The Southwest Iowa Fishing Team (SWIFT) has announced their planned tournament schedule for the 2022 season. Coach and President Bob Harris said they are moving some events to larger bodies of water to accommodate the number of boats due to continued growth for the program. The schedule is subject to change and reliant on permits being issued for each event.

Boat Series 2021/2022 Season
Saturday, September 18th, 2021 at Prairie Rose- Harlan, Iowa
Saturday, October 16th, 2021 at 3 Mile- Afton, Iowa
Saturday, April 14th, 2022 at 12 Mile- Afton, Iowa
Saturday, April 30th, 2022 at Lake Anita, Anita
Saturday, May 14th, 2022- at 3 Mile- Afton, Iowa this will be the Iowa State Championships.

Duke Rental Kayak Series 2021/2022 Season
The kayaks have been ordered and the first tournament will be determined by the arrival of the kayaks. The schedule is tentative.
Sunday October 3rd, 2021 at Greenfield Lake, Greenfield, Iowa
Sunday October 24th, 2021 at Mormon Trail, Bridgewater, Iowa
Saturday, May 22nd , 2022 at TBA
Saturday, June 12th, 2022 at TBA
Sunday, July 17th, 2022- at Prairie Rose, Iowa this will be the Iowa State Championships.

Virtual Series-
These will be monthly online tournaments within an overall series.
Winter Series will begin at the end of January and February
Spring/Summer Series- there will be multi fish species tournaments.
Summer/Fall Series- there will be multi fish species tournaments.

All schedules are tentative and are subject to change based on permits.

Atlantic’s Joaquin Wailes and Corning’s Joe Oathoudt have earned a trip to compete in Bass Cat Big Bass Zone Junior Championship, presented by Bassmasters, a national fishing competition in Branson, MO on Lake Taneycomo. Both anglers won a state title to advance, Wailes a freshman at Atlantic High School will represent the state of Iowa and Oathoudt a senior at Southwest Valley will represent Nebraska during the national tournament held Saturday, Oct 30th. The event features 52 anglers from across the country one from every state plus a few top second-place finishers. and competitors will be paired up two to a boat, though it’s still a solo competition. While he’ll be fishing uncharted waters, Oathoudt said he’s going into it with a positive attitude.

They will compete against 52-state championships caliber anglers in the competition for the biggest bass, with the top prize being a Bass Cat boat and scholarships.

The state and national bass fishing competitions are organized differently. For the state competition, the brothers fished on their own, and then submitted proof of their catch to an online Fishing Chaos app with measurements of the fish’s length, width, and girth. Based on that, the organizers calculated the fish’s weight, and Wailes and Oathoudt were declared the winner.

Wailes attempted to qualify for the tournament last year but missed qualifying by a quarter of pound. ‘I was motivated this year to make the tournament, because I love fishing, and this is an amazing opportunity for me to compete at the national level for the first time,” Wailes said. ‘Plus, there’s so much more to the Big Bass Zone tournament, I am a better angler by studying water conditions, learning different fishing techniques, reading contour maps, understanding fish habitats and now getting sponsors and learning business relationships.”

For the national competition, Wailes and Oathoudt will be paired up two competitors to a boat, though it’s still a solo competition. While he’ll be fishing unchartered waters, Oathoudt said he’s going into it with a positive attitude. The competitors will spend the day fishing, and they take turns deciding where the boat goes, with one competitor steering it in the morning, and the other angler steering it in the afternoon. They will be laying it all out there for a chance to win over $300,000 in prizes and scholarships including a new Basscat bass boat.

““It will be a great experience and I feel honored to go and represent Nebraska at this once-in-a-lifetime event,” Oathoudt said. “I found my passion, and fish as often as I can with my brothers, cousins and his buddies from school. I want to thank Bill Siemantel with the BBZ, my grandpa for finding this opportunity and all of the sponsors that helped to support the tournament.”

Both anglers are members of the newly formed Southwest Iowa Fishing Team where they fished with other area student anglers. “I am so excited for the boys they definitely put in the work and time to earn their spot in the BBZJC,” Bob Harris the coach of SWIFT said. In our first year as a fishing team, we have had great success with a two SWFT high school teams placing 20th at the TBF/SAF World Championships and 50th in the National Championships, and our junior fishing 4th at the Junior World Championships. We have some great student anglers in Iowa, and I would also like to congratulate Jake Oathoudt and Owen Hoover who also competed hard in the BBZJC tournament but didn’t qualify.”

“It’s quite a thrill,” explained Wailes. “This is the biggest tournament I’ve ever qualified for and it’s a lot different than the local tournaments I’ve been in. It’s a new experience and I will do everything he can to make Iowa, his sponsors, and his parents proud. I’m going to be nervous, but it’s a great opportunity.”

Over the next month Wailes and Oathoudt will be studying contour maps, connecting with area adult anglers who may have fished on Lake Taneycomo and making a special trip in September to pre-fish the lake, so that when they arrive on the water, he already knows where to go. The boys will be searching for sponsors to help offset travel expenses and fishing supplies as the focus on competing hard for the Bass Cat Big Bass Zone Junior Championship, presented by Bassmasters. The boys are ready and excited to take on this challenge competing against teams from across the US.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2021 – Organic producers and handlers can now apply for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds to assist with the cost of receiving or maintaining organic certification. Applications for the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP) are due Nov. 1, 2021.

“USDA is here to help all producers, including those who grow our nation’s organic food and fiber. Many farmers have told us that cost was a barrier to their ability to get an organic certification,” said Zach Ducheneaux, administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). “By assisting with the costs, this program can help organic farmers get their certification along with the benefits that come with it.”

OCCSP provides cost-share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products for the costs of obtaining or maintaining organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program. Eligible producers include any certified producers or handlers who have paid organic certification fees to a USDA-accredited certifying agent during the 2021 and any subsequent program year. Producers can be reimbursed for expenses made between Oct. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021 including application fees, inspection costs, fees related to equivalency agreement and arrangement requirements, travel expenses for inspectors, user fees, sales assessments and postage.

For 2021, OCCSP will reimburse 50% of a certified operation’s allowable certification costs, up to a maximum of $500 for each of the following categories (or “scopes”):

• crops
• wild crops
• livestock
• processing/handling
• State organic program fees

Organic farmers and ranchers may apply through an FSA county office or a participating state agency.

This funding will be complemented by an additional $20 million for organic and transitioning producers through the Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. More information on that funding will be available in the coming weeks.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) The U-S-D-A crop report shows Iowa’s corn crop is rated at 58 percent good to excellent — a slight drop from last week’s 61 percent rating. The soybean condition was also rated at 58 percent good to excellent — down from 60 percent the week before. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says things could have been a lot worse if not for some rain that helped some of the dry areas.

Things still remain very dry in areas of the state, and overall Naig says we are still behind.

Naig says some farmers are still trying to recover from last year’s derecho damage.

Naig says there’s always added costs as you are rebuilding bins and other things, and that keeps the burden of the storm recovery going into this year. Naig made his comments during a recent interview at the Iowa State Fair.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show reached new heights, raising $375,265.92 at the 39th annual show. All proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa, with houses in Des Moines, Iowa City and Sioux City. The local charities provide a “home away from home” for families of sick children.

Since 1983, the Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show has raised over $4.5 million for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa. The Office of the Governor of Iowa; Kim Reynolds, Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and Iowa Beef Industry Council would like to thank past and present donors for their support. This event demonstrates the “Cattlemen Care” and “Iowa Nice” mantra, which is synonymous with Iowa.

This year’s show, held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, showcased 24 Iowa steer exhibitors. Ben Kelly, of Dallas Center, picked the Grand Champion Steer and Mike Sorensen, of Greenfield, selected the Grand Champion Showman. The Grand Champion Steer was shown by Jeff Angelo and exhibited by Lane Elmquist of Audubon. Elmquist is the son of Joe and Brittany Elmquist. He has shown his steer Nelson this summer at the Beef Expo, Austin Alt Memorial Classic, the Barn to Backdrop Classic, earned Grand Champion at the Audubon County Fair, and qualified for the Southwest Iowa Shootout. The Grand Champion Steer was sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association and purchased by Friends & Family of Lane Elmquist and the Audubon Community. Grand Champion Showman honors went to Celebrity Showman Teagan Schaefer, of TaterTough. Schaefer led steer Hero, who was raised by Carlee Cremeens and sponsored by the Iowa Hereford Breeders Association.

This year’s People’s Choice Award went to celebrity Eric Hanson and exhibitor Molly Chapman. The Community Hero award was a new honor in 2021 and encouraged youth exhibitors to promote a sense of community through donated non-perishable goods and pop tabs, and social media engagement to raise awareness of the event. Youth exhibitor Kami Schrunk received the first Community Hero Award for exemplary leadership and promotion of the cause. Social media played an important role in exposing the Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show to more than 266,000 people nationwide.

(Additional information can be found HERE)

(Radio Iowa) – A little less than a week is left for Iowa’s cities, counties and groups like the Boy Scouts to apply for state grants to plant trees as part of the recovery process from last year’s derecho. The state legislature is allocating 250-thousand dollars for the Derecho Community Forestry Grant Program. Gabriele Edwards, an urban forestry program specialist at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the grants will go a long ways toward helping our towns restore some of that lost beauty. “This grant is targeting communities and public organizations,” Edwards says. “So, think local, state government, cities, municipalities. The public organizations would be more like scouting groups, county conservation, essentially any public group that would be planting trees on public property.”

The grants range from $500 to $5,000 and are to be used to buy and plant trees suitable to Iowa on publicly-owned lands. That can include all sorts of places like street right-of-ways, parks, school grounds, courthouse lawns, fairgrounds, cemeteries, libraries and trails. Trees are an underrated commodity, Edwards says, and few people seem to appreciate them until they’re gone. “You’re going to notice, the summers are going to be hotter, no shade to hide in, no shade for your building and you’ll be paying higher energy costs to cool your home,” Edwards says. “The same is true for winter when it’s cold out, you’ll have those winds hitting your house and making it cold.”

Some Iowa communities lost more than half of their canopies in the powerful storm on August 10th of last year. As new trees are planted, Edwards says there’s an emphasis on diversity in species, as she says a diverse canopy will be a resilient canopy.  “We can notice in the communities that were hit very hard, there are certain species that did well and certain species didn’t,” Edwards says. “Maples are weaker-branched trees and they’re more likely to lose limbs in big wind storms like this, versus and an oak or a hickory that has stronger branches that can withstand that.”

She says Iowa is overplanted with maples and people should consider other options, including the black locust, honey locust and hackberry trees. Grant recipients are required to provide a dollar-for-dollar cash match as part of the program. The deadline for applications is August 20th. www.iowadnr.gov/urbanforestry

McLEAN, Va., Aug. 13, 2021 — At its monthly meeting yesterday, the Farm Credit Administration board received FCA’s 2020 Annual Report on the Farm Credit System’s Young, Beginning, and Small (YBS) Farmer Mission Performance. FCA defines young farmers as those who are 35 years old or younger, beginning farmers as those who have been farming for 10 years or less, and small farmers as those with gross annual sales of less than $250,000.

Outstanding loans
Both the dollar volume of the System’s total loans outstanding and the dollar volume of YBS loans outstanding increased in 2020. Total System loan dollar volume outstanding increased by 11.3%, and loan dollar volume outstanding to young farmers increased by 8.0%, to beginning farmers by 12.5%, and to small farmers by 12.9%.

The total number of loans outstanding both for the System as a whole and for YBS borrowers also grew in 2020. The number of total System loans outstanding increased by 3.5%. The number of loans outstanding to young farmers increased by 2.1%, to beginning farmers by 4.1%, and to small farmers by 2.4%.

New loans
The dollar volume of loans made in 2020 increased significantly for the System as a whole and even more for the YBS categories. From Dec. 31, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020, the System’s overall new loan dollar volume increased by 31.6%. New loan dollar volume to young farmers increased by 36.9%, to beginning farmers by 57.4%, and to small farmers by 63.0%.
The number of loans made during the year also increased substantially in 2020 for total System lending and for all YBS categories. The number of total System loans made during the year increased by 37.4%. The number of loans to young farmers increased by 34.0%, to beginning farmers by 40.6%, and to small farmers by 34.9%.

System institutions are required by law and FCA regulation to maintain programs to provide sound and constructive credit and related services to YBS farmers and ranchers. They must report annually to FCA on their YBS lending activity.

“The Farm Credit System has made consistent efforts to serve YBS farmers, but the average age of American farmers has continued to rise,” said FCA Board Chairman and CEO Glen Smith in a statement at the board meeting. “USDA reported in 2017 that the average age of U.S. farm producers was 57.5 years, up 1.2 years from 2012. There obviously is work to be done in continuing to improve and advance the System’s YBS programs. It makes sense from a business development standpoint. It makes sense for the security of American agriculture.”

(Radio Iowa) – Some two-dozen members of Congress are asking the Biden Administration to reimburse dairy producers for losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Iowa State Dairy Association Executive Director Mitch Schulte says that aid is critically needed as dairy producers were just starting to climb out of several years of economic losses prior to the pandemic. “We’re really trying to help these farmers that, due to COVID, suffered severe losses out on their farms and they need this income to help them maintain their operation and keep moving forward,” Schulte says. “I see this as a benefit to our farmers.”

Schulte says nearly 725-million dollars in skim milk revenue was lost due to the pandemic.  “That’s a very large hit as we’ve seen some of our other markets do well,” Schulte says. “Cheese and butter are having fantastic sales. Fluid milk is extremely important to our industry and as we look at the amount of revenue that’s been lost due to closures of businesses and closures of restaurants, that continues to add up.” Most large dairies have been able to weather the pandemic, but Schulte says the rest are in need of federal aid if they’re going to be around to see 2022.

“Their margins are quite a bit tighter and their business is run a little bit different and they’re not marketing quite as much milk,” Schulte says. “It definitely plays a role when you’re looking at those small and mid-sized guys. When a pandemic or something happens to shift that marketplace, it does play a dramatic role in the amount of revenue they’re bringing in.” The U-S-D-A had estimated the drop in milk prices would cost the dairy industry two-point-eight billion dollars.

(Radio Iowa) – People were lined up to get into the Iowa State Fairgrounds Thursday as the event returned from the pandemic layoff.The fairgoers were anxious to get back to the familiar sights, sounds, and tastes of the fair. And everyone had the same opinion on the year without it — one woman saying it “was kind of a bummer.” Denny Reichardt of Corning says last year was “bad, but safe.” He and his wife Betsy had been to the Iowa State Fair for some 30 years straight before last year’s cancellation.

Reichardt says everyone appeared as anxious as they were to get in. He says they ended up waiting on Grand Avenue to get in and cars were backed up about a quarter-mile. They like to get to the fair early and on opening day. “Absolutely, we are first-dayers all along,” Denny says. Betsy was asked what her favorite thing is to do at the fair and she responded “Just look.”

ISF Grand Concourse

Denny says their strategy is to get there early and leave after lunch before things get too hot.