A recent Inspector General report found that the Risk Management Agency has overpaid U.S. farmers by about half a billion dollars through prevented planting programs. Crop insurance programs, such as prevented planting, are meant to compensate farmers when they suffer losses due to weather or disast
In August 2013 IowaWatch and West Liberty Index reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller interviewed West Liberty schools Superintendent Steve Hanson about the district’s dual language program. District officials say the program has helped improve the educational experience and outcomes in their schools.
Only 10 percent of Latino Iowans graduated college in 2010 compared to 16 percent of black and 25 percent of white Iowans, all below the national averages. Perhaps more alarming because how important a high school diploma is, a gap in high school graduation rates for white, black and Latino Iowans c
Prions — the infectious, deformed proteins that cause chronic wasting disease in deer — can be taken up by plants such as alfalfa, corn and tomatoes, according to new research from the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison.
Encouraged by a strong farm economy and healthy business tax breaks, Farmers are buying new machinery and equipment that can run anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000. And some of the new equipment -- powered by GPS and sensors that can even detect moisture in a crop -- practically run on auto-pilot.
Farm equipment sales are booming, currently running about $20 billion annually. Surprisingly, some of the hottest-selling pieces of machinery aren't new. Used-farm equipment is becoming more desirable to some farmers, who don't want to have to run their machines with laptops.
On Sept. 17, 2013, Danville firefighters spent the day training for grain-bin rescues. Dave Newcomb, the agriculture rescue program manager for the Illinois Fire Service Institute, taught the intensive, eight-hour training course. The course included sessions on using grain-bin rescue tubes, sawing
As harvest season approaches, rescue workers prepare themselves for the possibility of grain-bin entrapments. On Sept. 17, 2013, the Illinois Fire Service Institute and the Danville Fire Department met at a Bunge Milling facility for grain-bin rescue training. Dave Newcomb, agriculture rescue progra
On Sept. 18, 2013, The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Poynter Institute conducted a Webinar on covering agribusiness. The Webinar included information about finding documents and people for stories, along with information about coming up with story ideas in any area.
Two of every five black Iowans didn’t always live in poverty.
In the 1970 and 1980 censuses, for example, their poverty rate was 28 percent. It jumped to 37
The Environmental Protection Agency has registered more than 16,000 pesticides. However, a large portion of those are only "conditionally registered," meaning they lack important data on health safety and environmental well-being. A report by the Government Accountability Office recently criticized
The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced changes to the process it uses to detect Salmonella in ground beef. Among the changes, beef samples that inspectors examine will increase from 25 grams to 325 grams.
