Charles de Pellette, Operations Director of the restaurant, poses for a picture next to U.S. beef and pork in a smokehouse, at Home Plate BBQ, an American-style restaurant, in Beijing, China April 17, 2025.  Photo: Reuters/Tiffany Le

US beef off the menu as the trade war hits Beijing’s American-style restaurants

US beef exports to China worth $125 million a month at risk

Beijing | Reuters – At Home Plate BBQ, an American-style restaurant in Beijing, staff are reprinting menus. The U.S.-China trade war means American beef – once the star ingredient – will soon be off the table. Home Plate’s beef, previously sourced entirely from the U.S., is increasingly Australian. The restaurant uses about 7 to 8 […] Read more



hail

U.S. hail insurer looks northward

Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. of Iowa has made its first venture outside the U.S., buying the 80 per cent of Prairie crop hail insurance firm Palliser Insurance it didn’t already own, for an undisclosed amount. FMH CEO Shannon Rutledge said in a release in February that Palliser’s “regional expertise, knowledge and accomplishments…will contribute to […] Read more

Governments have only a limited amount of sway over markets at large but can influence investor sentiment on different sectors, such as health care or alternative energy.

Is it best, when investing, to stay politically agnostic?

Investing for Fun and Profit: Besides, how much influence do governments really have on the markets?

I began this column the day after the great Harris/Trump debate. Based on the publishing schedule, you might be reading it just before the U.S. election. A lot can happen in both politics and the markets over a six-week period, but I thought it would be an appropriate time to review how politics may or […] Read more



soybean research

Editor’s Rant: Seeds, saved

Against a changing climate, this is how we adapt

Before we all get much farther into this book, it needs to be said: Folks, we’re not trying to bright-side climate change here. It’s far beyond dispute that Earth’s climate is changing — in part due to natural factors over time such as changes in the sun’s radiation and the occasional volcano, but mainly due […] Read more