DES MOINES – Today (Friday), Governor Kim Reynolds signed proclamations relating to the weight limits and transportation of grain, fertilizer, manure, and motor fuels. The Harvest Proclamation is effective immediately and continues through November 27, 2022. The proclamation allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage, stover, fertilizer (dry, liquid, and gas), and manure (dry and liquid) to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit for the duration of this proclamation.

A separate proclamation allows vehicles transporting motor fuels including gasoline, diesel #1, diesel #2, ethanol, biodiesel, aviation gas, and jet fuel to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit. The proclamation also temporarily suspends regulatory provisions of Iowa law pertaining to hours of service for crews and drivers hauling motor fuels. Increased demand, along with above average wait times at petroleum product terminals, have created challenges to timely access of these fuels. That proclamation is effective immediately and expires on November 27, 2022.

The proclamations apply to loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (6) (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.

(Union County, Iowa) – Dozens of Iowa farmers came together in Union County to harvest 550 acres in a single day. It happened just one week after Paul Baker of Creston unexpectedly died at the age of 66. KCCI reports five fields at the Baker farm needed work, and Baker’s friends readily accepted the challenge. They used 18 combines, 40 tractor-trailers, and 20 grain carts to get the job done by noon.

Baker’s daughters were touched but say they aren’t surprised, because they said, parents want to set good examples for their children and future generations. A local business provided sack lunches for the farmers. Students from the Saint Malachy School in Creston decorated the lunch sacks and wrote every farmer a thank you note.

There have been other reported gatherings of farmers and their equipment in Iowa and across the Midwest, who rose to the occasion and helped another farmer in need, even while their own crops still need to be harvested.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is partnering with Iowa State University to create a demonstration farm near the Ames campus to field-test agricultural equipment and various farming practices in real-world conditions. Andy Greenlee, a senior staff engineer at John Deere, says the 80-acre tract is divided into eight fields where they’ll test sustainable solutions for large grain production systems.

“We’ll be looking at four different practices that will be on those eight fields in corn and soybeans,” Greenlee says. “Half the farm will be in a corn-soybean rotation and the other half will be in a corn-corn-soy rotation and it’s looking at practices that are common to farmers in that location.” Greenlee says the farm is designed to give Deere the same uncertainties and challenges as its customers, so they can test and identify which methods work — and which don’t. Over a five-year production cycle, he says four different crop production systems will be implemented.

“We’ll do a conventional tillage situation or passes, so we usually have a two-pass system of tillage,” Greenlee says. “We have a reduced tilled where we’re looking at keeping some more of that residue on the soil surface. We go into a strip till practice where tilling only a slight band, a 10-inch band, placing those fertilizers into that tillage pass and then planting right on top of it. And then the last practice that we’re demonstrating is no-till and cover crops, so growing cover crops before that cash crop and then planting into that.” The farm is being run by a combination of Deere employees and I-S-U faculty and staff who are using an array of John Deere Green equipment.

“We are using our exact emerged planter technology where we’re placing that seed at the right place within the furrow,” Greenlee says. “We also have our auto track guidance technologies for our equipment to save on fuel savings, and also a section control so that we can turn the inputs that are the seeds, the fertilizers that are being applied, and we can put those in the right place and at the right rates.” The data collected will measure multiple factors, Greenlee says, including crop productivity, the cost of production, soil health, water quality, carbon intensity and biodiversity.

Through the partnership, Deere is supplying the equipment and technology while I-S-U is covering the input costs, things like seed and fertilizer, while the university gets to keep the revenue from taking the crops they harvest to market.

(Radio Iowa) – Three men from Miami are under arrest, accused of stealing nine MILLION dollars worth of frozen beef and pork from meatpacking plants in Iowa and five other states. Terry Wagner, the sheriff in Lancaster County, Nebraska, says his department started connecting the dots after finding empty semi trailers that had been stolen from a Grand Island beef packer. “It was surprising how brazen and how widespread it really was,” Wagner says. Investigators from the Lancaster County, Nebraska sheriff’s office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have identified 45 thefts so far.

“They’ve been targeted beef and pork packaging facilities in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin,” the sheriff says. It was a highly sophisticated organized criminal enterprise according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Nebraska sheriff says in many instances it appears the men drove into an area in a semi tractor and hooked it up to a trailer that had been loaded with frozen meat.

“They knew what to look for, they knew where to look, where trailers would be staged for transport and they would just drive in, hook up to a trailer and take off.” The sheriff told reporters in Lincoln, Nebraska that federal investigators used electronic surveillance to track three semi tractor trailers with more than half a million dollars worth of stolen meat to Florida last Thursday.

“The investigation is still continuing,” he says. “We’re still trying to identify some of the victims of these thefts and we’ll keep working on this case.” On September 1st, 100-thousand dollars worth of pork was stolen from the J-B-S plant in Ottumwa, but there’s been no official confirmation that case is among the 45 meat thefts identified by the Nebraska sheriff.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has identified a record number of trumpeter swan nests. D-N-R waterfowl biologist Orrin Jones says the species was reintroduced in Iowa in 1993. “Their population has been slowly recovering since then,” he says, “and we’re really pleased to see them continue that recovery.”

According to the D-N-R’s website, unregulated hunting and the draining of wetlands after European settlers arrived in Iowa led to the species’ demise here. Now, in the 29th year of the restoration effort, the latest count indicates there are at least 135 pairs of adult nesting swans in Iowa. “Trumpeter swans are traditionally associated with the Prairie Pothole region of Iowa, which is a geographic formation in north central and northwest Iowa where historically pothole wetlands were very abundant,” Jones says.

Jones says restoration of wetland areas has helped the species get re-established. The D-N-R began its trumpeter swan restoration program in 1993, then in 1998, three wild cygnets — baby swans — hatched from a next in Dubuque County.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday morning, received updates on the County employee Wellness Program, and Conservation Department activities. Supervisor Jerry Walker reported on the Wellness program participation and data regarding employee physicals. Data from the physicals helps the County in its efforts to obtain the best insurance rates it can in a points-based system. Walker said that, as of Monday, 60% of the physical reports had been turned-in.

Auditor Mandy Berg said the County stands to lose money if there is no change from last year’s data.

Rates have skyrocketed this year in Iowa, for both personal and group insurance. In other business, the Adair County Supervisors acknowledged and approved the GAAP Annual Financial Report. GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and are a collection of commonly-followed accounting rules and standards for financial reporting.

And, in his report to the Board, Adair County Conservation Director Dominic Johnson said they have awarded a contract for the Mormon Trail Shower House to Caliber Concrete, LLC out of Adair, in the amount of $174, 250, which was under budget by about $750,

The good news, he said is that they’ll have the site already prepped for the shower house before it arrives.

Johnson said he’s pleased by the number of campers they’ve had this year and the funds those persons bring to the county for camping fees.

He said this Fall has been especially busy. At Orient, they have been a lot of weekends this month where the campsites are full. Dominic said also, shower houses were officially closed and winterized last week. The docks are out of the water at most of the lakes in Adair County. Johnson said also, there were 27 people who attended the Conservation Department’s Hunter Education Class, last month.

Walleye fish, he said, have been stocked at four different county lakes, but there is concern about the lakes being as low as they are.

w/Kate Olson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (October 25, 2022) – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has been notified that Global Processing, Inc., based at 945 150th Street in Kanawha, IA, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the State of Iowa effective October 24, 2022. Global Processing, Inc. holds grain dealer and warehouse licenses in Iowa, which were suspended earlier this month.

Anyone with unpaid grain sold to this dealer and/or grain delivered for storage before October 24, 2022, may file a claim with the Iowa Grain Depositors and Sellers Indemnity Fund. Claims must be made in writing and filed with Global Processing, Inc. and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Grain Warehouse Bureau, within 120 days (February 21, 2023).

Claims can be mailed or personally delivered to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Grain Warehouse Bureau, Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. 9th St., Des Moines, Iowa, 50319. Failure to file a claim within 120 days relieves the Iowa Grain Depositors and Sellers Indemnity Fund of its obligation. Failure to make a timely claim against the Iowa Grain Depositors and Sellers Indemnity Fund does not relieve Global Processing, Inc. of its liability to the claimant.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Grain Warehouse Bureau regulates and examines the financial solvency of grain dealers and grain warehouse operators to protect Iowa farmers. The Grain Warehouse Bureau is responsible for administering the Iowa Grain Depositors and Sellers Indemnity Fund, which was created in 1986 to provide financial protection to farmers with stored grain. The indemnity fund covers farmers with grain on deposit in an Iowa-licensed warehouse and grain sold to a state-licensed grain dealer. In the case of a failure in a state license warehouse or grain dealer, the indemnity fund will pay farmers 90 percent of a loss on grain up to a maximum of $300,000 per claimant.

If claimants have questions, they can contact the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Grain Warehouse Bureau at 515-281-5987.

Notice of Incurrence – Global Processing, Inc.

[COUNCIL BLUFFS, 10/25/22] – An open burning ban is in place for Pottawattamie County, effective immediately. The ban prohibits all open and controlled burning in Pottawattamie County, including all incorporated city limits within the county. Scott Manz, Pott. County Emergency Management Director, said “Despite yesterday’s (Monday’s) rainfall and forecast chances later in the week, accumulation amounts will yield little to no relief from the continuing moisture deficits in the county and region.:

Manz said with the dry and windy conditions, the risk of a fast-moving wildfire is increased, as witnessed recently in Lancaster County, Montgomery County, and Harrison County; large, rapidly advancing fires proved difficult to contain and prompted evacuations. Such conditions put the public and first responders at significant risk. The ban will remain in place through the harvest and/or until environmental and weather conditions improve to a level that doesn’t significantly diminish fire containment and suppression efforts. 

Citizens are reminded to never throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles. The burning of yard waste piled tree debris, grass/agricultural ground and set-asides, trash, or other items are prohibited during the ban. Disobeying an active burn ban is a simple misdemeanor. can subject a person to citation or arrest for reckless use of fire or disobeying a burn ban. You may also be liable for additional criminal charges, damages, losses, or injuries resulting from the fire.

For updated information on burn bans and the law you can find further information on the Emergency Management Agency website, Facebook, and twitter. While visiting the website, residents should sign up for Alert Iowa to receive alerts for fire warnings, evacuation orders, severe weather threats, and other emergency notifications for your community.

(Red Oak & Clarinda, Iowa) – Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman reports effective immediately, Montgomery County and Page County are placed into an Open Burn Ban by unanimous decision of all Fire Chiefs. The ban prohibits all open and controlled burning in Montgomery County and Page County unless an official burn ban permit has been issued by the proper fire chief.

Citizens are reminded to not throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles and to discontinue burning yard waste, piled tree debris, grass/agricultural ground and set-asides or other items during this ban. Small recreational camp fires are permitted only if they are conducted in a fire place of brick, metal or heavy one-inch wire mesh. Any camp fire not in an outdoor fire place is prohibited.

Violation of a burn ban can subject a person to citation or arrest for reckless use of fire or disobeying a burn ban.