DES MOINES, Iowa (Aug. 8, 2022) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented Monday on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November.

“With the State Fair set to open on Thursday, fairgoers are looking forward to sampling new foods, revisiting longstanding traditions and taking in all things Iowa agriculture,” said Secretary Naig. “Temperatures are looking to be warmer than average with only minor chances of rain over the coming weeks. With these persistent conditions, we continue to monitor drought across northwestern and southern Iowa.”

The weekly report is also available on the USDA’s website at nass.usda.gov.

Crop Report

Precipitation early in the week for a few areas and late in the week for much of the State resulted in 6.1 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending August 7, 2022, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Persistent dry conditions and above-average temperatures are a concern for many. Fieldwork included cutting and baling hay and applying pesticides and fungicides.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 20 percent very short, 30 percent short, 48 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 19 percent very short, 33 percent short, 47 percent adequate and 1 percent surplus.

Corn silking or beyond was 93 percent, 5 days behind last year and 3 days behind the 5-year average. Fifty three percent of the corn crop has reached the dough stage or beyond, 2 days behind last year but 1 day ahead of the average. Five percent of Iowa’s corn crop has reached the dent stage, 6 days behind last year and 1 day behind the 5-year average. Corn condition fell to 73 percent good to excellent. Eighty-nine percent of soybeans were blooming, 9 days behind last year and 3 days behind average. Sixty-nine percent of the soybean crop was setting pods, 1 week behind last year and 1 day behind the 5-year average. Iowa’s soybean condition declined to 71 percent good to excellent. Ninety-six percent of oats were turning color or beyond, 9 days behind last year. Oats harvested for grain reached 82 percent, 1 day behind both last year and the average.

Ninety-five percent of the State’s second cutting of alfalfa hay was complete, with the third cutting at 28 percent. All hay condition rated 54 percent good to excellent. Pasture condition rated 36 percent good to excellent. Lack of rain and high heat caused some pastures to go dormant and CRP was released for grazing and haying in areas.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Education is getting a federal grant to put more local food in schools and early child care centers. It’s the second time the department has received the two-year grant for the Iowa Farm to School program. The Iowa Department of Agriculture contributes matching funds. Brenda Windmuller, at the ed department, says they’ll host more training for school workers on food safety and how local food can be incorporated into school lunches.

“Our big thing is that we want to make sure that the public is aware of what’s going on,” Windmuller says. “We want to increase the number of schools that participate in Farm to School initiatives, maybe eliminate some of that hesitation around it.” The U-S-D-A awarded the state a 67-thousand dollar grant to support Farm to School, while the state ag department will also contribute 25-thousand dollars. Windmuller says there’s no requirements for schools to participate in the program, but she says the funding will allow more education for school staff who are interested.

“If all you want to do is maybe participate in Iowa Local Food Day, once a year, that’s something,” she says. “That’s how you kind of dip your toe in it, learn about it, and then maybe the next year, you can take the next step. Really, that is our main objective, to get more people engaged in the program, and to increase the numbers of participation across the state.”

Additionally, the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa received close to 100-thousand dollars from the U-S-D-A to expand the school garden and increase food storage for students on the Meskwaki Settlement. They’ll also bring more tribal foods into schools and develop a tribal food sovereignty curriculum.

(reporting by Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R is in the midst of its annual wild turkey count and is looking for some help. Wildlife Biologist, Jim Coffey, leads the survey, “We asked the general public if they do see wild turkeys to go to the Iowa D-N-R webpage under the turkey tab, and they can report that sightings. And that helps us get a good indication of the productivity for the for the summer,” Coffey says. He says the population has been pretty strong. “The last couple of years we’ve had good production. This year has been a little bit mixed with the with the early hatch — that seems to be down — but the second hatch seems to be up.” Coffey says. “And that’s usually a pretty good indicator in drought year conditions. We usually see pretty good nest success and drought years.”

You could see wild turkeys in a variety of places. “The first nest attempt is usually in some thicker covered has to be in the Woodlands,” he explains. “The last nest attempt will be out basically anywhere. But we tend to think in those areas like shrubs, raspberries, and plum thickets and things like that, it provides good overhead cover.” Coffey says the turkeys like that overhead cover to protect them from predators. You are most likely to see hens, which will gather together in groups to watch over the young birds. “The males do not care about the rest of them until springtime. So, you typically don’t see males with the with the hens this time of the year. But we do still count males in part of the survey — there is a section for that if people see males and male groups,” Coffey says.

Coffey says they typically see 50-thousand wild turkey licenses purchased each year — but most hunters never bag a bird. “That’s usually a surprise to people — we were pretty consistent with about a 22 percent success rate from year to year,” he says, “and I think people have kind of forgotten or we’ve gotten used to the fact that we think that everybody that buys a license should be successful. And that’s far from the truth. It is a hunt. It is challenging, and that’s what makes turkey hunting exciting. ”

Coffey says they consistently see from 11 to 12-thousand wild turkeys harvested in the springtime each year. He says they have a fall season, but it is not as popular among hunters. To learn more about wild turkey hunting or to report your turkey sighting, go to iowadnr.gov. The turkey survey lasts through August.

(Radio Iowa) – Drought conditions are expanding across the state, spreading throughout southern Iowa, but the northwest region is being hit hardest. Don Kass farms in Plymouth County, which is in extreme drought. He says his crops have been faring well so far, but he’s starting to see signs of heat distress. “It’s kind of spotty,” Kass says. “Some fields look like they’re there okay. Other fields, you can see that it’s lighter soil and that the lack of moisture is profound and they’re really suffering.”

Kass says it’s a critical time for corn and soybean development. He says the area needs to see significant rainfall soon to aid the crops’ pollination process. This year, the region saw its second driest June on record, what’s typically the wettest month of the season. On a daily basis, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Joel DeJong says he sees corn leaves curling and soybean leaves turning over to protect themselves from the heat. “Every day that we’ve got this, particularly the really extreme heat, I think it’s hurting our yield potential significantly,” DeJong says, “more so, closer to Missouri and Big Sioux than it is as you go east.”

DeJong says he expects the region’s yields will be impacted more than they were during last year’s drought. That’s due to a prolonged period of higher temperatures. Compared to last year, the region has seen more 90-degree weather. The latest U-S Drought Monitor map shows around 60 Iowa counties are in some form of drought, with 30 counties abnormally dry, 20 counties in moderate drought, six in severe drought and four (Cherokee, Plymouth, Sioux & Woodbury) in extreme drought.

(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Two Counties in southwest Iowa now have bans in place on outdoor burning. On Thursday, a ban on open burning went into effect in Adair County. Today (Friday), the State Fire Marshal’s Office issued a BURN BAN for Mills County, effective from 8-a.m. Saturday, August 6th, and until further notice. The conditions are such in both Adair and Mills Counties, that conducting an open burn creates a danger to lives and property.

Once fire officials in each county agree those conditions no longer exist, the Emergency Management Director will request the ban to be removed. Until then, a violation of the ban on open burning, is a simple misdemeanor.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Abnormally dry or drought conditions now cover more than half of Iowa. The latest Drought Monitor map was released Thursday morning. The map shows 56% of the state rated as abnormally dry, which now includes Polk and Jasper counties. Areas of northwest and southeastern Iowa are now so dry they’re dealing with drought conditions. Two-thirds of Cass County, most of Adair, Madison, Adams, Union and Montgomery Counties are experiencing a Moderate Drought, while other areas to the north and northeast are considered “Dry.”

According to the report, 30.6% of Iowa is experiencing moderate drought, up from 17.2% a week ago.  9.1% of Iowa is experiencing severe drought, a 1.4% increase from last week, while 3.2% of the state is dealing with extreme drought.

Iowa Drought Monitor, 8/4/22 (click on image to enlarge)

 An island of D1 category moderate drought introduced two weeks ago in southeast Iowa is expanding across the southern and central part of the state into southwest Iowa. Plymouth County and the northern portion of Woodbury County in northwest Iowa are dealing with extreme drought conditions.

(Radio Iowa) – Starting today (Friday), Summit Carbon Solutions will start providing state regulators with lists of landowners along its proposed pipeline who have not agreed to voluntary easements. Justin Kirchoff, president of Summit Ag Investors, says hundreds of people HAVE signed contracts to let the carbon pipeline run through their property. “We’ve got about 750 landowners that have decided to sign voluntary easements with us today, so that’s about 270 miles of pipeline easements,” Kirchoff says. Summit submitted an application to the Iowa Utilities Board for a pipeline permit earlier this year. State regulations require disclosure of which parcels along the route are not yet secured voluntarily.

“That process will take about a month,” Kirchoff says, “and then, obviously, as we move forward and continue to sign voluntary easements which remains 100% of our focus today some of those names will come off the list.” Kirchoff says people understandably have questions about carbon capture and the pipeline itself. “I think a lot of people have scar tissue, if you will, in terms of Dakota Access. We’re going to do things a lot different,” Kirchoff says. “First and foremost, over 60% of this pipe is going to be eight inches or smaller and you compare that with Dakota Access, which is 30 inches. Just the whole process of installation is going to be a lot less invasive.”

The Dakota Access pipeline, which cuts diagonally through Iowa, was first proposed nearly a decade ago. In 2017, it began shipping crude oil from North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois. Kirchoff says Summit has obtained voluntary easements from about a third of landowners in five states. The pipeline’s Iowa segment is to connect with a dozen ethanol plants in the state, to lower the carbon footprint of the fuel that’s produced. “We’re getting closer to fall here. Every other row of corn that’s harvested is going to wind up going to an ethanol plant,” Kirchoff says. “We think its an incredibly important market and if we want to be competitive long-term we think that it certainly makes sense that we implement projects like this that make ethanol plants in the near term more profitable and in the long term more competitive in various markets.”

Several county boards of supervisors have urged state officials to reject eminent domain requests connected to carbon pipelines. The eminent domain process would let the company seize land from property owners who haven’t signed voluntary easements. Summit and two other companies have proposed building carbon pipelines through Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest Iowa Farm Bureau Food and Farm index survey is showing the concerns people have with food prices. The Farm Bureau’s Zach Bader says prices were listed at the top of the list of concerns for the first time in nine years of the survey for a couple of items. “Price is listed as the most important factor that’s driving both meat and dairy purchases by Iowans that’s above eight other factors that were tested,” he says.

Bader says 79 percent of those in the survey done with Harris Polls, say they are concerned about the impact of government regulations on the prices. “Which is up from 62 percent in last year survey,” Bader says. “In fact, government regulation that increases food costs went from the sixth most concerning aspect of food production last year in 2021, to the most selected option.”

Bader says they didn’t ask for specifics on the regulation side. “We just left it as government regulation that increases food costs. So there’s, you know, regulations on the food chain all the way from the farm — all the way up to the manufacturing and whatnot,” he says.

Bader says the survey found among the Iowans who are the primary or have a shared responsibility for grocery grocery shopping responsibilities, 96 percent eat meat at least weekly, and 94 percent consume dairy, at least weekly.

(Winterset, Iowa) – A wind farm project featuring 30 turbines has been scrapped in Madison County. Officials with MidAmerican Energy told KCCI in Des Moines, that the utility company says it canceled the Arbor Hill project, because of the circumstances surrounding their original plans have changed, including the number of turbines they were allowed to construct.

In a statement to the television station, MidAmerican said “While the project in Madison County won’t proceed, we have proudly partnered with more than 4,000 landowners across Iowa to host wind turbines that are critical to our ability to deliver customers clean, renewable energy – in 2021, that amounted to more than 88% of the energy our Iowa customers used.”

Atlantic, Iowa – Produce in the Park Manager Brigham Hoege reports food trucks Zipp’s Pizzeria and Zemog’s Cocina will be at Produce in the Park this Thursday, August 4th. Zemog’s jalapeno ranch sauce is quickly becoming a customer favorite at the park. Those who like jalapenos will find fresh jalapenos at the park this week.

Hoege says August is a great time of year for fresh, local produce in Iowa, and vendors will be selling jalapenos, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, sweet corn, onions, garlic, eggplant, peppers, and more. This week, free taste tests of cherry tomatoes will be handed out by Produce in the Park Board Member Vicki Nordskog. Cherry tomatoes are a simple, delicious, healthy snack that come in a variety of colors. Tasting different colors is a great way to introduce kids to produce. 

Sue Irvin of Sue’s Country Garden does an excellent job of introducing people to produce. For example, she’s been known to sneak zucchini and eggplant into brownies. A few years ago, after repeatedly offering her young grandson tomatoes, Sue brought him to Produce in the Park. Up to that point, the boy had insisted to his grandma that he didn’t like tomatoes, but to her surprise he changed his mind that day at the park when he tried orange and yellow tomatoes. Stories like this one demonstrate the special magic of farmers markets. Stop by the market this week to discover produce you never knew you loved.

Produce in the Park is held every Thursday through Oct. 13th.

Details on the August 4th event are as follows:

Produce in the Park August 4
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: Atlantic City Park (10 W. 7th Street, Atlantic, IA 50022)
Food Trucks: Zipp’s Pizza and Zemog’s Cocina Taco Truck
Fresh Produce: Tomatoes, sweet corn, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, and more
Local Meat: beef, pork, lamb, and chicken
Farm favorites: fresh-cut flowers, farm-fresh eggs, honey
Treats and Sweets: fresh-squeezed lemonade, popcorn, kringle, pastries, and fruit crisps
Crafts and more: jewelry, art prints, greeting cards, soaps, candles, lotions, plants, and lawn decorations
Fun: Live music, games, and more!
Free Taste Tests: Cherry tomatoes
Visiting organizations: Atlantic Public Library and Atlantic Parks and Recreation
Free drawing for a dozen eggs sponsored by the Cass County Local Food Policy Council.
(Anyone age 18+ can enter for free. Winner will be drawn after the market and receive eggs the
following week.
Payment methods accepted: All vendors accept cash. Many accept credit cards, Venmo, and Farmers
Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Senior and WIC checks. All qualifying food vendors accept SNAP/EBT
(also known as food stamps). All fresh produce vendors both accept and distribute Double Up Food
Bucks (coupons given for SNAP/EBT purchases of fresh produce).