseph Zeballos-Roig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Biden's stimulus may have helped pay for DeSantis' political stunt to fly migrants to Massachusetts. Ron DeSantis finance a political stunt to fly migrants to a wealthy, liberal-leaning slice of Massachusetts. The stunt from DeSantis sparked outrage from immigration advocates and Democrats who called it a cruel political stunt that amounted to human trafficking. The Florida governor has devoted much time trying to troll Democrats, such as by threatening to send migrants to Biden's home state of Delaware. States and cities were eligible for $350 billion in federal relief under Biden's stimulus law.

☆ Lawyers Open up About Depression and Suicide, Saying It's Key to Saving Others
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-30 | by ( Casey Sullivan | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

His doctor had prescribed him antidepressants, but he was starting to realize that his mental health issues needed additional care. They said that doing so could alleviate the struggles of others, and that it's important for law firm attorneys to understand they aren't alone. He also co-founded the Lawyers Depression Project, a support network of some 900 legal professionals around the world, an endeavor he has found meaningful. "I didn't feel like I could keep surviving in an environment that played into the worst aspects of my own mental health," Alexander said. For lawyer-specific inquiries, you can find confidential, live assistance through Lawyer Assistance Programs offered through your state bar, as well as through the Lawyers Depression Project.

☆ How the Inflation Reduction Act Could Help Normal Americans
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-05 | by ( Paul Constant | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Interest rates are rising as the Federal Reserve attempts to combat inflation by slowing down the economy. In response, Democrats are pushing the Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to address the inflation crisis in a new way. It's a catchy name that's garnered a lot of media attention, but the political risks of tying the bill directly to the inflation crisis could damage the Democratic Party in the midterm elections. A growing number of economists believe that because the current inflation crisis was inspired by both pandemic-related supply-chain issues and runaway corporate greed, the Fed's actions are unnecessary and will cause an avoidable recession. In order to study its effects, we need to explore what's in the Inflation Reduction Act.

More Information 0% Intro APR for 21 months on balance transfers from date of first transfer and 0% Intro APR for 12 months on purchases from date of account opening. Read our review Read Our Review A looong arrow, pointing rightReview: Is the Citi Diamond Preferred the best credit card for you? Citi Diamond Preferred credit card — Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)How do you transfer a balance to the Citi Diamond Preferred? Transferring a balance is easy to do online through the "Balance Transfers" section under the "Payments and Transfers" menu in your Citi account. The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card is a great card if you're looking to consolidate high-interest debt by taking advantage of a long intro balance transfer offer.

☆ Citi Diamond Preferred card review: Earn a $150 welcome bonus for a limited time and get an extra-long introductory 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-07 | by ( Holly Johnson | Freelance Writer | Read More | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

Very long intro APR period for balance transfers Check mark icon A check mark. More Information 0% Intro APR for 21 months on balance transfers from date of first transfer and 0% Intro APR for 12 months on purchases from date of account opening. Very long intro APR period for balance transfers Check mark icon A check mark. Transferring a balance is easy to do online through the "Balance Transfers" section under the "Payments and Transfers" menu in your Citi account. The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card is a great card if you're looking to consolidate high-interest debt by taking advantage of a long intro balance transfer offer.

☆ Bitcoin is about to change the definition of card rewards, and it's good news if you're 'crypto-curious' but afraid of risking your own money
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-29 | by ( David Mcmillin | Read More | Read Less | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

The two early entrants are a credit card from BlockFi and a prepaid card from Fold with different structures for earning. Prince is now focused on changing rewards with the company's new Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card. "Credit card rewards points are meant to be spent, ideally as quickly as possible," Prince says. That's a big shift, but Prince thinks it's only the beginning for transforming credit card rewards. Note that credit card lenders may use many different variations of credit score models when considering your application.

☆ Stanford psychology expert: This is the No. 1 skill parents need to teach their kids—but most don't
▼ + stars: | 2019-09-10 | by ( Nir Eyal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Becoming indistractable is the most important skill for the 21st century — and it's one that many parents fail to teach their kids. Two episodes of a kid-appropriate program on Netflix is about 45 minutes, I explained. As far as I was concerned, 45 minutes was fine with me, as it left plenty of time for other activities. Becoming indistractable is the most important skill for the 21st century — and it's one that many parents fail to teach their kids. "How do you plan to make sure you don't watch for more than 45 minutes per day?"

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