Articles Tagged: USDA

A Thursday news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the nation imported more than 26 million shell eggs, counted by the dozen, since January, which is more than 10 times the amount imported during the same period in 2024.

Researchers from Iowa State University say that the over application of fertilizer can be harmful, but under-applying can be too.

Healthy Kids Iowa, announced by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May, uses federal funding to expand the summer meal sites program that the state ran last year. Instead of one box for the whole summer, qualifying families are being given one box per child, per month in June, July and August.

An absentee Iowa farmland owner does not have legal standing to sue the federal government for its ‘Swampbuster’ wetland protections, but even if he did the challenge would likely fail, a federal judge decided Thursday.

The state is seeking to restrict any food or beverage that qualifies for the state sales tax from purchase with SNAP. That list includes garden seeds, candy, gum, soft drinks and certain granola bars among other items.

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.

“They were ready to serve the agenda of the next president of the United States and the party in charge. They didn’t have that opportunity because that administration, the Republicans, took a chain saw to them. And that, to me, is unbelievably shocking.”

A Cedar Rapids VA worker who aided fellow veterans seeking care, and a former student employee of the year who conducted agricultural research for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Ames are among the more than 200,000 federal workers without a job amid President Donald Trump's and billionaire Elon Musk’s ongoing efforts to slash the government workforce.

She takes over as tariffs, deportations threaten agriculture.

Amid confusion over Trump funding freeze, Hinson pledges to prevent ‘woke spending sprees’

Many of Iowa's top elected officials believe President Donald Trump and his choice for U.S. agriculture secretary will be a boon for farmers and biofuels production when he takes office next year.

Iowa anti-hunger advocates called on state leaders to participate in a summer federal food benefits program and raise income-eligibility requirements to fight hunger in Iowa.

President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he will nominate former White House aide Brooke Rollins to be his agriculture secretary, the last of his picks to lead executive agencies and another choice from within his established circle of advisers and allies.

The USDA said Iowa failed to provide “compelling evidence of the potential benefits of an untested alternative model.” Gov. Kim Reynolds said Iowa will reapply for a waiver under the new Trump administration.