Stories

An animal advocacy organization has made an undercover video shot earlier this year at an Iowa hatchery public in hopes of raising awareness to what it deems as “the shocking reality” of animal cruelty at large hatcheries.

During the past year, farmers have seen the price they are paid for milk drop by nearly half, even while retail prices have remained relatively high.

Quoting “several close aides” to former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI is reporting that rumors of Vilsack being named U.S. commerce secretary instead of secretary of agriculture are not true.
Wednesday, several close aides to Vilsack told [KCCI] the rumors are not true. One said that Vilsack is in Washington, D.C., interviewing candidates for [...]

An anonymous source tells the New York Daily News that former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack may not be the country’s next Secretary of Agriculture after all. He may move over and take the spot of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who withdrew his name from contention for Secretary of Commerce earlier this week.
A well-placed source [...]

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, recently named U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by President-elect Barack Obama, needs to stop aspiring to something more and start taking his current job seriously. That’s the word from long-time Illinois agriculture writer Alan Guebert.

Former Gov. Tom Vilsack has been tapped to be the nation’s next Secretary of Agriculture, and most observers greeted the selection warmly.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) is demanding Democratic leaders in the Iowa House remove Dolores Mertz as chair of the House Agriculture Committee.
The group points to what it calls Mertz’s ties to the factory farm industry, including the fact that her son owns a 4,000-head hog factory, as motivation for House Speaker Pat Murphy, [...]

As Agriprocessors, the bankrupt kosher meatpacking firm in Postville, approaches its demise, the ripple effects of the company’s financial woes are being felt throughout the region, and some of the state’s top lawmakers are starting to speak out publicly about what the government can do to cushion the blow.

In a letter sent today to President-elect Barack Obama, former state legislator Ed Fallon officially threw his hat into the ring for the job of “White House Farmer.”
Currently no such job exists.

In an e-mail to The Des Moines Register, former Gov. Tom Vilsack put to rest the rumors that President-elect Barack Obama may name him the new Secretary of Agriculture.