(Radio Iowa) – Deere and Company saw net sales and revenue rise 11 percent in the last quarter and the company’s executives are predicting even higher sales of tractors and combines in the months ahead. Deere and Company’s net income in the last quarter was more than two billion dollars — about 300 million dollars more than in the same period last year. Deere’s chairman and C-E-O says it’s due to strong demand even as the company faces supply chain pressures on equipment production and delivery schedules.

Deere projects demand for farm equipment will remain strong through the rest of the year. Deere sales of ag equipment rose 13 percent in the past three months. Sales of John Deere lawn products and small ag equipment were up five percent and Deere’s construction and forestry division saw sales increase nine percent during the last quarter.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The nation’s largest recreational boating safety event of the year, National Safe Boating Week, takes place May 21–27, and serves as a reminder to boaters to keep safety front and center all season long. The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water offers three tips for boaters to be safety heroes on the water.

1. The best life jacket is the one you will wear, meaning one that’s comfortable. There are many lightweight inflatable life jackets that fit the bill. Check the jacket’s label to ensure it’s approved for your type of boating. If the kids are visiting, don’t be tempted to put a child in an ill-fitting adult life jacket.
2. Boating safety reports indicate that operator inattention, improper lookout, operator inexperience, excessive speed, and alcohol rank as the top five primary contributing factors in accidents. Focus on eliminating these factors by putting down the cellphone, practicing using S.C.A.N. procedures to avoid distracted boating, taking a free boating safety course, slowing down, and driving more defensively, especially in congested boating areas. Alcohol use is the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, so save the celebration for after the boat is safely tied up for the night. Boat operators also need to recognize they are responsible for the safety of their guests, including inebriated ones.
3. Remember to wear an engine cutoff switch if your boat is less than 26-feet, traveling on plane or above displacement speed. Engine cutoff switches can prevent boat strike injuries after an operator has been ejected from the vessel or displaced from the helm.

What Is SCAN?

SCAN: Search, Concentrate, Analyze, and Negotiate. This is something every attentive skipper does continually, and probably without thinking about it, while underway. Simply put, “scanning” is looking from side to side – and behind you – for boats, people, and objects on the water that may pose a risk of collision. Repeat whenever you’re underway.

Search the area all around your craft. This is a 360-degree examination of everything around your boat. Distances away will close or open depending on your speed or the speed of the observed boat or object. The faster you’re operating, the farther out you’ll need to search.

Concentrate on what you’re seeing. Is it a boat? What type? What is it doing? What is its relative speed? Is it a stationary object? Drifting or anchored? Things can happen fast out there, so these are questions you must consider while you look at the various observed boats or objects.

Analyze what you’re watching. Is it closing in on your position or going away from you? Remember, if the object you’re observing is getting closer to you and its relative position to you is not changing, it is on a collision course. Never assume you’re seen by other boat operators, who may or may not be distracted. Determine this by the way and direction they’re operating. Analyze how far away the boat or object is and how fast it is closing the distance between you and it.

Negotiate. What are you going to do? Slow down, turn away from the boat or object, and head in a different direction? Remember the Navigation Rules. Learn the proper action to take while meeting head on, crossing, or overtaking another boat.

(Radio Iowa) – Portions of Red Haw State Park will reopen today (Friday), more than two months after a deadly tornado swept through Lucas County and the Chariton area, destroying much of the park’s infrastructure and foliage. Park manager Bonnie Friend says the March 5th twister killed a man who was camping at the park and storm damage to the park itself was significant. “We lost probably 75% of the campground as well as we lost all five docks, three shelters and the storage building,” Friend says. “So over this time since March 5th, we’ve had amazing progress.” The National Weather Service says the E-F-3 tornado that hit the park was on the ground more than 16 miles, with peak winds of 138 miles an hour.

(Pics from the Red Haw State Park fundraising page)

Friend says her park crew, as well as D-N-R staffers from elsewhere around the state, have worked long hours to clear hundreds of downed trees. “We’ve also had a volunteer day where we had 229 people from across Iowa help us to clean the north side of any metal or debris, limbs, etcetera,” Friend says. “Then, an amazing disaster group by the name of Team Rubicon came in April for three days and what we were able to accomplish was just mind boggling.” Parts of the park will be opening this morning, including day use areas, the beach for swimming, and one boat ramp. Friend hopes to get a kayak launch put in place next week, too.

“We’ve been able to make the north side of the park safe for the public to visit, but the south side, all the trails, the campground and all the shelters are still closed,” Friend says. “We still have a tremendous amount of debris and trees to take care of in order to make it safe on the south side.” No dollar estimate is being released on what it’s taken to get the park partly restored and Friend says it’ll be well into summer, perhaps fall, before the rest of the property can reopen.

“There’s just so many unknown variables and so many things to take care of, and then there’s supply and demand issues as well,” Friend says. “I haven’t really been given a time. I just know that it’ll be at least three to four months just to remove trees that are broken and dangerous before we can even look about moving forward as far as repair.” A GoFundMe page is raising money to help with clean-up, repair and reforestation. (https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuilding-tornado-cleanup-of-red-haw-state-park)

Checks can also be sent to the DNR at Red Haw State Park, 24550 US Highway 34, Chariton, IA 50049. For updates, visit the Iowa DNR’s Alerts and Closure page: www.iowadnr.gov/parkclosures