(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.

(Radio Iowa) – Summit Carbon Solutions has announced property owners have given voluntary access to land along two-thirds of the proposed route of its carbon pipeline. According to a news release from the company, more than a thousand landowners have signed contracts to let the pipeline cross through their properties. Summit plans to collect carbon from ethanol plants and transport it through a pipeline to underground storage in North Dakota. Summit’s pipeline would link to a dozen Iowa ethanol plants and cover nearly 700 miles of ground in Iowa. Two other companies are seeking voluntary easements from Iowa property owners for carbon pipelines.

The Navigator pipeline would start in Illinois and extend 900 miles through Iowa. The Wolf pipeline would start in Cedar Rapids and end 350 miles later in Decatur, Illinois.

(Radio Iowa) – As egg prices bound, backyard chicken flocks are gaining in popularity, but the practice of chicken keeping demands plenty of planning and patience before it pays off. Christa Hartsook, the small farms program coordinator for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, says the amount of money you have to invest to get started depends on how large an operation you want to launch. “Your basic costs are going to be in a little bit of equipment,” Hartsook says. “You’re going to need specific waterers and feeders for baby chicks. You’re going to need a specific area to keep them in that you can keep them nice and enclosed, and definitely very warm while they are in that early stage of life. Your biggest costs are going to be in the chick itself and in the feed.”

Most chicks range from three to six dollars each, but before you start counting your chickens, Hartsook says you’ll need to make sure you can legally keep the birds in the backyard.  “I always recommend that folks check with their community first and foremost, so that they can determine what particular regulations are guiding their community,” Hartsook says. “It may be in terms of the overall number, a community may not allow roosters, you may have property setback limits, so definitely check and read your community ordinances.” There are all sorts of breeds from which to choose, and you’ll also need to decide if you want chickens for eggs or for meat. Plus, if you’re going to be raising them in Iowa, certain heavier breeds are better able to withstand the state’s frigid winters.

Hartsook says she’s getting a lot of calls lately about backyard chickens, as spring will arrive March 20th. “People are just very concerned about the rising costs and we use eggs a lot in our daily diets,” Hartsook says. “Another great thing about chickens is it’s a relatively easy enterprise to get started with. It doesn’t cost a whole lot, then it’s a great way for folks to make that connection back to their own food source, and then maybe even provide some responsibility for kids.” For the same reasons egg prices are inflated, supply chain issues are pushing up the cost of chicken feed — and the cost of chicks, too.

“Chicks are a little higher because we are seeing a lot of interest in getting started with backyard chickens, so you’re definitely not going to get chicks tomorrow and then see eggs the next week,” Hartsook says. “You’re not going to see any kind of return really on chicks until fall. It’s five to five-and-a-half months before a chick is mature enough to have egg production.” If you’re considering starting a backyard flock, there’s a free online course through the I-S-U Extension: https://store.extension.iastate.edu/product/15129

w/Kate Olson.

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