Higher corn and soybean prices and improved profits have helped drive Iowa farmland values up 21% this year, the second-largest increase in the nation, a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report shows.
Only Kansas farmland values grew faster, at 25%, according to the USDA. The agriculture department uses farm surveys conducted in June to calculate values for the year. Some of Iowa's best farmland has pushed over $25,000 an acre in recent northwest Iowa auctions.
Iowa's farmland averaged $9,400 an acre this year, the highest price in the Midwest, with Illinois following at $8,900 an acre, and Indiana at $8,000, the USDA report shows. Kansas farmland averaged $2,630 an acre.
State sales tax revenue for the month of July fell significantly. Jeff Robinson of the Legislative Services Agency said the $101 million drop may be because consumer spending was so high in July of 2021.
The agency’s Jeff Robinson told Radio Iowa that all states experienced a very large increase in sales tax revenue as economies reopened and consumers returned to the market after the heights of the Coronavirus pandemic.Tehre was pent up demand and federal stimulus money to spend, but that trend was bound to end. Quarterly sales tax and income tax payments to the state were due July 31. Total state tax collections for the month of July declined.
The Iowa Utilities Board has determined the Webster County Fairgrounds will be the site of the public hearing on the Summit Carbon Solutions request for a permit to build a carbon pipeline.
The order sets the place for the hearing — but the date has not been set as IUB staff are continuing to review the information submitted with the permit request. Webster County was chosen as the site for the hearing because it is in the middle of the proposed 681-mile pipeline.
Briar Cliff University has signed a new articulation agreement with Western Iowa Tech Community College, Briar Cliff announced yesterday.
The agreement will allow students with an Associate of Arts degree at WITCC to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degrees in accounting, business administration, finance, international business, marketing and sports management at Briar Cliff University, according to a press release from Briar Cliff.
Briar Cliff and WITCC are also joined in several other transfer agreements, covering fields of study including education, behavior analysis/psychology, biology, nursing, social work and criminal justice.
WITCC reached a similar agreement with Morningside University (Morningside College at that time) five years ago, which allowed WITCC students to transition to Morningside to advance their education. A similar agreement was reached with Wayne State College more than three years ago.
School districts are no longer receiving the pandemic aid that allowed them to provide free lunches during the last two school years. As a new one approaches, districts are trying to prepare families for the change.
Dan Barkel is the superintendent at Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn-Remsen-Union. He says he’s disappointed to not see the federal aid extended.