Iowa

An Iowa State University survey said the average acre of Iowa farmland rose in value by 2 percent in 2017, to $7,326, ending the first three-year decline in values since the agricultural crisis of the mid-1980s.

The Trump administration sounded out Iowa's Republican senators about a meeting to discuss the biofuels mandate and its impact on oil-producing states, says Reuters. "The effort is the clearest sign yet (President) Trump is seeking to mediate the long-running dispute between the U.S. oil industry and corn growers over the Renewable Fuel Standard, a law requiring refiners to blend increasing volumes of biofuels like corn-based ethanol every year into the nation's fuels."

More than 200 of Iowa’s community water systems struggle with agricultural runoff, periodically issuing “Do Not Drink” orders because of high levels of nitrates. “The good news is that researchers have a pretty good handle on how to solve Iowa’s water problem,” reports Elizabeth Royte in FERN’s latest story, with National Geographic. (No paywall)

In another sign of trouble for so-called advanced biofuels, the newly created giant corporation DowDuPont stopped operations at its $225 million cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, and hopes to find a buyer for the plant with a 30-million-gallon-a-year capacity, said the Des Moines Register. Last December, Abengoa Bioenergy sold its cellulosic plant in Hugoton, Kan., for pennies on the dollar as part of a bankruptcy liquidation of assets.

Iowa is best known as the top corn-producing state in the nation, but a small and determined group of farmers is trying to chip away at that reputation by bringing back small grains like rye, oats, and triticale, Twilight Greenaway reports in FERN’s latest story, published in collaboration with Yale Environment 360.

On a voice vote, the Senate confirmed Gregory Ibach, the state agriculture director in Nebraska, as agriculture undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs. Ibach is the third member of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's executive team approved to take office; five slots remain empty.

Iowa, which has been embroiled in controversies over agricultural runoff and water-quality issues, has announced a novel program to give farmers who plant cover crops a $5-per-acre discount on their crop insurance over the next three years, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Wendy Wintersteen is two days into her new job: president of Iowa State University. Wintersteen, who had been ISU’s dean of agriculture and life sciences, is the first woman to head the university of nearly 37,000 students in Ames, Iowa.

A coalition of consumer, free speech and animal rights groups filed suit in federal court in Des Moines to challenge the constitutionality of Iowa's "ag gag" law, enacted in 2012. Iowa is the No. 1 state for hog and egg production and the largest target yet by campaigners against state laws that criminalize undercover employment on farms and at packing plants.

The Arkansas State Plant Board could decide as early as next Thursday to severely restrict use of the weedkiller dicamba on soybeans and cotton in 2018, reports Farm Journal. The proposal to cut off use of dicamba after April 15, prompted by hundreds of complaints of crop damage by the herbicide, was approved by the board's pesticide committee during a meeting in Jonesboro and forwarded to the board for a vote at its quarterly meeting on Sept 21.

In an editorial, The Des Moines Register lamented the decline of midsized farms, which it said are vital to local economies, small towns, and school districts all over rural Iowa. Although these farms still account for 52.6 percent of the state’s agricultural sales, they’re getting squeezed. Their net on-farm income has fallen 44 percent from the farm economy’s peak in 2012 to 2015, and debt levels are rising, the paper said.

Iowa, the top corn-producing state in the nation, has faced a punishing drought this summer, all but eliminating any hope of a “bin buster” corn year, despite rain this past week. North Dakota is also facing devastating drought conditions, says the AP, and its biggest ranch and corn organizations have launched efforts to help ranchers and farmers.

Dry weather in Iowa, the No. 1 corn state, will contribute to a smaller-than-expected U.S. corn crop this year, say analysts ahead of USDA's closely watched August crop report, to be released on Thursday. Even so, this year's harvest would be the third-largest on record for the grain, fundamental to food, feed and biofuel production. The August crop report is USDA's first estimate of the fall harvest and is based on spot checks of thousands of fields and a survey of growers as the crop nears maturity. In a Reuters survey, analysts said they expect a USDA estimate of 13.855 billion bushels based on conditions in early August, down 8.5 percent from the record 15.148 billion bushels of 2016.

Democrat Kim Weaver, who lost a 2016 race against Republican Rep. Steve King in northwestern quadrant of Iowa, has withdrawn from a second race against the eight-term conservative, said the Sioux City Journal. In a Facebook post, Weaver cited "very alarming acts of intimidation, including death threats," and health issues affecting her mother, who lives in Des Moines.

On an 82-13 roll call, the Senate confirmed Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as the U.S. ambassador to China. The longest-serving governor in U.S. history has said he will push China, the No. 1 customer for U.S. ag exports, to admit American beef and to remove barriers to other U.S. farm exports.

After falling by 10 percent since 2013, farmland values in Iowa, the No. 1 corn state in the nation, are marginally higher, with the recovery expected to continue into the future, says Successful Farming. "We think the bleeding has stopped," said Iowa State University economist Wendong Zhang at ISU's annual soil management and land value conference.

A large-scale hog operation in Iowa will use positive pressure filtration, the same technology used by hospitals and manufacturers to avoid contamination, “to help prevent the spread of deadly viruses,” says Successful Farming.

The Republican-controlled state Senate voted to close the 30-year-old Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and shift $1.5 million previously earmarked for it to a nutrient research center.