In March 2015, Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) filed a lawsuit against three Iowa drainage districts because of nitrate problems in Des Moines drinking water supplies. It alleges the nitrates have leached out of farm fields, through drainage district tiles, and ended up in the city’s drinking water supply. In July, the water utility reported […]
Archive | September, 2015
Preventing Postharvest Loss for Global Food Security
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack kicked off the 2015-16 International Food Security at Illinois seminar series with a talk on discuss how land-grant universities could help improve world food security. We face the global challenge to feed a world of 10.5 to 11 billion people by 2050. As incomes rise, people demand […]
New Research Directions on the Economic Impact of Climate Change on U.S. Agriculture
The attention generated by the impact of the summer 2012 drought on the Corn Belt exemplifies how vital it is for the U.S. agricultural sector to understand climate change and how to mitigate and/or adapt to it. While there is little controversy about whether agriculture is sensitive to changes in climatic conditions, significant uncertainty exists […]