Agricultural news, updates and trends from The Gazette.
Significant rainfall this month has continued to deplete drought conditions across Iowa. On Thursday, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported nearly 96 percent of the state is without any drought or abnormally dry conditions.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds sent a letter Wednesday to congressional leaders urging support for legislation to block California’s regulations reintroduced by a group of U.S. House members, including Iowa Republicans Ashley Hinson, Randy Feenstra, Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
Above-average precipitation leaves some standing water in fields, but 18 percent of Iowa corn acres has reached the dough stage. Meanwhile, soybeans show progress with 69 percent of the crop blooming across the state and 33 percent already setting pods.
Pig farmer Jess D’Souza had hoped to finally turn a profit this year, aided by a federal program to bolster local food systems. The Trump administration canceled the initiative, upending her plans.
PepsiCo and Cargill have announced plans to expand sustainable farming practices on 240,000 acres of Iowa cropland by 2030.
Eighteen percent of soybeans are setting pods across the state, which is several days ahead of the five-year average. Other crops across Iowa continue to progress close to the normal schedule amid another week of above-average precipitation, according to the crop progress and condition report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
More Iowa herds have tested positive for a tick-borne parasite that can sicken and kill cattle, but experts said they still do not expect the illness to become widespread across the state.
Global clashes and trade wars hammered Midwestern states’ agricultural economies early this year, while a continuing boom in Southeastern states’ housing and tech jobs kept their economies humming along.
Plant hardiness zones are shifting northward nationwide as the country continues to warm, affecting farmers, gardeners and producers across the country. The biggest changes in the coming decades are predicted to be in the Upper Midwest.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Linn County Master Gardeners are hosting an Urban Ag Field Day Open House to share how to turn community spaces into productive, beautiful and educational areas.
Asked about protesters who attended a Thursday groundbreaking in Des Moines, demanding action on agricultural pollution and linking it to high cancer rates in the state, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters that “regulation is hardly ever the answer” and “is a killer in most instances — it takes out innovation.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture works to neutralize -- again -- the flesh-eating larva of the New World Screwworm fly.
From separate events Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds, Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, and Tom Vilsack — the former Iowa governor and USDA secretary — all discussed how to manage farm labor amid the hard-line deportation policy of the Trump administration.
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