Stories

Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was thwarted Wednesday, Oct. 24th in an attempt to shift environmental funding in the 2007 Farm Bill to more small and medium-sized livestock operations.
The passage of an amendment Wednesday to the 2007 Farm Bill is a blow to groups that are displeased with the fact that the federal government [...]

A Senate committee hearing last week brought out some sharply contrasting views on federal environmental regulation of livestock production, and an Iowa official was among those on a panel of speakers voicing opinions.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was convened to hear testimony on confined animal feeding operations [...]

An abandoned hog manure pit near Columbus City has leaked into a nearby stream, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported Tuesday.
A statement released by the DNR reported that the manure pit was under a recently demolished hog confinement owned by Randy Wood of nearby Columbus Junction. The confinement building had been demolished, and the manure [...]

The Iowa Manure Management Action Group announced today that it has an all-new website.
The group was launched about 10 years ago as a partnership of public and private groups to address manure management issues in Iowa.
As noted on the new website, members of IMMAG include: Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Iowa Environmental Council, Agribusiness Association [...]

[Commentary] Click here to read Part 1 of this series. 
 
There is no free lunch. Let's face it, any sweeping reforms in how Iowa controls use of agricultural land for livestock production — such as the reforms suggested in the firsttwo articles in this series — are going to cost the taxpayers money. And Iowa's counties [...]

[Commentary] To read Part 1 of this series, click here.
When it's done correctly, zoning solves problems. But if we screw it up, we could bring a whole host of new problems upon ourselves — like costly lawsuits that Iowa's counties simply cannot afford.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how agricultural zoning should [...]

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey sat down for an interview on Thursday with the Iowa Independent. Click here for Part 1 of this article.
Water quality in Iowa
Water quality problems have been a serious concern in recent years in Iowa, and farmers are often blamed for the problems. Northey discussed some of the [...]

[Commentary] Local control…
You've undoubtedly heard those two words a lot lately in Iowa. You've seen them displayed on bumpers stickers and painted on protest banners.
Local control — yep, here in Iowa, we've been hearing about local control for years. Lots of people throw the phrase around. Local control is good. We need it. If we [...]