In the News
USDA Staffing Shortages Strain FSA and NRCS Services Across Rural America
WASHINGTON (DTN) — Farmers in Polk County, Iowa, still have a Farm Service Agency office to visit. But when they arrive, four out of five days, that office will be closed. Calls are rerouted and employees from other counties come in to staff the office.
Read More USDA Staffing Shortages Strain FSA and NRCS Services Across Rural America
STUDY | The Unfinished Farm Bill: First Reading of Proposed Senate Legislation by Jonathan Coppess
On June 23, 2026, Senator John Boozman (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (ANF), released legislative text for the unfinished provisions of the traditional Farm Bill. Chairman Boozman is calling the legislation “Farm Bill 2.0” (Senate ANF, “Farm Bill 2.0” and Press Release, June 23, 2026). This article provides a first
Read More STUDY | The Unfinished Farm Bill: First Reading of Proposed Senate Legislation by Jonathan Coppess
Opinion: 56,500 reasons the farm bill must protect EQIP
By Rebecca Bartels | Farm country runs on the accumulated confidence that when someone tells you the money is there, the money is there. That confidence is what makes voluntary, incentive-based conservation work in the first place. It is why a producer will front the money to try an unfamiliar practice on 200 acres on
Read More Opinion: 56,500 reasons the farm bill must protect EQIP
A new report shows a prolonged downturn for Iowa’s ag economy
By Rachel Cramer, Iowa Public Radio | A new report shows Iowa’s agricultural economy is facing a prolonged downturn, which is expected to continue through 2027. Researchers say the conditions are not as dire as what led to the 1980s farm crisis. But the “mounting pressure” affects farmers, rural communities and other sectors of the economy, like manufacturing.
Read More A new report shows a prolonged downturn for Iowa’s ag economy
Iowa farmer sees culture shift toward water conservation
By Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch | Nick Helland and his father have embraced a slew of conservation practices – bioreactors, saturated buffers, cover crops and a nutrient reducing wetland — on their farm in the Greater Des Moines Watershed. Helland said he feels there has been a “shift in the culture” among farmers from judging one another on how black they could till their soil, to now, how frequently they till and how much cover they leave on the fields.
Read More Iowa farmer sees culture shift toward water conservation
Job cuts at federal soil conservation agency has farmers worried
Farmers are fighting cuts to a federal agency that’s been helping them improve their soil since the 1930s. The Natural Resources Conservation Service is another entity keeping farmers in business. The federal agency helps farmers protect soil and water. It has been around since the dust bowl in the 1930s. But nearly a quarter of
Read More Job cuts at federal soil conservation agency has farmers worried
Report: Iowa lost 17% of USDA staff in 2025, impact felt at farmer-facing offices
U.S. Department of Agriculture staffing cuts in 2025 have left county-level service offices understaffed, according to an analysis of federal data from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. The report found that Iowa lost nearly 19% of its Natural Resources Conservation Service, or NRCS, staff and 8% of its Farm Service Agency staff between January 2025
Read More Report: Iowa lost 17% of USDA staff in 2025, impact felt at farmer-facing offices
Oversubscription in EQIP, CSP increased in fiscal 2025, analysis finds.
Only about 24% of EQIP applications and 37% of CSP applications resulted in awarded contracts in fiscal year 2025, a drop from 43% and 54% the year before, according to an Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy analysis of USDA data. Conservation advocates say a Trump administration freeze on climate funding, increased applications, and NRCS
Read More Oversubscription in EQIP, CSP increased in fiscal 2025, analysis finds.
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