Atlantic, Iowa – Annie’s Project, a six-week course designed especially to help farm women develop their management and decision-making skills, is being offered by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in Cass County. Online registration is available at www.extension.iastate.edu/womeninag or at the Cass Extension office. Classes will be held at Cass County Community Center at 805 W. 10th St. in Atlantic on Thursdays beginning Feb. 23.

Classes will continue March 2, March 9, March 16, March 23, and March 30. Classes will be held from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00p.m., with a light meal served at 5:30 p.m.  The cost is $75.00. Pre-registration will close a week in advance of the class, or if the class fills up, so organizers encourage those interested to register early!

Farm women participating in Annie’s Project courses become better business partners and owners by learning to manage and organize critical information for their own farms, while establishing networks with other farm women and agriculture business professionals.

According to ISU Extension and Outreach farm specialist, Tim Christensen, Annie’s Project covers five areas of agricultural risk management: financial, human resources, legal, marketing and production. “Our goal is to provide a program that is of great interest and value. Each session includes presentations, discussions and hands-on activities,” Christensen said. “In addition, guest speakers share their personal experiences and knowledge to help women become better business partners and owners,” added Christensen.

According to a 2012 survey conducted by Iowa State Extension and Outreach, 47 percent of Iowa’s farmland is owned by women. Annie’s Project supports these women by providing an agricultural business education program that empowers farm women who want to be more knowledgeable about their agricultural enterprises.

“Offering a quality program such as Annie’s Project benefits our community and we are excited to be able to offer this class, as we’ve had a great response from previous sessions,” said Kate Olson, Cass County Extension Director.

“We’re excited to host this class in Cass County again and look forward to sharing valuable educational tools and important resources with women in southwest Iowa, as well as helping then create a local network of support in their local area,” Olson added.

“Annie’s Project empowers women by offering a valuable set of business-based workshops. The program helps participants learn ways to make better financial and risk management decisions,” according to Madeline Schultz, ISU Extension and Outreach Women in Agriculture Program Manager.

More than 33 states have implemented Annie’s Project sites since its inception in 2002. According to post-program surveys, participants have reported that the program encouraged learning and that the nurturing environment has facilitated ongoing conversation with local speakers. In addition, respondents were able to network with other professionals and stated that they felt comfortable interacting with others for additional information and assistance. Overall, participants remarked that the courses were beneficial in understanding the factors in farming that pertain to women, their families, and the land.

For more information, contact Kate Olson at 712-243-1132, or e-mail keolson@iastate.edu. Register online at www.extension.iastate.edu/womeninag or find additional program details at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass.

(Des Moines, Iowa) –  The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting a series of town hall-style meetings where local staff will provide updates on recently completed hunting and trapping seasons, discuss possible changes, and address other topics as requested. “We want people to come out to these meetings, listen to the seasons reviews, ask questions and hear directly from our staff,” said Todd Bishop, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Wildlife Bureau. “Part of the meeting will be devoted to discussing potential rule changes and collecting feedback as we work through the rules process.”

The meetings are open to the public. Comments collected from these public meetings will be considered along with other related comments received by the Iowa DNR prior to proposing changes to hunting rules and regulations. Proposed rules will be presented to the Natural Resource Commission during a regular public meeting for consideration and additional public comment.

Meeting date, time and location (Locally):

• Creston, Feb. 21, 6 p.m., Multi-Purpose Room, Southern Prairie YMCA, 1201 West Townline Street
• Onawa, Feb. 22, 6 p.m., Lewis and Clark State Park visitor center, 21914 Park Loop
• Council Bluffs, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m., Council Bluffs Fish and Game Club, 531 Comanche St.

Any person attending the public meeting that has special requirements, such as those related to mobility or hearing impairments, should contact the Iowa DNR or ADA Coordinator at 515-725-8200, Relay Iowa TTY Service 800-735-7942, or Webmaster@dnr.iowa.gov, and advise of specific needs.

(Radio Iowa) – D-N-R state deer biologist, Jace Elliott, says hunters reported taking more deer this year. “We saw about 109-thousand-600 deer harvested across the state throughout all of our regular seasons, which represents about a seven percent increase to the harvest that we saw in the prior year,” Elliott says. That included 25-hundred deer taken in the new January season that allowed hunters to use any leftover antlerless tags. “We had 20 counties eligible for this hunt this year in Iowa, and 14 of them sold out completely. by the end of that season,” he says, “many of which sold out during the first day.” Elliott says the traditional hunting hotspots held true this year.

“You know, it was pretty typical to what we see, in most years, the southeast and northeast corners of the state were sort of leading the pack in terms of harvest numbers,” Elliott says. “I believe Clayton County — which is always kind of our number one harvest county in the state — maintained that position. But we did see a lot of harvest come out of south-central and southeastern Iowa as well.” Elliott says numbers were lower in western Iowa as they continue to build back from the E-H-D outbreak and floods in the Missouri River valley.

“Twenty-nineteen was a pretty bad year for E-H-D in that part of the state. And there were some other factors that go into the declines they’re seeing — such as river flooding during the fawn season, and, and so on. But E-H-D is certainly part of the puzzle. Fortunately, this year was a very mild year for E-H-D in Iowa,” according to Elliott. There were around seven-thousand deer licenses sold and hunters tagged deer at a rate of 30-35 percent — which is similar to previous years.

“Our deer population model indicates that we’re still on a fairly stable to slightly increasing trend statewide,” Elliott says. “And we’re well within our management objective, which is basically to manage the statewide deer population at the level that it was in the mid-1990s. And we’re more or less there and have been for years.” Elliott says the weather was favorable across the state for most of the deer season, which helped with hunter success.

(Radio Iowa) – The leader of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says the biofuels industry is frustrated by opposition to carbon pipelines and a little bit angry about delayed federal rules that would let E-15 be sold year-round in every state this summer. The association held its annual meeting yesterday (Tuesday). Mike Jerke with Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy in Council Bluffs says once pipelines carry carbon out of Iowa ethanol plants, ethanol made here would have the advantage of being considered a low carbon or carbon free fuel.

“We have a declining usage of liquid fuels generally and in terms of diversification and what it means for our members, we have to look at all of these opportunities to continue to diversify and enter markets that are afforded to us,” Jerke says. Jerke made his comments to the House Environmental Protection Committee yesterday (Tuesday).

A few hours earlier, Monte Shaw, the executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said it’s frustrating to have other groups and elected officials criticize carbon pipelines. Environmentalists and advocates for property rights who oppose the pipelines are regularly at the Iowa Capitol. They’re urging lawmakers to block state regulators from granting pipeline developers the power to seize land from property owners who don’t want the pipelines on their property.

CASS COUNTY, IOWA – Anita city officials notified the Iowa DNR Field Office staff this morning regarding a sewage overflow near 203 Michigan Avenue. The overflow was discovered around 5:30 p.m. Monday.

The overflow occurred at a manhole about 75 yards north of 203 Michigan Avenue after a sewer collection system under Turkey Creek became blocked. Approximately 50 gallons of sewage also backed up into a residential basement at 203 Michigan Avenue.

The city’s wastewater operator estimates 250 gallons of sewage reached Turkey Creek.  City staff cleared the obstruction by 7 p.m. Monday and spread lime on the area between the manhole and the creek to kill bacteria.

Officials have determined no further action is needed at this time.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, wants President Joe Biden to address ag issues in tonight’s (Tuesday) State of the Union address. “I’m hoping the American President talks about we in the heartland, we’re Americans also that, you know, he can address agriculture that he can address, biofuels and then he can address how we can work together to save our main street businesses and our family farms,” Feenstra says. He also wants the president to address the economic problems facing the country.

“Inflation has really been catastrophic — to not only families but small businesses and agriculture — and I hope he can lay out a plan to how we can start reducing inflation and then also how we can start becoming energy independent by using things like ethanol and biodiesel,” he says. Feenstra says these things impact everyday Americans and the president needs to address them.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University researchers are part of an effort led by Purdue University to diversify the cornbelt. I-S-U sociology professor J. Arbuckle says farmers once planted many different crops on their land. “The long rotations with lots of different crops, spread risk, all around the farm, but they also took care of, you know ecological processes, agro ecological processes that took care of a lot of the, you know, the pest cycles and the weed cycles and that sort of thing,” he says.  The crops became less diversified with the advent of chemicals to deal with the pests and weeds, and the use of mechanized farm machines. Arbuckle says farmers started specializing in soybeans and corn.

“We’re seeing a lot of problems stemming from that specialized system, right? So we’ve got a lot of tillage going on that results in reduction of soil health and soil erosion. We also have herbicide resistant weeds, we’ve got pesticide resistant insects,” Arbuckle says. There’s also a boom and bust pattern for the price of those commodities. He says this project is looking at ways to add some diversity back into the system. “To number one, provide more market opportunities for farmers, more ways to have more resilient cropping systems that use more agroecological processes to deal with those pest and weed cycles,” Arbuckle says. “But also to deal with some of the more extreme weather that we’re having.”

They hope to find some of the answers with the ten million dollar U-S-D-A grant. “This is a five-year project. So we don’t have any illusions that we’re going to change the system in five years,” he says. “So really, what we’re doing is looking at different options and pathways and potential creative visions for ways that we might open doors for diversification.”

The team includes more than 30 investigators who are working with farmers and other agricultural stakeholders in Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois to envision and evaluate more diverse agricultural systems for the Midwest.

(Radio Iowa) – A state senator who’s proposed five different bills in response to proposed carbon pipelines says the current regulatory process is unfair to landowners. Senator Jeff Taylor says the bill most likely to pass would require that developers get voluntary access to 90 percent of the land along the pipeline route before state regulators could grant permission to seize the rest through eminent domain.

“The Iowa Farm Bureau has endorsed the 90% bill,” Taylor says. “It’s probably seen as more of a reasonable compromise by Republicans who are leery of interfering for various reasons into the existing process.” Taylor is a Republican from Sioux Center — in Sioux County — where the proposed Summit pipeline would pass through. Taylor says since Summit is owned by major G-O-P donor Bruce Rastetter and former Governor Terry Branstad has been an advisor to the project, it’s been political uncomfortable to raise concerns.

“These pipelines, carbon capture, helping the ethanol industry, it’s a priority for a lot of my Republican colleagues,” Taylor says. “I’m not against the pipelines per se, but it matters how we do things and I think we’re going about this the wrong way.” Taylor says there’s no guarantee the legislature will take any action on the issue. “I think some of my colleagues would just like us to sit back and let the process take its natural course, but that’s what I object to,” Taylor says, “because I don’t think the natural course is constitutional or fair to the landowners who are affected.”

Dan Tronchetti lives near Paton in Greene County. The Summit pipeline would pass through one of his fields and be within 12-hundred feet west of his front door. He’s frequently at the Iowa Capitol, outlining his objections to having his land seized for the project. “I’ve been forced to come out of my comfort zone and become a political activist,” he says. Tronchetti says the contract Summit presented him suggests he could be sued if his combine or farm equipment damages the pipeline buried four feet below ground.

“Bottom line is that I don’t feel like I have liability protection,” he says, “and that if the pipeline company says that I caused an issue that I could end up losing the farm either by a court judgment or to pay attorney fees to defend myself.” Tronchetti says if the pipeline passes through his farm, he may make the 75 foot wide strip of land on top of the underground pipeline a no-go zone rather than plant corn or soybeans on it.

Emergency Management officials in Mills County have implemented a ban on open burning. See the following press release:

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa farmer is speaking out in favor of carbon pipelines. Kelly Nieuwenhuis, who farms near Primghar, is calling on what he says is the silent majority to join him in speaking out for carbon capture utilization and storage, or C-C-U-S. Nieuwenhuis calls opponents of such projects, like the Sierra Club, extremist environmental groups.

Nieuwenhuis says the Sierra Club has three reasons for fighting against carbon capture and the pipelines. The first he names is they don’t like the livestock and the cattle production industry. Second, he says they don’t like production agriculture and they’re anti-G-M-O.

Carbon Intensity, or CI, is a way to measure how well a company manages its carbon output. The lower the score, the more carbon-sensitive markets are willing to do business with you. Nieuwenhuis says an ethanol plant’s base CI score is around 70, and a carbon pipeline lowers that score around 30 points. He questions why the Sierra Club is opposing things that will help meet their own goal.

Niewuenhuis says he’s negotiated with the pipelines and received everything he asked for regarding his land and how they’ll use it. He says the argument pipelines will ruin farmland is false.

Nieuwenhuis serves on the board of directors for Siouxland Energy, an ethanol production plant in Sioux Center, and he’s also the chair of the National Corn Ethanol Committee.