Ag and Environment

North Dakota farmer Justin Zahradka will plant wheat this spring on 40 acres that had been off-limits for two decades, protected by a government conservation program that is shrinking as high crop prices make farmland …

Saturday is the deadline for the early registration discount for the Iowa Wind Energy Association’s annual Wind Conference, April 9 to April 11 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Registration forms are at …

Solar panel prices, which have fallen 80 percent in the past three years, can fall further because the technology is simpler than many consumer electronics that are being made cheaper now, according to an EI …

Global use of nuclear energy could increase by as much as 100 percent in the next two decades on the back of growth in Asia, even though groundbreakings for new reactors fell last year after …

Filmmaker Kent Newman has been named executive director of Center on Sustainable Communities (COSC). The organization said Newman has a solid background in program development, fund raising, grant writing, public relations, marketing and stakeholder facilitation. …

MetLife Inc. said today that it originated $2.8 billion in agricultural mortgage loans in 2011, consistent with 2010, and has more than $13 billion in agricultural mortgage loans outstanding.…

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement is leading opposition to a decision by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to approve a construction permit for a 5,200-head hog confinement expansion proposed by Capstone Finishers LLC of …

Stroh Corp. has been approved by the Mechanical Service Contractors of America (MSCA) as a GreenSTAR energy solutions provider, the only company in Iowa to receive the designation and one of 48 in the country. …