Monarchs merit royal care
Kurt Meyer writes a weekly column for the Nora Springs – Rockford Register, where this essay first appeared. He serves as chair of the executive committee (the equivalent of board chair) of Americans...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Iowa wildflower Wednesday: A thriving farm prairie strip
Early this month, Lee Tesdell invited me to the Prairie Strips Field Day he hosted at his family's century farm in northern Polk County. I've visited many prairie restorations in progress, but this...
View ArticleIowa Supreme Court’s unfair message: “Take one for the team”
Randy Evans can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com.In 1972, Gordon Garrison purchased 300 acres of farmland in Emmet County, a rectangle near the Minnesota border one county to the east of the Iowa...
View ArticleMike Naig has money advantage in ag sec race
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig will take a big financial advantage into the general election, new campaign disclosures show. Although the GOP incumbent didn’t raise much more than Democratic...
View ArticleBook review: The Land Remains
Larry Stone reviews Neil Hamilton’s new book The Land Remains: A Midwestern Perspective on our Past and Future. Many of us baby boomer farm kids recall growing up in the 1950s and 60s walkin’ beans,...
View ArticleThe system is rigged for corporate farms over family farmers
Chris Peterson is a family farmer who lives near Clear Lake (Cerro Gordo County). When most people think of small businesses, they imagine a brick and mortar store on Main Street that offers retail or...
View ArticleIowa Democrats won’t speak truth to ethanol power
The biofuels industry got a big win in the Iowa legislature this week, as the state House and Senate approved a bill requiring most gas stations in the state to dispense a higher ethanol blend known...
View ArticleIowa grain and the war in Ukraine
Dan Piller: A prolonged war that disrupts Ukraine’s grain production could reverse Iowa’s decline in world export markets. “Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the...
View ArticleInterview: John Norwood outlines his vision for Iowa agriculture
Polk County Soil and Water Commissioner John Norwood announced on February 7 that he will run for Iowa secretary of agriculture as a Democrat. In a news release enclosed at the end of this post,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Now is the time to act against carbon pipelines
Jessica Wiskus is a rural landowner in Linn County whose property lies in Navigator’s proposed pipeline route. You may have heard about the three proposals to build carbon pipelines crossing Iowa: one...
View ArticleIowa rent-seekers meet Adam Smith
Richard Lindgren is Emeritus Professor of Business at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, now retired in Gulf Coast Florida. He blogs at godplaysdice.com. When economists talk about rent-seeking,...
View ArticleGovernor’s tax plan would harm rural Iowa, young farmers
Sondra Feldstein is a farmer and business owner in Polk County. Governor Kim Reynolds wants to exempt all cash rent income for retired farmers from state income tax. This horrible idea would harm...
View ArticleLet’s talk about the weather
State Senator Joe Bolkcom represents Iowa City and is outreach and community education director for the University of Iowa’s Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research. We Iowans love to...
View ArticleA must-watch MLK, Jr. clip for Iowans
“Share this clip of my father,” tweeted Bernice King, the CEO of the King Center on January 17, the holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “We must study him beyond the end of ‘I Have a...
View ArticleIowans don’t want carbon pipelines – here’s why
This post was co-authored by Emma Schmit, Food & Water Watch; Jess Mazour, Sierra Club Iowa Chapter; Caitlin Golle, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; Mahmud Fitil, Great Plains Action...
View ArticleWhat “Critical Race Theory” actually is
This column first appeared in the Jefferson Herald and the Carroll Times Herald. One evening in late October, the six candidates for the Greene County Community School Board were taking questions from...
View Article“Get Big or Get Out”: An American horror story
C.J. Petersen is a “dirt road Democrat” and rural organizer. In the 1987 movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko quipped that “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” Since that time, the American family...
View ArticleMike Naig running, John Norwood considering Ag Sec race
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced on December 7 that he will seek a second full term in 2022. No Democrats have declared for this race, but Polk County Soil and Water Commissioner John...
View ArticleJohn Deere could have offered workers more
Only a week after United Auto Workers members ratified a new six-year contract with John Deere, the company announced record profits of $5.96 billion during the fiscal year that ended on November 1....
View ArticleWhat UAW members gained with five-week strike
Iowa’s largest strike in decades is over after nearly five weeks. About 10,000 United Auto Workers members, including nearly 7,000 in Iowa, ratified the latest tentative agreement with John Deere by a...
View Article
