Agricultural confined-space related cases of injuries and fatalities saw a dramatic rise in 2022, including grain entrapment cases, which rose nearly 45%. Nearly all of these cases involved grain flow issues due to grain spoilage, which means that improved grain management could help prevent cases in the future, according to Kristina TeBockhorst, an agricultural engineer […]
DES MOINES, Iowa (Sept. 5, 2023) — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented today on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship provides a weather summary each week during […]
by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch September 1, 2023 Iowa’s new child labor law conflicts with federal regulations by easing some restrictions on teenagers working in potentially dangerous conditions, the U.S. Department of Labor wrote in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda and Wage and Hour Division Principal Deputy Administrator Jessica […]
by Casey Quinlan, Iowa Capital Dispatch September 1, 2023 The labor market is stable and healthy, economists and policy experts say, although the unemployment rate ticked up in the month of August. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report released Friday showed that unemployment rose to 3.8% in August from 3.5% in July. Meanwhile the economy added 187,000 […]
by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch August 31, 2023 OSKALOOSA — Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott, campaigning in Iowa Thursday, said a federal 15-week abortion ban would make abortion a “much less political issue.” Roughly 80 people gathered at the Iowa State University Extension in Oskaloosa to hear from the South Carolina senator and ask […]
by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch August 31, 2023 Overall dryness in Iowa expanded last week amid unrelenting heat and a lack of rainfall and is now worse than it’s been since March 2013, according to a Thursday report by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought conditions eclipsed their previous worst of this year, which occurred […]
by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch August 28, 2023 Last week’s temperatures in Iowa averaged about 10 degrees above normal — and much of the state had little or no rainfall — which led to a substantial decline in crop conditions, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Monday. The share of the […]
DES MOINES, Iowa (Aug. 28, 2023) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented today on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship provides a weather summary each week during […]
For the second consecutive year, Iowa’s payroll tax rates will be the lowest allowed by state law. DES MOINES, IOWA – Governor Kim Reynolds today announced that the schedule of unemployment insurance rates used to tax Iowa employers will remain at the lowest possible level allowed by law. This marks the second consecutive year at […]
The Grain Indemnity Fund serves as a low-cost insurance policy for Iowa farmers DES MOINES, Iowa (Aug. 24, 2023) – The reinstatement of fees on grain sold to or deposited at Iowa-licensed grain dealers and warehouses as part of the Iowa Grain Depositors and Sellers Indemnity Fund (Grain Indemnity Fund) starts on September 1. “The […]
