Stories

A total of $87.5 million in Emergency Conservation Program funds will be distributed between 34 states that were affected by natural disasters, announced U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer Thursday. Iowa will receive $12,208,500, the largest amount of the 34 states.

The nation’s largest outdoor agricultural expo is set to be held next week in Iowa.
The 2008 Farm Progress Show returns to Iowa this year, in an all-new location near Boone. The event runs from Aug. 26-28, with more than 500 exhibitors showing farm equipment and technology.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer is expected to visit [...]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has backed away from a proposal to release more conservation lands for crop production.

A temporary injunction blocking the nationwide release of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for haying and grazing remains in effect following a court hearing Thursday. But a resolution to the battle may come next week.

A Department of Agriculture program that provided low-interest loans for rural coal power has been suspended. Iowa’s largest coal-burning plant, Council Bluffs No. 4, received $177 million from the USDA in 2004.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today called for sweeping reforms to increase the safety of the nation’s food supply.

In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Edwards called for all authority for federal food safety inspection to be shifted to the Food and Drug Administration, creating one central regulatory authority to be responsible for overseeing food [...]

That tomato you ate last week – do you know if it was grown in the United States?
Ever wonder why meat at the grocery store doesn't always have a label to tell you where the animal was raised?
Such details are expected next year, when mandatory country-of-origin labeling is implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture [...]