Author: staff

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…

By Henrique Monaco, Nick Paulson, and Gary Schnitkey Fertilizer is one of the main inputs for crop production in the U.S., particularly for corn, wheat, and soybeans. While application rates per acre are increasing for some crops, yields are outgrowing application rates, resulting in increasing efficiency of use. This article examines long-term trends in fertilizer application rates and crop yields, discussing how fertilizer efficiency per unit of output has evolved for the three major crops in the U.S. with implications for demand. Total Use Shares by Crop According to the International Fertilizer Association the U.S. utilized about 14,900 thousand metric…

July corn ended the day down 3¢ at $4.44 per bushel. July soybeans closed down 10¢ at $10.41¾ per bushel. July wheat contracts closed mostly higher. CBOT wheat ended the day unchanged at $5.34 per bushel. KC wheat was up 1½¢ at $5.33¼. Minneapolis wheat was up 10¢ at $6.25½. “Friday’s trading session started out mixed, but by mid-day, futures were favoring the downside,” said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting. “This is the path of least resistance in the market, and without fresh news, futures struggle to rally. “Heightened trade worries impacted the market today as President Trump…

A $776 million federal contract to develop an mRNA-based vaccine for H5N1 avian influenza has been abruptly canceled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, citing what it called under-tested technology and unresolved safety issues. “After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna’s H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable,” HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon said in a statement. “This is not simply about efficacy — it’s about safety, integrity and trust.” The canceled program was part of a pandemic preparedness effort that aimed to adapt mRNA technology — pioneered during the COVID-19…

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor maps published May 29, three of the top 18 corn-growing states reported D3 extreme drought conditions, or worse. Here’s a closer look at the moisture situation and the challenges it is creating for crops in Texas, Nebraska, and North Dakota. Texas U.S. Drought Monitor Latest Drought Ratings D4 exceptional drought is persistent in west Texas and covers more than 14% of the state. That’s a slight improvement from the week prior, but dramatically worse than the start of 2025. In the first report of the year, less than 7% of the state reported exceptional…