Iowa farmers can apply to receive economic relief through the USDA
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — The American Relief Act of 2025 provided a $31 billion disaster aid package for farmers across the country and applications are open for them to get access to this support.
The legislation was passed in December 2024 and set aside $21 billion for natural disaster assistance and $10 billion in aid for farmers who experienced economic losses while growing 2024 commodities.
This legislation also extended provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill through September 2025.
Evacuation/shelter in place order issued because of Otley co-op fire
The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation's President Brent Johnson is a fifth-generation farmer in the state. He said that the 2024 crop year was difficult for Iowa farmers because they saw increasing costs for land, seeds, fertilizer and other crop protection services, equipment, and more. He also said that several weather events across the state and recent tariffs have negatively affected Iowa farmers.
'There's a lot of things that are not in a farmer's control. So, when those things do happen, storms, drought, too much rain, it really does affect the ability for farmers to make money. And you couple that up with some significant trade disruptions and it becomes really unstable for the farm economy,' Johnson said.
He also said that trade plays a vital role in Iowa's economy.
'We are really dependent on exporting and selling these commodities. We out-produce the needs of Iowans ourselves. So, we have to trade. We have to sell it to others. So anytime those trade conversations end up being unsettling, it ends up making farmers nervous at the farm gate,' he said.
According to the National Corn Growers Association, two main factors have challenged the market. They include higher input costs and a growing corn supply.
A higher input cost means that production expenses have remained high despite declining corn prices. This is similar to Johnson's point that inflation has increased expenses for farmers.
Some Warren County residents concerned over skyrocketing property evaluations
Furthermore, a growing corn supply creates more competition for Iowa farmers. More corn producers are available in the United States and outside the country, in places like Brazil.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced the relief application. It's called the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program.
They also shared the per-acre payment rates for 21 different crops. Corn is $42.91 per acre and soybeans are $29.76 per acre.
Farmers can access the application for this relief at their local FSA office or online.
While Johnson said this relief is helpful to farmers, he is hopeful a new Farm Bill will be passed that will create more stability for farmers in the future.
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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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When I get home I give her a call to say congrats, and we end up yapping for the next couple hours while we both make dinner (another Blue Apron meal for me). 9 p.m. — I hang up with P. to lock in and watch the latest episode of Severance, because if I don't watch it immediately, the internet will probably spoil it for me. This show is absolutely wild — I have so many follow-up questions! 9:45 p.m. — I get an email notifying me that another college friend's indie film crowdfunding campaign reached its goal and they get to fulfill my pledge now. We've drifted apart in recent years but I'm so excited for her and am glad I get to support her new project. $25 10 p.m. — I scroll on TikTok for a bit, where I have somehow ended up on esthetician TikTok? My skin has been so dry this winter so what the hell, I decide to book a facial. A new place just opened near me and keeps advertising $30 off your first facial in my Instagram feed, so I book one for Saturday. Do I need a facial? No. But will it be a fun and relaxing one-time special treat during an otherwise dreary winter weekend? Yes, and I'm very excited. 11 p.m. — I put on a chill bedtime yoga flow, shower, do my nighttime routines, and play NYT games on dark mode until I fall asleep around 12:30 p.m. Daily Total: $27.25 Day Five: Friday 8:30 a.m. — My alarm wakes me up and I see that T. has texted asking if I want to do dinner before the show tonight. I certainly do! He's been the one to suggest all the places/plans to this point, so I look up some restaurants near the venue and send him a couple options to choose from, including a Mexican place I've been meaning to try. 9:30 a.m. — I don't have anything on my work calendar until 12 p.m., so I use my morning for some digital housekeeping — cleaning out my inbox, installing computer updates, etc. I eat some of my leftover Blue Apron dinner from last night (a rice bake with chorizo, tomato, and spinach) for breakfast. 10:30 a.m. — T. texts back that he's down for the Mexican place and just made a reservation. He offers to pick me up and drive us both there, which I accept. I find it odd that he keeps driving to our dates, especially in a city where public transit is pretty good and Ubers are cheap, but for where we're going tonight it definitely makes things easier. 11 a.m. — My boss sends me her updated grant application draft, and I read through her edits. I add a few comments here and there but it looks pretty good to me. 12 p.m. — My organization has hired an outside facilitator to lead an all-staff workshop on how to manage news/social media stress in these trying times. Normally I'd roll my eyes at this kind of thing, but I really like this particular facilitator. He shares some research about the mental and physical health impacts of doomscrolling and constant news consumption, then leads us in a discussion about steps we can take to limit our news intake, while still keeping up with what's required for our jobs and being an active citizen. We end with a gratitude practice and I find myself tearing up a little bit. It's been a hard couple months in DC and while I find my job frustrating day to day, I'm grateful to have a job at all, let alone a job full of people who are still trying to make things better, even as so much of our work is being torn apart. 1 p.m. — Last grant check-in of the week! My boss walks through the changes she made to the draft with a smaller group of us (no senior leadership) and we work through everyone's feedback live, so we can send the second draft back to leadership this afternoon. 2 p.m. — I eat the rest of my leftovers and tie up a few more loose ends from the week. I send grandboss a recap of some of my conversations from yesterday's happy hour, and she lets me know that she got our CEO back on board with our original plans for my project's activation. That's great to hear, because I already announced those plans to 50 people on yesterday's call, oops. 4 p.m. — Uh oh, my boss is calling me at 4 p.m. on a Friday. Never a good sign! She tells me that grandboss just called her because she started looking through the new application draft and doesn't feel like it's reflecting her feedback. I look in the doc and she is actively making in-line edits, which we asked people not to do at this stage. My boss and I talk it through and decide that we're simply done trying to make everyone happy and if grandboss wants to just rewrite entire sections, that's fine, and that's what we'll submit next week. 4:45 p.m. — I close my laptop, put on some Sabrina Carpenter for good flirty vibes, and start to get ready for my date! I style my hair, do my makeup, and put on a little black dress, sheer black tights, and chunky black boots. My biggest beauty splurge in the last year was a perfume from Dior, so I add a spritz of that and I'm out the door. 5:45 p.m. — T. picks me up and we debrief our weeks on the way to dinner. He works for a federal agency and tells me about which of his colleagues got laid off since our last date, and I tell him about the much less serious quotidian nonsense of my job as I continue to get Slack notifications from comments in the Google doc. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb and we both agree on no more work talk once we get out of the car. 6 p.m. — I picked an excellent restaurant and dinner is delicious. We get margs and chips and guac to start, then we each get a couple tacos and esquites to share. We contemplate some churros for dessert, but decide to pass so we can get to the venue a little early and get good seats. T. sneakily pays for dinner while I'm in the bathroom, and I have no idea how much it was. 7:30 p.m. — The venue for this show is actually a classic DC rowhome converted into an event space, so we enter through an alley in the back and are immediately transported into a moody, candlelit, exposed brick, black box-type space. We go scope things out and put our jackets down to claim two seats, then head to the makeshift bar in the back. The drinks are 'free' but there are 'suggested donations' listed, so I scan the Venmo QR code and insist on paying, since he paid for dinner. $20 9 p.m. — There are two groups performing tonight, and the opener was amazing! It's unreal how much local talent there is in DC. We get another round of drinks during the break between sets and I pay again, over T.'s objections. $20 10:30 p.m. — The show wraps up, and we linger to say hi to T.'s friend who played in the second act. He introduces us to the other musicians, and T. ends up buying the vocalist's solo album on vinyl. As we head back to the car, I'm thinking quickly about when and where to make a move, because we still haven't kissed! So when we get back to his car and he goes to open the passenger door for me, I pause and turn around. He asks if I want a hand getting in, and I say no, I want you to come here and kiss me, and he does :) I was manifesting a dimly lit side street makeout against a car door tonight and absolutely nailed my vision!! 11 p.m. — T. drives me home and parks around the corner so he can kiss me again and walk me to my building. Seems like I wasn't the only one scheming on where to make a move tonight. Part of me wants to invite him up, but it feels too soon, so I just say goodnight and suggest we do this again sometime, to which he says 'Definitely' and kisses me one last time. When I get into my apartment I flop onto my bed and text L. that I think I just went on a perfect date?? She is out with some friends but responds immediately, demanding details. Debriefing a good date with your best friend is a top tier girlhood experience and the perfect way to end the night. Daily Total: $40 Day Six: Saturday 9 a.m. — My alarm goes off and I am not ready to get up. I stayed up way too late texting with my friends about my perfect date and definitely did not drink enough water before I went to bed. People make jokes about turning 30 and not being able to drink anymore, but three drinks in one evening really does hit different at this age :( I set a new alarm for 10 a.m. and go back to sleep, then keep snoozing it until I absolutely have to get up. 10:45 a.m. — I finally haul myself out of bed and get ready to leave the house. I need to eat something, but I can't figure out what. I improvise a smoothie with some frozen mango, Greek yogurt, coconut milk, and honey — it's not bad, but it's also not good. I force myself to sip on it while I get dressed, then race out the door. 11:30 a.m. — I get to my facial appointment exactly on time but I'm a little flustered from speed walking over here. I finally start to relax once I'm lying down and talking through my goals with the esthetician, and the next 50 minutes fly by. I almost fall asleep during one of the masks but manage to keep it together and decline when she suggests we add a red light treatment for $50 extra. 12:30 p.m. — I check out at the front desk and also decline to become a monthly member or to buy any additional products to take home. My final total is $114 + a 20% tip. $136.80 12:45 p.m. — I need to go grocery shopping and am tempted to stop into Trader Joe's on my way home, but I haven't made a list and should not go in there hungry and without a plan. Instead, I stop into a café and get a chicken salad sandwich and an iced tea. $21.60 1:15 p.m. — I drink most of my iced tea on the walk home and then eat half my sandwich while watching my baseball team play a meaningless spring training game. I spend the rest of the afternoon watching baseball, napping, writing my MD, and having phone time. I text T. a couple photos/videos I took at the show last night and cancel my other first date for tomorrow (I just wasn't that excited about it and wanted to focus on T.!). I really want one (1) new cute casual dress for spring, so I do the sensible thing and order three (3) from Tuckernuck with the high hopes that one of them will end up working. (Update: They were all terrible and I got two dresses for $40 from Old Navy instead to satisfy my new sundress craving.) $345 5 p.m. — I eat the other half of my sandwich and make a grocery list. I order two more cold brew fridge packs ($61.20). I text my friend R. some ideas for dinner tomorrow night, and we land on a Smitten Kitchen recipe for roasted veggies and halloumi (she's vegetarian), plus I decide I want to make chocolate chip cookies. We'll do a full catchup tomorrow, but I tell R. I had a great third date last night, and it turns out she also had a great second date last night! Dating can get so demoralizing so you gotta get excited when there's something to be excited about, and I'm proud of us for continuing to put ourselves out there. $61.20 6 p.m. — The sun goes down and I realize just how excited I am for daylight savings to start tomorrow — 7 p.m. sunsets are going to change the game! When the weather's nice I love to go outside and read after work, so I decide to hype myself up for this seasonal change by starting a new book tonight. I go shopping on my bookshelf and pick up The Mythmakers by Keziah Weir. 8 p.m. — My high school friend F. texts me out of the blue asking how I feel about one-shoulder dresses. I am officiating her wedding this summer and she wants to send over some dress ideas. The wedding is several months away, but I know that the sooner I buy a dress, the sooner I will lift one tiny piece of wedding anxiety off her shoulders, so we spend the next hour looking at dresses online and sending options back and forth. I love F. very much, but she keeps sending dresses that simply won't work on my body, or that don't go up to my size. I eventually find a dress on Nordstrom's website that we both really like and that has inclusive sizing! I order a size 16 and 18 so I can try both on, and cross my fingers that I'm able to nail this fashion assignment on the first try (note: I did not nail it on the first try and had to return these, but I found a great dress we both love for $250 a few weeks later!). $527.88 11 p.m. — I spend the rest of my evening alternating between reading my book (which is off to a slow but interesting start) and mindless TikTok time, then do my bedtime routines and fall asleep around midnight. Daily Total: $1092.48 Day Seven: Sunday 10 a.m. — I didn't set an alarm and am surprised that I slept in until 10 a.m., until I remember we lost an hour to daylight savings. After a delightful rot day yesterday, today is the day I get my shit together! I get up and put on Lady Gaga's new album while I shower, to kickstart the day. 11 a.m. — This new album SLAPS. I sort and start my laundry, then literally stop in my tracks when I hear 'How Bad Do U Want Me' for the first time. Did she put drugs in this song?? I put it on repeat so I can start learning the lyrics while loading my dishwasher and cleaning out my fridge. I make chimichurri scrambled eggs on sourdough toast and drink some cold brew, then head out to the grocery store. 12 p.m. — Whole Foods run! I get bananas, lemons, parsley, dill, thyme, scallions, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, celery, onions, baby carrots, halloumi, Laughing Cow cheese, chicken breasts, eggs, bread, coconut milk, Annie's mac and cheese, vanilla extract, and fancy dark chocolate baking discs. I'm so distracted by Lady Gaga's perfect pop album that at one point I put my items in someone else's cart and a confused older gentleman has to tap me on the shoulder and politely point this out. Doing great! $121.77 1 p.m. — Home from the grocery and my baseball team is back on. I unpack my groceries, move my laundry along, put some bone-in chicken breasts in the oven to roast, and make my cookie dough so it can rest in the fridge for a few hours. I decide to go all in and make the NYT adobo chocolate chip cookies, which are literally the best cookies I've ever made. 5 p.m. — The rest of the afternoon is a haze of laundry, baseball, making chicken salad and stock, snacking on baby carrots, texting with T., and chopping veggies for dinner tonight. Around 5 p.m. I finally strain the stock and pour it into containers for the fridge/freezer, throw my last load of towels in the dryer, then pack up all the veggies and cookie dough to drive over to R.'s house. 5:30 p.m. — I am greeted at R.'s apartment by her very excitable dog, S. I have gone back and forth on getting a pet for years, but for now at least, I'm content to just hang out with my friends' pets when I need a good animal snuggle and keep my home free of lovable chaos demons. R. pours us some wine, I throw the veggies and halloumi in the oven, and we head to her building's roof to soak up the extra hour of sunshine. 6:30 p.m. — Dinner is served and we're so excited to eat al fresco on the roof, but as soon as the sun sets it gets too cold, so we head back down to R.'s apartment and put the cookies in the oven. They turn out SO good it's unbelievable. 7:30 p.m. — Cookie time turns into dog snuggles and anxiety time: R. tells me about her organization's recent layoffs in response to frozen government funding and how nervous she is about her job stability, and I tell her about how nervous I am for my doctor's appointment tomorrow. I have been dealing with chronic pelvic pain for years, and have finally started seeking treatment for it. Pelvic floor physical therapy and hormone therapy have literally changed my life over the last year, and tomorrow I'm doing a round of pelvic floor Botox injections (similar to when people get Botox for migraines or TMJ). I get super anxious for doctor's appointments, so my mom is coming into town for the day to go with me and drive me home. R. offers to come over after she leaves if I need additional support or dog snuggles, which I will probably not take her up on but appreciate anyway. We divvy up leftovers and hug it out before I leave. 9 p.m. — I get home and call my parents for our weekly catchup call and to go over logistics with my mom for tomorrow. I'm taking a half-day off work and will pick her up from the train station on the way to my appointment. Turns out my dad also has a doctor's appointment tomorrow to get a cortisone shot in his shoulder, but I guess he's a big boy and can go by himself. 9:30 p.m. — I change into PJs and turn Lady Gaga back on to motivate me to put all my laundry away and clean up the kitchen from all my earlier cooking projects, then I start the dishwasher and the new episode of The White Lotus. I feel like it's just starting to get interesting, and I'm excited to see where the rest of the season goes. 11 p.m. — I settle in to do some dilator therapy to put some extra stretch into my pelvic floor muscles before tomorrow. I remind myself of how far I've come, and how blessed I am to have a stable job and the financial resources to pursue treatment that is largely not covered by insurance. I spent over $5,000 last year on medical bills that insurance didn't cover, and this year I'm really hoping that doesn't exceed the $3,500 I'm saving through my healthcare FSA. The appointment tomorrow will be $1,350, and I really hope it's worth it (update: It went well, but not as dramatic of an improvement as I thought there might be). 11:30 p.m. — I clean my dilators, do my bedtime dental and skin care routines, and then put on a Spotify 'Sleep' playlist to ease my anxious brain into sleep. The Breakdown Conclusion 'Other than the hundreds of dollars spent on dresses I ended up returning anyway, this was a pretty normal week of spending for me! It's a little hard to read back and see how much my pelvic pain impacted my week and how excited I was about T. (we ended things a few weeks later) but I'm thrilled to report I have since found the perfect dress for my friend's wedding and the Botox did help a little bit! This is my third year in a row keeping a Money Diary for the same week in March (I didn't submit last year's for publication, though) and it's cool to see these snapshots in time and how my little spending habits have changed (or not) year over year.'
