Iowa National Guard headquarters became the incident command center for a four day simulation exercise to test how well prepared Iowa and the other top pork-producing states are for an African swine fever outbreak.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recently released 2017 Census of Agriculture data show the amount of land in the largest federal conservation programs has decreased nationwide and in many Midwest and Plains states. But that doesn’t mean farmers are ignoring soil health, nutrient runoff or erosion problems.

Fields, crops and farm animals are part of the agriculture-industry landscape, but an increasingly small one.

Farmers started forming co-ops nearly a century ago, primarily to get better prices for their crops. They pooled their resources, put up storage bins and gained leverage with buyers.

Nearly 20 percent of the people who work on farms are not owners (i.e. people who aren’t in the family), according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Twenty years ago, it was about 15 percent.