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Farmers seek more favorable trigger for crop payments
The crop-price thresholds that trigger government payments to some U.S. farmers should be increased in the next farm bill to account for soaring fertilizer and fuel costs, according to farm groups that testified Tuesday to members of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. The committee met to review commodity support programs of the Agriculture Improvement Act […]
Mobile home park fined for wastewater, well violations
A mobile home park near Dubuque that discharges wastewater into a small tributary of the nearby Mississippi River and has frequently exceeded contamination limits was fined $8,500 by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for numerous wastewater and water supply violations. Knapp Mobile Home Court No. 4, on the north side of the city, failed […]
Iowa drinking water from Mississippi River has ‘forever chemicals’
Drinking water that is drawn from the Mississippi River by three Iowa cities has toxic chemicals that persist indefinitely in the environment, according to test results released this week by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Burlington, Davenport and Keokuk drinking water that goes to a combined total of more than 183,000 residents contains trace […]
Iowa attorney general to investigate fertilizer prices
Iowa’s top legal officer said Thursday he will investigate the sky-high fertilizer prices that are plaguing farmers and are predicted to reduce corn production in the upcoming growing season. Attorney General Tom Miller’s office routinely investigates antitrust suspicions, when companies inflate prices and their profits through a lack of competition. But he said those suspicions […]
Vilsack: Fertilizer prices are biggest worry for farmers after Russian invasion
The Russian invasion of Ukraine this week might drive up the costs of farm fertilizers globally — which nearly quadrupled last year in price in the United States and remain high — and presents an opportunity for unscrupulous companies to artificially inflate those prices further, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “That’s my […]
Iowa surpasses 9,000 COVID deaths
More than 9,000 people in Iowa have died after being infected by the coronavirus, according to Iowa Department of Public Health data. The state surpassed that mark when it reported 137 new deaths associated with COVID-19 on Wednesday. The death toll now stands at 9,085. Death reports are often delayed by more than a month, […]
Dairy farmers want state money for robots
Many dairy farmers in Iowa need to upgrade their equipment to ensure future generations won’t turn away from the labor-intensive industry, according to the Iowa State Dairy Association. The association is pushing legislation to create a state grant or forgivable-loan program to help dairy farmers automate various aspects of their unrelenting work. The proposed bills […]
DNR: Eastern Iowa restaurant repeatedly failed to test water
A restaurant in a small eastern Iowa town that has groundwater contaminated by farm fertilizer did not adequately test the drinking water from its well for more than three years, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Newt’s Cafe in Nichols, a town of about 340 people southeast of Iowa City, is required to […]
Iowa man fights to save his hunting preserve
Hunters would be able to shoot and kill certain animals normally kept as livestock in Iowa under a bill that has mustered enough legislative support to survive a crucial deadline this week. House File 2400 would define “untamed game livestock” to include bison, goats and sheep that are raised in Iowa for hunting preserves. It […]
State board wants Iowa Workforce Development to examine director’s phone
The Iowa Public Information Board directed a state agency on Thursday to examine its director’s cellphone for text messages that were requested nine months ago by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch’s deputy editor, as part of his investigation into unemployment benefits fraud at the time. Iowa Workforce Development has not searched Director Beth Townsend’s cellphone […]
Bill to limit new conservation land gains speed
Young Iowa farmers need an advantage to buy farmland — especially pasture land — over government entities that would purchase it for public parks, some Republicans in the Iowa Senate argued Wednesday. “I think we need to make sure that Iowa continues to be an agricultural state, where these young folks have an opportunity to […]
Senate committee declines to consider eminent domain bill
A proposal in the Iowa Senate that would have prevented private companies from using eminent domain to build liquid carbon pipelines on farmland appears doomed for this legislative session. Senate File 2160 was recommended by a Senate commerce subcommittee on Tuesday and was on the agenda of the full committee Wednesday but was abruptly pulled […]