‘Agriculture’

Expanding insurance coverage is important, experts say, but that is only half the battle. For many Americans, particularly in rural parts of the country, access to high quality health care services could remain elusive even after insurance becomes available.

Although the net loss figures presented to U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley by Iowa dairy families last Friday were shocking, the fact that the families wanted to discuss their non-existent revenues with an elected official was expected. The same couldn’t be said, however, for the subsequent discussion about comprehensive immigration reform.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign an agriculture appropriations bill this week that contains millions in direct aide to the nation’s dairy farmers.

Of the three big issues before Congress this year — health care, cap-and-trade and banking regulation reform — U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said that cap-and-trade will be the most controversial.
“It just seems to me that the push for cap-and-trade has slowed down very dramatically since the [U.S.] House passed it on the Friday before the [...]

A video featuring Rosa Weiss, daughter of Sholom Rubashkin, is circulating throughout the Jewish community in an effort to raise funds to offset legal fees associated with the case that stemmed from the May 2008 Agriprocessors immigration raid.

With Iowa’s Tom Harkin taking up the late Ted Kennedy’s HELP Committee chairmanship in the U.S. Senate, an Arkansas lawmaker is taking the gavel of the Agriculture Committee. But Iowa’s two U.S. senators say that despite the shift, Iowa’s farming interests should remain well represented in the nation’s capital.

The death of renowned scientist Norman Borlaug last weekend yielded a bumper crop of effusive obituaries. He was credited — almost universally — with saving billions of lives, fathering “the Green Revolution,” and changing the worldwide face of agriculture forever.
I won’t pretend to know for certain whether any of those claims are false. Borlaug clearly [...]

Facing increased demand for behavioral health services, agencies in at least 28 states have been looking to Iowa for advice on the problem. A federal program designed to address the rural mental health crisis nationwide has been authorized by Congress, but hasn’t been funded.

MARION — Citing the need for better leadership and a broader statewide vision for farmers, Fairfield dairy farmer Francis Thicke announced today that he would seek the Democratic nomination for Iowa secretary of agriculture.

An independent audit commissioned by the corporate owners of a Spencer hatchery has concluded that some of the practices depicted by an undercover video are not standard operating procedure and are in violation of the company’s animal welfare policy.