Fragile efforts to ignite a gas tax debate in the 2013 Legislature will flame out if urban lawmakers try to inject a rewrite of the formula for distributing road-use tax fund revenues into the mix, backers and skeptics agree. With the next election nearly two years away, supporters of increasing the state’s motor fuel user [...]
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Farmers could stand to lose as much as any segment of the economy if political leaders don’t avert the fast-approaching “fiscal cliff.” The impact on farmers of potential changes to the estate tax is “extremely dramatic,” compared with other fiscal cliff effects, which include income and payroll tax rate increases, said Dave Miller, director of [...]
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If you want to know how dry the subsoil is, ask a grave digger. “It’s dry as a bone once you get below 6 inches,” said Carl Thoresen, superintendent at Oak Hill Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. Thomas Higgins of Independence, a grave digger for 28 years, said he’s finding moisture to 2 1/2 feet in [...]
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Look for higher prices at the grocery store as soon as January as the impact of this year’s record drought that slashed corn and soybean yields is felt by consumers. Prices for corn and soybeans are higher than a year ago, with corn prices 23 percent higher and soybean prices 20 percent higher. The increase [...]
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IOWA CITY — Johnson County is receiving an honor usually reserved for longtime farming families. At a ceremony at the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday, the Johnson County Poor Farm will be recognized as a Heritage Farm, meaning it has had the same owner for at least 150 years. It’s the ownership part that makes [...]
continue »Congratulations to Heidi Vittetoe of Washington for being named 2011 Woman in Agriculture by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation on December 7 at its Annual Meeting. The award goes to a woman that demonstrates outstanding leadership abilities in the promotion of agriculture. Heidi Vittetoe is the general manager of JW Vittetoe Pork, Ltd. of [...]
continue »One day after an advisory panel recommended an increase in the state’s gasoline tax to generate more revenue for critical transportation need, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation threw its support behind the proposed tax hike. IFBF President Craig Lang of Brooklyn said Thursday his group was applauding the proposed fuel tax of eight to 10 [...]
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Flooding along the Iowa side of the Missouri River this year did at least $207 million in damages to crops and related economic activities in six western Iowa counties that border the river, according to a study commissioned by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation that was released Monday. The estimated $207 million in lost crop [...]
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Iowa’s largest grassroots farm organization called for changes in the Army Corps of Engineers’ management of the Missouri River to prevent the kind of flooding that devastated Iowa this year. Army Corps of Engineers’ authority was just one of the policy issues discussed by Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) voting delegates at their 2011 Summer [...]
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The state Board of Regents Tuesday elected Craig Lang as president and Bruce Rastetter as president pro tem, as expected. The votes were unanimous for each selection, except for abstentions by Lang and Rastetter on their respective votes. Regent Ruth Harkin was not on the line for the special telephonic meeting. Former board president David [...]
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