Mark Moran - Public News Service

A new report from a farm industry alliance showed high-tech ag practices in Iowa and the Midwest do not reduce pesticide and fertilizer use as much corporate ag operations suggest. Instead, some small farmers say precision agriculture takes a one-size-fits-all approach to the state's diverse croplands.

The Environmental Protection Agency has overturned a 2024 ruling that sought to protect some of Iowa's largest waterways that provide drinking water for half a million people.

Iowa educators are pushing back on an what they see as an effort by the state to limit academic freedom and unfettered speech in university classrooms. State lawmakers are working to limit what they call liberal indoctrination in Iowa's institutes of higher education. The state's three public universities, the the Iowa Federation of Labor and a graduate student union have formed the Iowa Higher Education Coalition to defend free speech. University of Northern Iowa journalism professor Chris Martin says there has been a strong effort by the Iowa Legislature to insert political influence into the classroom.