Weekly Iowa Crop Progress & Condition Report

Statewide Iowa — Another dry week across most of the State allowed Iowa farmers 6.0 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending August 4, 2019, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Read more


Grassley Says USMCA Will Move Through House By September

Farmers and ranchers have been anticipating the ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for quite some time. Promise of a compromise has been warranted by many politicians, but there has yet to be a unanimous decision. As the August recess draws near, a spark of hope has been ignited by Senator Chuck Grassley. Read more


Iowa’s Deputy Ag Secretary Talks Conservation, Cover Crops

Des Moines, Iowa — Des Moines Area Community College’s (DMACC) FFA Enrichment Center beamed with conversation, as an audience filled with ladies patiently awaited the start of Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Julie Kenney’s speech at the 2019 Iowa Women in Agriculture Conference on August 1st. Read more


Honey Bee Colony Numbers Drop

Honey bee colonies for operations with 5 or more colonies in Iowa as of January 1, 2019, totaled 7,500 colonies. This is 82 percent below the 41,000 colonies on January 1 last year, and 64 percent below the 21,000 colonies during the October-December 2018 quarter. Producers boosted their
January 1 inventory by moving colonies into Iowa and adding colonies to a maximum of 11,500 during the January-March 2019 quarter. Since January 2018 the July-September 2018 quarter had the largest maximum number of colonies, with 57,000, while January-March 2019 quarter had the smallest maximum number of colonies with 11,500.

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