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Secretary Naig announces 11 Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grants during dairy month
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig today announced that 11 Iowa dairy farms and businesses have been awarded Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grants. The announcement was made during a Dairy Month visit to Gav-n-view Farm near Lansing, one of this year's grant recipients. The grant program is administered by Choose Iowa within the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grant Program offers competitive matching grants of up to $100,000 per...
Officials want fix for foreign-owned farmland disclosure process
Senate Ag Committee members Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) are asking the USDA to improve its process for foreign-owned farmland disclosures. The letter follows alleged inaccuracies posted online by the Farm Service Agency under...
Ukrainian Ambassador Markarova visits Iowa and State Fair
The Russian invasion of Ukraine started over 900 days ago, and the fighting continues. In the last weeks, the Ukrainian forces have liberated over 50% of the land that the Russian military took control of as the invasion started. Ukraine has been looking for help...
60th annual Cookout Contest highlights Farm Bureau Day at the fair
Today, August 13th, is Farm Bureau Day at the Iowa State Fair, and it’s a beautiful day to stop by Farm Bureau Park. It wasn’t hard to find the park today either, because the Iowa Farm Bureau hosted its 60th annual Cookout Contest, and the smells were carried on the...
U.S. pork preferred by Mexican consumers
Mexico is a leading market for U.S. pork exports. According to Courtney Knupp, Vice President of International Market Development for the National Pork Board, the cultural connection to pork in Mexico is deeply rooted in family gatherings, which often revolve around...
A Teddy Bear of a Super Bull
Teddy Bear is the big bull of the 2024 Iowa State Fair, weighing in at 3,064 pounds and earning the win in the Super Bull Contest. The purebred Simmental bull was the heaviest of the three bulls competing and is now on display at the entrance to the Cattle Barn for...
Weekly crop progress and condition report
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and...
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USMCA biotech corn dispute settled in U.S. favor
After almost two years of back and forth between the parties, a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement Dispute Settlement Panel recently announced its ruling on a U.S. challenge of Mexico’s ban of U.S. biotech corn imports. In a March 2023 senate hearing, Under Secretary for...
Bird flu driving egg costs higher
Shoppers were buying more eggs to bake Christmas treats ahead of the holiday season at the same time U.S. wholesale egg prices were up 150 percent from last year. Reuters says the average retail price of a dozen eggs surpassed $3.60 in November, $2.50 higher than the...
NPB recaps 2024 for the holidays
As 2024 draws to a close, the National Pork Board wants to take a moment to look back on the work that they Pork Checkoff accomplished this year based on producer priorities. One primary initiative is the 15-member producer-led Board of Directors allocated a large...
Holidays can intensify rural mental health challenges
For the 46 million people living in rural America, the holiday season can present added pressures to an already stressful time of year. In addition to higher rates of depression, suicide rates among people in rural areas are 64 to 68 percent higher compared to people...
Christmastime is here
“Christmastime is here.” Those are the opening words to one of my favorite holiday tunes and the theme of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. It is one of my favorite specials of the season. I will be watching it here today as I celebrate the day. Also, one of the...
