How These Colorado Farmers Banded Together To Save Their Water Supply
In the summer of 2002, water pumps in Colorado’s San Luis Valley stopped working. The center pivot sprinklers that coax shoots from the dry soil and turn the valley into one of the state’s most...
View ArticlePrecision Agriculture 101
In 1960, the average yield per acre of seed corn in Iowa was 63.5 bushels per acre. Last year, that same measure was 203 bushels per acre, because of advancements in farming technology like precision...
View ArticleIowa: A Place to Grow (Billions of Bushels of Corn)
Iowa has been the “king of corn” for almost two decades. In 2015, Iowa corn farmers grew 2.5 billion bushels of corn on 13 million acres of land. Iowa is also the number one pork producer in the U.S....
View ArticleWeed Killer Dicamba Eyed In Oak Tree Damage Across Iowa, Illinois And Tennessee
As soybean and cotton farmers across the Midwest and South continue to see their crops ravaged from the weed killer dicamba, new complaints have pointed to the herbicide as a factor in widespread...
View ArticleISU Study Finds Nitrogen Leads To Decrease In Biodiversity
Farmers use fertilizer because it helps crops grow. But according to a new study from Iowa State University, for some native plant species in Iowa a chemical found in fertilizer does the opposite,...
View ArticleDicamba Labeling To Change For 2018 Growing Season, EPA Says
There will be new restrictions on the weed killer dicamba for the 2018 growing season, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says. The broadly defined restrictions, similar to what the state of...
View ArticleStudy Suggests Legal Nitrate Levels In Water Could Cause Cancer; Researcher...
A new report suggests the Environmental Protection Agency should consider lowering the legal limit in drinking water for nitrates, a chemical often connected to fertilizer use. People who drink water...
View ArticleReynolds on the EPA: “They Feel the Pressure”
Gov. Kim Reynolds had phone conversations today with both President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt about a controversial proposal to scale back the Renewable Fuel Standard, reducing...
View ArticleUSDA Won't Implement Tougher Meatpacker Rules
The U.S. Department of Agriculture won’t go forward with rules meant to make it easier for small livestock producers to report possible unfair treatment. The agency’s decision on the proposal, which...
View ArticleWith Genetic Advances, New Promise For Sunflowers’ Profitable Future
Plant breeder Jessica Barb is on a mission to improve how sunflowers self-pollinate, a trait that’ll be increasingly important to farmers as wild bee populations diminish. Her research tool of choice:...
View ArticleFarm Foreclosure Predictions Don’t Materialize; Lenders Get Credit
Farm lenders in northern Iowa are taking proactive steps to prevent farm foreclosures, and a business consultant says that has kept many struggling farmers in business while commodity prices remain...
View ArticleCorn, Soybean Harvests Behind Schedule
Iowa’s corn and soybean crops are now racing the fall weather. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly update says all of the state’s corn acreage is mature, but most of it is still in the field....
View ArticleCommon Ground on Iowa Water Quality?
What's the solution to Iowa water quality issues? One approach is to get cities, suburbs, and farms together to find solutions. In this special edition of River to River , hear highlights from a recent...
View ArticleNew Ag Guestworker Program Legislation Headed To US House
A bill to overhaul the federal agricultural guestworker program cleared its first hurdle Wednesday and is headed to the full U.S. House. The Republican-majority House Judiciary Committee passed the...
View ArticleBipartisan Pressure (And A Word From The President) Holds EPA To Renewable...
Republican and Democratic senators from top corn- and ethanol-producing states say their pressure helped prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from changing rules governing renewable fuel...
View ArticleOrganic Acreage On The Rise As Conventional Crop Prices Founder
Burkey Farms in southeast Nebraska looked into the future a couple of years ago and didn’t like what it saw — a continuation of depressed prices for conventional corn and soybeans. So, the families who...
View ArticleUSDA Secretary Perdue Frustrated By Stalled Appointments
An event Monday planned to mark two Midwestern political appointees joining the U.S. Department of Agriculture was partly spoiled by a political dispute over biofuels.
View ArticleLabor-Starved Ag Businesses Want To Keep Immigrant Workers In US Legally
On a feedlot in far southwest Kansas, two cowboys on horseback move cattle on the high dusty plains, spread out like dozens of football fields stitched together with miles of fences. Their “ Buenos...
View ArticleWHO Suggestion To Limit Antibiotics For Livestock Criticized By US Regulators
The World Health Organization released recommendations this week to curb the use of antibiotics in livestock, saying it could help reduce the risk of drug-resistant infections in humans. But the U.S....
View ArticleDespite EPA Objections, Large Livestock Farms May Have To Begin Reporting Air...
Large livestock farms likely will have to report high levels of two types of emissions as of Wednesday, despite the Environmental Protection Agency’s last-minute effort to further delay a federal rule...
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