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Secretary Naig announces new water quality project in central Iowa’s Beaver Creek Watershed
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) is partnering with the Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District and other public and private partners to launch a new Water Quality Initiative (WQI) project in the Beaver Creek Watershed. The three-year $1.94 million project will add nitrate-reducing conservation practices in Boone, Webster, Greene, Dallas, and Polk Counties around Beaver Creek, which flows into...
Spring weather tests crop nutrition, protection plans
The next stage of the 2025 growing season is well underway, as crops emerge across the state and farmers shift their focus to post-emergence crop protection. With applications on the horizon, timing and field conditions will be key. Spring started off warm and dry,...
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,...
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NPB kicking off its national swine health strategy at WPX
At World Pork Expo 2025 the National Pork Board is kicking off its national swine health strategy. The initiative is a collaborative effort between the NPB and pork producers in which the NPB is gathering input from producers about their biggest swine health...
Norbrook offering antibiotic to target swine respiratory diseases
One of the most pressing health challenges in today’s swine industry is respiratory disease, as outbreaks are increasing in frequency and severity. Of course, vaccination is the primary method to control and prevent respiratory diseases, but when that doesn’t work,...
U.S. Export Sales Report (6-5-25)
Ahead of next week’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, the export sales are almost lined right up with where they should be. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride said corn sales had another good report this week. At this point, the...
World Pork Expo panel discusses pork industry’s policy goals
At the 2025 World Pork Expo, leaders from the National Pork Producers Council delivered a clear message: the pork industry’s future will be strengthened by a united, proactive approach to advocacy. NPPC leaders outlined how a comprehensive, coordinated strategy is...
NPPC criticizes activist tone in MAHA
The reaction to the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) report has been mixed, largely depending on which side of the debate you're on. For the ag industry, though, it raises fresh concerns, especially regarding how Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F....
