Iowa
A Kansas toss-up, an Iowa “safe” and a rule of thumb
"Sen Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas may be making a comeback after having been left for dead on the battlefield," says the political newsletter Sabato's Crystal Ball, which now lists the Senate race as a toss-up vs the previous "Leans Independent."
The first – and last? – big U.S. cellulosic ethanol plants
With Abebgoa to open its $300 million celllulosic ethanol plant in Kansas on Friday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune says there is worry within the industry that debut of large-scale cellulosic plants in the United States may also be the closing act for big plants domestically.
Food and agriculture races to watch on Nov 4
From soda taxes in California to neck-and-neck Senate races in the heartland, an abundance of races of import for U.S. food and agriculture policy will be decided in the Nov 4 elections.
Picking corn by hand, “a dying art”
U.S. farms are highly mechanized, one of the reasons a comparatively small number of people can produce a torrent of food, feed and fiber. Harvest Public Media went to western Illinois for a contest to harvest corn the old-fashioned way, by hand.
Farmers sue Syngenta for $1 billion over lost sales
Class-action lawsuits asking $1 billion in damages from seed company Syngenta were filed in federal court Iowa, Illinois and and Nebraska.
Iowa leans toward Ernst, Kansas leans straight up
Republican Joni Ernst's folksiness seems to be paying off in the retail politics of Iowa, says the weekly political tip sheet Sabato's Crystal Ball, in rating the Senate race in the Hawkeye State as "leans Republican," vs the previous "Toss-up."
Ag states Iowa and Kansas pivotal for Senate control
Iowa, the No 1 corn state, and Kansas, No 1 in wheat, are among five states that will decide which party controls the Senate for the next two years, writes political analyst Stuart Rothenberg in Roll Call. Alaska, North Carolina and Colorado are the other three states on his list. Democrats control the Senate 55-45. Rothenberg says the GOP is likely to gain from 5-8 seats.
“Harvest of Change” looks at thinning farm population
"The Iowa farm family, with its deep community roots, extended family ties and a large dose of savvy born from living close to the soil, finds itself at the epicenter of a new cultural and economic landscape," says the Des Moines Register in opening its "Harvest of Change" series. "In rural America, the aging of the population and ever-bigger farms enabled by technological advances are already depopulating the countryside."
A deadlock in Senate race in Iowa
Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Joni Ernst are tied at 40 percent each with 15 percent undecided in a Suffolk/USA Today poll of one of the races that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Farm sector stronger than expected in a down year
Record livestock prices and bumper crops are blunting greatly a downturn in the farm economy, said the Agriculture Department in its semiannual Farm Sector Income forecast. USDA says net cash farm income, a measure of the ability to pay bills, will drop by 6 percent this year instead of the 22 percent plunge forecast in February.
Three Iowa farm groups form water-quality alliance
Groups representing soybean, corn and hog farmers in Iowa formed an alliance to encourage farmers in the Hawkeye state to voluntarily reduce nutrient runoff, said DTN.
Crop tour wraps up, do big crops get bigger?
Crop scouts reported strong potential corn yields in southwestern Iowa and the northern half of Illinois as the annual Pro Farmer crop tour headed toward release today of an estimate of the U.S. corn and soybean crops.
“We’re from Iowa, that’s where the corn yields grow”
The refrain of "The Iowa Corn Song" - " We're from I-o-way, I-o-way, That's where the tall corn grows" - could be rewritten to say, "That's where the corn yields grow."
Gully-washing storms erode Iowa’s topsoil
Some 15 million tons of Iowa's topsoil washed into waterways from Iowa fields in the first half of this year, says the Environmental Working Group in a report that calls for more erosion-prevention work.
Iowa issue – who loves ethanol the most?
"Rep. Bruce Braley is betting the farm on corn — and Democrats’ hold on the Senate may be in danger if he’s wrong," says the lead sentence in Politico on the Senate campaign in Iowa. The Hawkeye state is No 1 i corn and ethanol production, with several thousand people working at ethanol plants. Braley
US soy yield could top 46 bushels an acre for first time
U.S. soybean yields could exceed 46 bushels an acre for the first time this year, according to separate forecasts. The record, set in 2009, is 44 bushels. Based on current conditions, Commodity Weather Group said yields would average 46.1 bushels an acre, which would mean a record crop of 3.88 billion bushels, said Farm Futures.
Roberts is favored in Kansas, Iowa could be decisive
With the Aug 5 Republican primary on the horizon, Kansas Sen Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, "is still the favorite to win renomination," says Sabato's Crystal Ball. " Roberts has been gaffe-happy and vulnerable to the same kind of residency attacks that hampered former Sen. Richard Lugar," it says, but opponent Milton Wolf, a physician, "is decidedly second tier" as a challenger.
Tour finds outstanding corn, soy in Illinois and Iowa
Ag consultancy Doane says the first day of its crop tour found corn and soybeans in outstanding condition in western Illinois and eastern Iowa. "We believe it's the strongest corn crop we have observed in our long history of this crop tour," says its report. Doane says corn yields in western Illinois could be 10 bushels an acre higher than last year.