Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A bipartisan legislative study committee on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal to tackle the issue of livestock odor in Iowa.
The proposed plan, presented by Iowa State University, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the state agriculture department, would create a voluntary program to provide incentives to livestock farmers who utilize new odor-reducing technologies.
“Odors associated with livestock facilities has been a divisive issue for far too long in our state," said Iowa DNR director Richard Leopold in a press release. "It is time to re-direct our efforts into finding effective, long-term solutions."
Early next year the Iowa Legislature will decide if the five-year, $22.7 million plan should be approved. If implemented, the program would provide cost-share incentives to livestock producers to use odor-reducing biofiltrationand other new technologies in their livestock operations.
ISU would monitor and conduct research on the operations as a part of the program.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said the plan would provide solutions to the public concerns about livestock odor. “We are at a point where there are effective odor-reducing practices and technologies that have been developed," said Northey. "It's time to take that next step that places these practices on-farm as applied research to further document efficacy and implementation costs.”
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter