A new poll from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future (CLF) asks about the importance of water quality to Iowa voters this year. The “Iowa Water Quality Survey” looks at more than how the issue may influence voting behavior this November, finding, among other things, that 26 percent of its respondents say there’s […]
Iowa Agriculture
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An increasing number of Iowa farms are owned by LLCs and trusts; 55% of Iowa farmland is owned by non-farmers
As agricultural land prices have increased drastically over the past two decades and young, want-to-be farmers have an increasingly difficult time starting their operations, politicians nationally, and here in Iowa, have questioned if corporate or foreign interests are to blame. Iowa gubernatorial candidates Zach Lahn and Rob Sand both have said corporate or out-of-state ownership […]
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Clean water candidate Chris Jones is realizing he ‘actually might win’ against Ag Sec Mike Naig, endorsed by Iowa Farm Bureau
“Back in November, I signed up to be a sacrificial lamb,” Chris Jones, the Democratic candidate for Secretary of Agriculture, told the overflow crowd at Captain Roy’s bar and restaurant in Des Moines on Sunday evening. “And then something happened — I don’t really even know what — and now it looks like we actually […]
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Bounced checks, unpaid debts, lawsuits: Lahn running mate Derek Wulf is under investigation, may lose farm, Des Moines Register reports
Derek Wulf, running mate of Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn, is under investigation by the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, the Des Moines Register reported on Friday. The sheriff’s office “declined to comment on the nature of its investigation into Wulf,” the Register’s Tyler Jett wrote in his long, investigative story on Wulf’s legal […]
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Study finds little evidence that Iowa’s Beginning Farmer Tax Credit has been effective
As a boy growing up in Spencer, Iowa, Trent Walker spent summers helping on his grandfather’s farm, picturing that he someday would follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a farmer himself. During harvest season, he trick-or-treated at his grandpa’s grain bin site as trucks came in from the fields. He was particularly drawn to […]
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‘The outrage has finally arrived’: Naig challenger Chris Jones calls for systemic changes to Iowa agriculture at state fair
The Democratic candidate for Iowa secretary of agriculture told Iowa State Fair attendees Saturday that “the outrage has finally arrived” for the state of Iowa’s water, and said systemic change rather than incremental fixes is the way to clear up waterways and improve other areas of Iowans’ lives. Chris Jones criticized “Band-Aid approaches” to fixing […]
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Democratic candidates attend farmers’ forum: ‘We can’t be saying we feed the world when we can’t feed Polk County’
Nearly 100 Iowa Farmers Union members from across the state came out Saturday to learn how several Iowa Democratic nominees plan on leading change — especially for the ag industry and the struggling farm economy. The event at Big Oak Barn in Elkhart kicked off with Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat who is running for […]
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Iowa has 15,309 animal feeding operations, aerial mapping finds — thousands more than the state monitors
An analysis from Environmental Working Group (EWG) mapped 15,309 animal feeding operations in Iowa, which is several thousand more than what is tracked and monitored by the state. The group utilized satellite and aerial imagery to map animal feeding operations across Iowa and estimate the amount of manure they produce. The report also notes a […]
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Sioux Center egg producer and two other companies will pay $3.3 million and donate 53 million eggs to settle lawsuit alleging price collusion
Sioux Center-based Versova Holdings and two other major egg producers have agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit alleging the three companies engaged in an almost three-year-long conspiracy to inflate the wholesale price of eggs, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday. The lawsuit was filed by the Antitrust Division of the DOJ and 17 […]
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Iowa Ag Sec. Mike Naig endorses Randy Feenstra for governor
With less than two weeks remaining before the June primary election, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig has endorsed Randy Feenstra for governor. In a written statement released by the Feenstra campaign, Naig said Feenstra “has consistently delivered for Iowa agriculture, farm families, and rural communities.” “I know Randy will continue to be a strong, […]
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State Sen. Catelin Drey knows Iowa’s in a cancer crisis. She’s living it.
In January, state Sen. Catelin Drey stood at a podium on the Senate floor in front of her colleagues representing all corners of Iowa. She told them that she was about to speak candidly on a topic both “personal and political.” Behind her, legislators and staffers appeared to be half-listening, looking at their laptops and […]
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Democrat Wade Dooley ends his campaign for Secretary of Ag, leaving Chris Jones to face incumbent Mike Naig in November
Two months after announcing his run for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Democrat Wade Dooley ended his campaign on Wednesday. “This is my first foray into statewide campaigning, and it’s been an eye-opener,” Dooley said in a written statement. “The amount of time, staff and money that it takes is truly daunting. And at this point […]
