“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 […]
Iowa Agriculture
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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 […]
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Border collies tap into the herding mentality at national cattledog competition
Standing on a hill overlooking a green pasture, Rachel Ritland and I watched a group of cattle at the bottom of the valley. I pulled my jacket tight against the frigid wind, but Ritland, co-director of 3rd District of the United States Border Collie Handlers’ Association (USBCHA), didn’t seem to mind. She focused intently on […]
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‘The American people must have more than a choice between evils’: Iowan Henry A. Wallace, FDR’s vice president, was an ag innovator and fierce antifascist
“The Cornfield Prophet” Henry A . Wallace, known for his pioneering work in agriculture, was a progressive statesman who championed the “Century of the Common Man.” A heartbeat away from the presidency for four years as FDR’s vice president, his supporters viewed him as the torchbearer for the New Deal, while opponents dismissed him as […]
