Author: staff

The relationship between a landowner and a renter, like any relationship, needs clear communication. A well-crafted lease can help with that.  There are several critical components to a comprehensive farmland lease. Whether this is all new, or you’re an old pro; you are seeking professional help; or taking the DIY approach, make sure your lease includes these basic elements.  1. Write It Down First of all, and this perhaps goes without saying, but, write it down. While less common today, handshake or oral lease agreements are still at play in American agriculture, but experts advise against them.  “I hear about…

When Samantha Selliers walked into her first ag class at Coalinga High School in California as a 13-year-old freshman, she didn’t realize she was stepping into her future. “Everyone else was 17 or 18, and I was a little 13-year-old,” she laughed. “I really just was like, ‘I don’t want to be here.’ ” But what began as a mandatory high school rule set by her mom — “You have to at least be in FFA your freshman year” — blossomed into a four-year journey of leadership, self-discovery, and national recognition. Now, with a $10,000 National FFA scholarship in hand…

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), in partnership with Farm Credit Services, is seeking entrepreneurs to apply by June 9 for the 2026 Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge.  The national business competition showcases U.S. startups developing solutions to challenges faced by America’s farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. Entrepreneurs must be members of a county or parish Farm Bureau within their state of residence to qualify as top 10 semi-finalists. The application for the challenge — this year is the 12th edition — can be found here. Applicants who are not Farm Bureau members can learn about becoming a member. The…

By Heather Schlitz CHICAGO, June 2 (Reuters) – New World Screwworm, a devastating parasite that eats cattle and other wild animals alive, is traveling north from Central America to Mexico and has crept past biological barriers that kept the pest contained for decades, experts said. Washington halted cattle imports from Mexico in May, citing the insect’s spread further into Mexico, about 700 miles from the Texas border. With the U.S. cattle herd already at a multi-decade low, the closure could further elevate record-high beef prices by keeping more calves out of the U.S. cattle supply. What is New World Screwworm? Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs…

By Cami Koons Gov. Kim Reynolds has just two weeks to either sign or veto a controversial bill that would impact carbon dioxide pipelines in Iowa.  On a Friday press call, landowners urged Reynolds to uphold Iowa and GOP values around property rights by signing the bill into law.  House File 639 advanced from the Senate May 13, following four years of effort from a group of landowners and House lawmakers. The bill would do a number of things including require carbon sequestration projects prove they are a common carrier, in order to use eminent domain.  The legislation, and landowner support, comes…

By Cami Koons JBS announced plans Thursday to build a $135 million sausage-production facility that will create more than 700 jobs in Perry, Iowa.  Cameron Bruett, head of corporate affairs for the company, said the facility will be “state of the art” and that “there’s gonna be nothing like it” in America.  “This would probably be the first facility of its kind built in the last 40 years. And so that’s exciting for us to be a new entrant, a new competitor, in a growing space in agriculture,” Bruett said in a call with Iowa Capital Dispatch.  The announcement comes…

Senate Republicans will spend the coming weeks trying to agree on changes to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.  In this week’s episode of Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, Clinton and George W. Bush administration ag secretaries, Dan Glickman and Mike Johanns, were asked about how reconciliation elements may change in the Senate and the fate of the traditional rural-urban farm bill coalition. “It looks to me like the coalition broke up,” Johanns said. Glickman and Johanns also discussed the Make America Healthy Again report, President Trump’s tariffs, and USDA staff reductions. Watch the Episode Want to receive Newsmakers in your inbox every…

By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS, May 28 (Reuters) – The United States will likely resume Mexican cattle imports by year-end, after a halt due to the spread in Mexico of the New World screwworm pest that can devastate livestock, the U.S. agriculture department’s chief veterinarian said on Wednesday. Screwworm can infest livestock, wildlife, and in rare cases, people. Maggots from screwworm flies burrow into the skin of animals, causing serious and often fatal damage. The USDA indefinitely suspended cattle imports from Mexico this month, citing the pest’s northward movement. “We want to make sure that we’re comfortable that the way that they’re doing surveillance gives…

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles on the contributions farmers and tractor manufacturers made to winning World Wars I and II. This article originally appeared in Ageless Iron Almanac. Engage in a discussion regarding World War II armaments, and bombers, tanks, and battleships often dominate the conversation. Yet, the lowly crawler was so important to war efforts that Fleet Admiral William “Bull” Halsey stated the four machines that were essential to winning the Pacific war were the submarine, radar, the airplane, and the bulldozer. In fact, the term bulldozer was coined during the war to…

By Cami Koons URBANDALE— The Des Moines region is now home to the first above-ground B99 fueling pump, an action that was celebrated Thursday morning by leaders in the biofuels, trucking, and soybean industries.   Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the new pump, which allows certain semi trucks to fill up with a 99% biodiesel blended fuel, shows a completion of the ag supply chain, from the field to the biofuel refineries and now into a truck. “Every time I see this, or think of an infrastructure investment, I just know that that’s more demand pulling through, and what…