Dave Swenson, associate scientist with the Department of Economics, spoke with Mike Devine, KVFD, Ft. Dodge, regarding the Lee County fertilizer plant and the ostensible fertilizer savings as a result for farmers that have been reported. 

Additional contacts: 

• WHO Radio, regarding the quality of job growth nationally, with emphasis on the fact the majority of job gains are lower wage, part time, and without benefits.
• Art Cullen, Storm Lake Times, regarding the latest national population estimates.  In particular, 59 percent of Iowa's counties have been in cumulative natural decline (where deaths exceed births) this decade, which ranks us 6th worse in the nation.
• Andrea Hsu, NPR, regarding the decline in manufacturing in the Midwest and especially the losses that occurred in Webster City when the Electrolux plant closed.  
• Adam Allington, St. Louis Public Radio, regarding additional data for an NPR story on local food growth in the St. Louis area.
• Donnelle Eller, DM Register, regarding a short paper authored by Swenson on population projections for Iowa and the implications for the state's economy. http://www.econ.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/papers/p16040-2013-03-13.pdf