Agricultural news, updates and trends from The Gazette.
A Decorah farmer is accused of stealing enough corn and soybeans to fill nearly 25 semi-trailer trucks, worth over an estimated $175,000, and shielding the income from an ongoing bankruptcy case, Winneshiek County authorities say.
He is a field agronomist who is part of an Iowa State University Extension “crops team” that are experts for farmers who have questions about planting and harvest and everything between.
Iowa has permitted 15 new digester facilities since 2021, when the Legislature passed a law allowing animal feeding operations with digesters to exceed the state’s limit of 8,500 animal units. Seven of the 15 dairy farms added to their herds since they got digester permits, a review of DNR data shows.
Workers were headed back to the Cedar Rapids corn milling facility to restart production Thursday evening.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship lats week announced it had culled over a million birds as a result of Pure Prairie Poultry’s inability to care for the broiler chickens.
From self-driving tractors to fruit-picking robots, a growing number of technology companies are bringing automation to agriculture. Advocates say it will ease the sector’s labor shortage, help manage rising costs, and provide workers with respite from extreme weather. But many small farmers and producers aren’t sold on it.
State agricultural officials sought to sell them after their owner ran out of money, but the company’s creditors threatened to seek a piece of the profit.
Cargill says eligible employees who were enrolled in the company’s employee health benefits at the time of the strike will continue to receive insurance benefits through Thursday.
Dozens of farmers in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are scrambling to feed their flocks after a struggling organic broiler chicken producer abruptly closed a year after getting a $39 million federal loan.
But the frost should not affect the harvest, unless crops were planted late in the season.
Fifth-generation farmer and her daughters run Iowa Farm Fresh Meats in West Branch
Workers at Cargill’s corn milling plant in Cedar Rapids have been on strike for a week after the local Teamsters union voted to decline the company's last offer.
The Driftless Water Defenders is suing the county’s board of supervisors and board of adjustment over their decisions that would allow the facility to be built and operated.
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