Recent Stories

Poultry Growers, Caught Between Strict Rules And Financial Risk, Lean Heavily On Government-Backed Loans

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After 20 years, Mississippi chicken farmer Kevin Kemp is getting out of the chicken business. He raised millions of pounds of chicken since 1996, alongside his father and brother. But Kemp said even though he’s done well as a poultry grower, raising chickens is “not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“The chicken industry has been good to a lot of people around here,” Kemp said. “It just got to the point where I didn’t enjoy raising chickens, because you had to put up with too much crap from the integrator.”

By “integrator,” Kemp means the big poultry companies, which deliver chickens to farmers as chicks, and pick them up six to eight weeks later as full-grown birds, ready to be slaughtered and sent to restaurants and grocery stores. Kemp has experienced the immense control poultry companies put on growers – how they care for the birds, the way payments are determined, even dictating when growers replace equipment.

Chautauqua

Manchester, Iowa Prepares for the 1913 Chautauqua Event

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Early in 1913 citizens of Manchester began preparing for the summer’s Chautauqua to be held for seven days in July. The annual event promised musical acts, lectures and plenty of fun for the kids as well as adults.

opinion

Bush 41 And Iowa Farm Couple Have Lit The Way

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We Americans are an impatient bunch. We typically don’t like to wait in line — unless there’s something we truly want, like much-sought-after concert tickets or whatever this year’s Tickle Me Elmo gift was on Black Friday.

American Historical Society

Ella Wister Haines Made Her Mark As Mid-20th Century Iowa Mother And Writer

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“Paul’s eyes rested upon Sweetheart’s hungrily, longingly. She wasn’t his sister! She was no blood relation, or connection at all—yet!” Those lines from Ella Wister Haines’ novel Mysterious Sweetheart captured the attention of readers who favored the works of this Iowa writer in the 1920s. Haines’ idea for this story came from a family member who described a blood-dripping dagger appearing to her in a dream. “The vividness of the isolated incident started me thinking in terms of plot,” Haines explained.

Anna Murphy

Early 20th Century Des Moines Woman Buys Hotel As Side Business

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“It is true that waiting on cranky people in a hurry is about the hardest thing that a girl can do,” Anna Murphy told a reporter in 1909. Murphy, owner of the Hotel Goldstone located at 314 East Fifth Street in Des Moines, admitted she had a difficult time hiring and retaining good waitresses at her hotel restaurant. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people. Her work has been recognized by International Literacy Association, American Library Association, National Council for Social Studies, and FDR Presidential Library and Museum.