Bonuses paid to two state directors raising their pay beyond state salary caps have caused several Iowa legislators to question whether Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has overstepped his authority. Courtney Kay-Decker, director of the Iowa Department of Revenue, received an $800-per-pay-period housing allowance for her first year on the job, ending March 15, 2012, that [...]

DES MOINES  – The hottest start to July  since 1936 has caused further deterioration of Iowa’s corn and soybean crops and has more than 75 percent of the state’s pasture and grazing land rated in poor to very poor condition. The condition of the corn crop is reported at 14 percent very poor, 26 percent [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Monday announced that virtually all farmland enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program has been released for haying and grazing by livestock farmers. Holding a map showing most of the nation’s counties with “abnormally dry” land, Vilsack said livestock farmers are directly affected by a [...]

If you ask Tom Vilsack, the road to prosperity is paved with pig manure. And plant-based plastics, and bio jet fuel, and other ag-related innovations we’ve only yet dreamed of. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is celebrating its 150th anniversary, but when the former gov-turned-Ag secretary met with The Gazette Editorial Board this week, his [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS –Linn County may become the fourth in Iowa to create a citizens’ committee to take a closer look at how and what we eat. County supervisors will consider a proposal at Monday’s work session to create a county food systems policy council. The group of volunteer county residents “would be sort of an [...]

  By Albert R. Hunt —- The farm sector is one of the few bright spots in a rough U.S. economy. Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa, who has an appreciation of policy and politics, is one of the success stories of the Obama administration. Vilsack, 61, has been secretary of the Agriculture Department [...]

A commercial-scale plant to make biofuels from Benton and Linn County trash  is poised to become reality with a $25 million USDA loan guarantee announced Friday. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced  that the agency has approved the $25 million conditional loan commitment to Maryland-based Fiberight LLC and Fiberight Blairstown Operating LLC for their plant in Blairstown. “It’s important [...]

  By Jim Chrisinger —-   There’s an overlooked opportunity to seize in the way we “do government.” The warring “less government” and “more government” factions could find some common ground, perish the thought. Couldn’t we agree that however much government we have should be better government, government that squeezes the most public value from [...]

  By John R. Whitaker —– Last week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack laid out his priorities for the upcoming farm bill. This bill is about a whole lot more than farming: It’s about supporting the jobs of the future, keeping pace with the changing needs of agriculture and rural America and providing a food and [...]