Articles Tagged: U.S. Department of Agriculture

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.

U.S. Department of Agriculture chief Brooke Rollins announced Tuesday that the U.S. government will move to ban sales of farmland nationwide to Chinese buyers and other foreign adversaries, citing threats to national security and food security.

Also in the Capitol Notebook, a new warden has been named for Iowa State Penitentiary.

Iowa was about 8 degrees colder than normal last week. About 95 percent of corn has been planted, and it needs some warmth to grow.

Under the waiver approved by the USDA, starting Jan. 1, 2026, Iowans who receive SNAP won’t be able to use their benefits to purchase items including garden seeds and food-producing plants, candy, gum, soft drinks, lemonade, fruit snacks, certain granola bars and caramel corn.

Farmers in northeast Iowa planted more corn and soybeans last week than in all of the three weeks prior, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As bird flu has spread across the U.S., bird disposal companies, environmental waste businesses and large poultry producers have received millions of federal dollars to kill flocks, compost their bodies and clean barns across the country. Investigate Midwest goes inside the business of killing in response to bird flu.

Heavy rain in April led to long planting delays, but conditions were ripe this week for significant progress. Farmers have less than two weeks to plant or face yield declines.

“Healthy Kids Iowa” -- a new program announced Wednesday by Gov. Kim Reynolds -- will provide qualifying families with $40 worth of food per child per month in June, July and August. It replaces a summer food program that Reynolds opted out of. It would have provided $29 million in federal food assistance funding for an estimated 240,000 children in the state.

The former U.S. ag secretary and Iowa governor spoke to farmers at an event hosted by the Iowa Democratic Party in Indianola.

Thousands of farmers and small rural businesses -- including many in Iowa -- remain in limbo as USDA demands grant rewrites favoring fossil fuels over renewables.

A misunderstanding purportedly led a farmland owner to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture to overturn protections for millions of acres of ag wetlands. A judge is considering requests to dismiss the case before it goes to trial.

A Central City orchard needs to find a new buyer for about 50,000 pounds of apples and other small and new Iowa farmers worry about their expansion plans amid uncertainty about federal ag policies.

A backyard flock in Dallas County was the first known infection in more than two weeks in Iowa poultry. March and April are busy months for migrating birds that might carry the virus.

More than a dozen recently fired USDA employees told Investigate Midwest the terminations have stalled irrigation projects, rural housing aid and efforts to combat invasive crop diseases. Remaining staff are overwhelmed, and farmers may not receive needed and timely help.