USDA

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins made her first official visit to Iowa since her appointment by President Donald Trump. It came just days before President Trump has promised to roll out more tariffs.

Hundreds of Iowa farmers, schools and food banks planned on federal dollars this year to support local food purchases. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut both programs in March. Iowans across the supply chain are looking for ways to fill in the gaps.

Former USDA secretary Tom Vilsack hopes for bipartisan support to addressing hunger as the new CEO of the World Food Prize Foundation.

A growing number of organizations working in Iowa say the sweeping federal review process has held up grants, limiting their ability to support farmers and communities tackling environmental pollution.

Farmers, nonprofits and state agencies received almost $3 billion in grants from the Inflation Reduction Act in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. But recent federal funding freezes have recipients concerned they won’t end up receiving money.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig applauded the USDA’s updated response to bird flu, emphasizing that poultry producers in the state have been hit hard by the H5N1 virus. Over 11 million chickens and turkeys in Iowa were killed by the virus or culled to prevent its spread last year.

Federal agencies have mandated and facilitated testing for the H5N1 virus to try to protect birds, cows and humans; researchers in the Midwest hope those efforts continue under the new presidential administration.

The USDA National Centers for Animal Health in Ames is at the forefront of livestock research, foreign disease diagnostics and vaccine regulation in the U.S. It’s also feeling the impact of dozens of layoffs associated with the Trump administration’s purge of federal workers.

A federal freeze on certain USDA programs has held up billions of dollars for conservation and caused layoffs at a nonprofit in Iowa that supports soil and water quality.

Income from agritourism in Iowa has more than doubled in recent years. Farmers are getting more creative to draw in the crowds.