DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Wednesday) said the recently released 2012 Census of Agriculture preliminary data show Iowa has seen dramatic increases in the total value of agriculture production, value of crops sold and value of livestock sold.  The growth has allowed Iowa to move in to 2^nd place nationally in each category since the last Census of Agriculture in 2007.

“The impact of Iowa’s agriculture industry is tremendous, and it continues to grow,” Northey said.  “The growth over the last five years is a testament to the hard work, creativity and persistence of our farmers.  Even with the recent softening of commodity prices, Iowa agriculture is well positioned to continue to be a key driver of the state’s economy.”

Iowa’s total value of agriculture production increased more than 50 percent from $20.4 billion in 2007 to $30.8 billion in 2012.  The value of crops sold in Iowa increased by 2/3 from $10.3 billion to $17.4 billion.  The value of Iowa livestock production increased by 1/3 from $10.1 billion to $13.5 billion.

Iowa moved from 3^rd nationally in each category in to 2^nd place national, passing Texas in the total value of production, passing Illinois in the value of crops sold and passing California in the value of livestock sold. Additional preliminary Census of Agriculture date can be found at www.AgCensus.usda.gov.  The final census results will be released in May and will include U.S., state and county data on livestock inventory, crop acreage and production, energy, land use practices, and production expenses.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hoping landowners will take a look at a new program to create habitat for pheasants. D-N-R wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz (bohg-in-shuts), says it’s part of the Conservation Reserve Program and 50-thousand acres are available in Iowa. He says they weren’t able to get people signed up until the new Farm Bill was approved. “We’re hoping with the new Farm Bill being done here, hopefully in the next couple of months we’ll actually be able to market this and get a few landowners interested in putting some good pheasant habitat on the ground,” Bogenschutz says.

The program called “Iowa Pheasant Recovery. “Basically it’s kind of the bedroom, kitchen room, living room all right there in one spot for the birds,” Bogenschutz explained. He says having all the areas together makes it easier on the pheasants to nest and get food and grow their population. Bogenschutz says the program would work best on ground that isn’t that productive. “Corn prices are tumbling, you know there’s already predictions that corn could be under four dollars by this fall. So, especially on some of the less productive land, C-R-P rental rates are paying upwards of 300 dollars plus on some soils in Iowa,” Bogenschutz says. “So for those that are interested in helping pheasants, I think it’s probably worth looking at.”

Bogenschutz says the most recent winter storm that saw a mix of rain, sleet, hail and snow is a key example of the need for diverse habitat for pheasants. “I thought maybe this storm wasn’t going to be a big deal, but the way it came in — being warmer yet it still fell as snow — really stuck to vegetation. And it was very wet and really collapsed all the grasses under the weight of that wet, heavy snow,” Bogenschutz says.

He says that left pheasants will fewer places to hide and their food sources covered. “A lot of our grass habitats got eliminated. A lot of the fields are now locked in a sheet of ice,” according the Bogenschutz. He says that will make it hard for birds to scratch through the snow and ice to get to food. And he says they may have to move greater distances to find food, which leaves them open to predators. Weather has taken its toll on the state pheasant population in recent years. Bogenschutz says adding these C-R-P acres tailored to the birds could help turn that around.

(Radio Iowa)