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Des Moines Water Works feeling the strain from elevated nitrate levels
On June 12th Central Iowa Water Works issued a residential and commercial lawn watering ban citing strain on water treatment facilities because of elevated nitrate concentration in raw source waters. The press release from CIWW says “Central Iowa Water Works needs to limit the amount of river water that is used in the treatment process because nitrate concentrations in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers have climbed to near record levels.” Des Moines Water Works CEO and General Manager Ted...
GROWMARK announces 2025 scholarship winners
Fifty-five students have been selected to receive scholarships totaling $2,000 each through the GROWMARK Foundation. Nearly 805 students from across the United States and Ontario, Canada, applied for the scholarships. Students who received scholarships will have those...
Naig outlines ag priorities, skips governor race
Since Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced last month that she would not seek reelection, speculation about her potential successors has quickly intensified, particularly within the Republican Party. The field is already starting to take shape, with 4th District U.S....
Using adjuvants to optimize herbicide activity
On Monday the state of Iowa was hit with widespread thunderstorms that delivered considerable rainfall to large swaths of the state. Before the storms however, a one-to-two-week window of favorable weather conditions allowed growers to get a lot of seed in the ground...
Thunderstorms make summertime precipitation difficult to predict
Most of the crops in Iowa are in the ground at this point, so many farmers are keeping a close eye on the weather and praying for some “million-dollar rain.” To get a clearer picture of what the large-scale weather patterns will look like in the U.S., many analysts...
South American Weather and Crop Update (5-20-25)
Parts of South America recently received some rain, but now there are concerns about water damage since they almost received too much rain. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride said the upcoming forecast is looking to be drier for the bulk of Brazil and Argentina...
NASS releases 2024 county corn and soybean yields
The National Agricultural Statistics Service released the 2024 county yield estimates for corn and soybeans. Following typical patterns, corn and soybean yields were highest in the Midwest Corn Belt region and south into the Mississippi Delta. Counties with yields...
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More Ag News
Insecticide-resistant soybean aphids pose a challenge to Iowa farmers
For a few years, soybean aphids weren’t too much of a problem in Iowa. However, last year was a wake-up call for farmers in Northern Iowa especially. Kurt Maertens, BASF technical services representative for Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, said that soybean aphids...
Mental Health Awareness Month is especially important for agriculture
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Farmers and ranchers experience higher rates of mental health issues compared to the general population. This is due to many factors, including financial strain and weather-related stress. Dr. Larry Tranel, a dairy field...
Farmland prices began to soften in 2024
2024 was the cooling period for farmland prices after several years of quickly rising farmland values. Randy Dickhut, farmland sales expert with Agricultural Economic Insights, says fluctuating farmland prices are a typical pattern over a multi-year period. According...
Iowa cash rents drop in 2025
The 2025 annual survey of cash rental rates for Iowa farmland shows that rates decreased, on average, by 2.9 percent in 2025 to $271 per acre. It’s the first decline in cash rents since 2019, after a peak of $279 per acre during the previous two years of the survey....
Congress yet to deliver on E15 promise
E15 fuel will be available again this summer thanks to another temporary waiver from the Trump Administration. While Iowa is one of eight Midwestern states already allowing year-round E15 sales, this fix remains only partial. Iowa lawmakers are still in the fight,...
