(Radio Iowa) – A very small insect is causing big trouble in Iowa’s soybean fields and it’s spreading quickly across the continent. The soybean cyst nematode, or S-C-N, is being tracked in a survey throughout the United States and Canada every few years. S-C-N Coalition co-leader and Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist Greg Tylka says the destructive bug has traveled far since 2017. “There are 55 new counties with SCN in 11 different states in the U.S.,” Tylka says, “and then also they found SCN in a bunch of new counties in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.”

As odd as it may sound, he says the most common way they believe the tiny bugs are being transported from field to field and from farm to farm is by the wind, specifically in blowing dirt. “The SCN female, which fills up with a couple hundred eggs and eventually dies — a dead female full of eggs is called a cyst — that cyst is about the size of a period at the end of a printed sentence in a book or in the newspaper,” Tylka says. “It’s tiny and it very easily can be in soil particles that are blown.” The soybean cyst nematode causes a lot of costly damage.

“Even a moderately low level of SCN is probably going to take two-to-five bushels per acre out of the yield,” Tylka says. “We have scenarios in Iowa where we’ve documented 22-to-25 bushels per acre yield loss. There is a lot of money being left in the field due to the SCN.”

Tylka says another reason there’s been more detection of S-C-N is that his coalition is encouraging producers to do more sample testing. He says one way to get a handle on the insect is by properly rotating crops.

(Radio Iowa) – State officials say liquid manure from a cattle operation near Remsen turned the water in a nearby creek brown and killed fish for several miles downstream. Department of Natural Resources staff were on site Monday, monitoring clean-up and conducting a count of dead fish. According to a news release from the agency, Louis Pick, who owns LCNJ Farms, filled a tanker with manure Saturday night, but a valve on the tanker apparently failed.

Manure ran into a road ditch, then into a tributary of Whiskey Creek near Remsen. Pick discovered the spill Monday morning and took steps to stop the flow of manure into the ditch and recover pools of liquid manure in the area.

Bottom row left to right- Letty McSorely, Carson, IA, Colton Krueger, Carson, IA, Cody Swank, Harlan, IA, Colton Anderson, Atlantic, Braxton Hass, Atlantic, Hunter Quist, Atlantic, Adien Smith, Elliott, Brentyn Hoover, Anita, IA, Jake Wailes, Wiota, IA, Grant Petty, Atlantic, Holden DeVore, Atlantic, Hade DeVore, Atlantic, Garret Stezel, Atlantic, Gavin Doughtery, Lewis. Top row left to right Conner Britten, Red Oak, Braden Smith, Atlantic, Drey Newell, Atlantic, Dylan Comes, Atlantic, Cooper Jipsen, Atlantic, Owen Hoover, Anita, Korben Brunt, Anita, Vicente Butcher, Corning, Joaquin Wailes, Wiota, Joey Oathoudt, Corning, Colton Rudy, Atlantic, Colin Rudy, Atlantic, Jake Oathoudt, Corning, Dakota Breaud, Corning, Mason McCready, Macedonia, IA, Caden Foristall, Carson.

Atlantic, IA. – The duo of Vicente Butcher of Corning, Iowa and Conner Britten from Red Oak took home the top spot in the Powerade High School Series at the Olsen BP SAF SWIFT tournament at Prairie Rose Lake on Saturday. The teams total of 5 bass weighing 11 pounds, 11 ounces, gave them a mere 2-ounce-margin victory over the second-place team of Drey Newell of Atlantic and Braden Smith of Atlantic who brought 5 bass to the stage weighing 11-09. Third went to Dylan Comes and Cooper Jipsen both from Atlantic with 5 bass, 11-2.

Hunter Quist of Atlantic and Adien Smith from Elliott scored the win in the Fairlire Yup Junior Series with 5 bass weighing 11-7. Quist/Smith had to overcome some early adversity when their boat would not start once it was backed into the water. The only way they could maneuver their boat was by using the remote on the trolling motor, but kept fishing and with a little divine intervention perhaps they were still able to weigh-in the biggest 5 bags of fish. Second place went to Cody Swank of Harlan and Braxton Hass of Atlantic hauled in 4 bass at 6-15, rounding out the field in third place was the team of Jake Wailes of Wiota, IA and Brentyn Hoolver of Anita, IA. their total was 3 bass 5-12.

It was a perfect sunny spring day with temperature in the low 70’s and extraordinarily little wind for thirty student anglers and their boat captains who launched from the docks at 7:30am on the hunt to put a 5 bass limit in the boat. The teams navigated across 173-acre Prairie Rose Lake for seven in half hours making history for the first SAF High School and Junior Fishing tournament to be held in the state of Iowa. At the official weigh-in there were a total of 46 were caught with a combined weight of 99lbs 8oz., all bass were safely returned to the lake. Seven teams caught a 5 bass full bad limit and the average bass weighed one pound seven once.

Jake Wailes a 6th grader from Atlantic earned the AM Cohron & Sons Big Fish of the tournament with his bass weighing in at three pounds.

Powerade High School Boat Series results from the Olsen BP SAF SWIFT tournament at Prairie Rose Lake on Saturday.

1st: Vicente Butcher, Corning, IA., and Conner Britten, Red Oak, IA., 5 bass, 11.11
2nd: Drey Newell, Atlantic, IA and Braden Smith, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 11.09
3rd: Cooper Jipsen, Atlantic, IA and Braden Smith, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 11.02
4th: Mason McCready, Macedonia, IA and Caden Forristall, Carson, IA, 5 bass, 11.01
5th: Korben Brunt, Anita, IA and Owen Hoover, Anita, IA, 5 bass, 10.6
6th: Colton Rudy, Atlantic, IA and Colin Rudy, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 9.9
7th: Joey Oathoudt, Corning, IA and Joaquin Wailes, Wiota, IA, 2 bass, 4.1
8th: Jake Oathoudt, Corning, IA and Dakota Breaud, Corning, IA, 1 bass, 2.11

Fairlire Yup Junior Boat Series results from the Olsen BP SAF SWIFT tournament at Prairie Rose Lake on Saturday.

1st: Hunter Quist, Atlantic, IA., and Adien Smith, Elliot, IA., 5 bass, 11.7
2nd: Cody Swank, Harlan, IA and Braxton Hass, Atlantic, IA, 4 bass, 6.15
3rd: Jake Wailes, Wiota, IA and Brentyn Hoover, Anita, IA, 3 bass, 5.12
4th: Gavin Dougherty, Lewis, IA and Garrett Stetzel, Atlantic, IA, 1 bass, 2.3
5th: Hade DeVore, Atlantic, IA and Holden DeVore Atlantic, IA, 0 bass, 0
6th: Letty McSorely, Carson, IA and Colton Krueger, Carson, IA, 0 bass, 0
7th: Grant Petty, Atlantic, IA and Colton Anderson, Atlantic, IA, 0 bass, 0

The next event for SWIFT will be a Lake Anita on April 17th.
For complete details and updated information visit www.southwestiowafishingteam.teamapp.com.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow on SWIFT’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

(Radio Iowa) – Organizers in Pella are planning to bring back the city’s annual tulip festival in one month. Festival board member, Cyndi Atkins, says they are excited about the return after COVID-19 forced the cancellation of last year’s festival. “Our theme this year — Back in Bloom — so we are going to be back with thousands and thousands of tulips, lots of people in Dutch costumes,” Atkins says. The annual festival, which started in 1935, had only been canceled once before, back in 1946. “Last year was hard because it definitely was a hit to the Pella Historical Society budget. They cut their budget, here, there, and everywhere. They were documented as a 150-thousand dollars that they needed to cut out of their budget,” she says.

Atkins says the event from May 6th through the 8th will have some modifications to keep everyone safe. “We’re trying very hard to make sure we can make this one be a successful festival, so that we can continue to raise funds to support the local historic village,” according to Atkins. “And also so there is a way for a lot of the non-profits who run the food stands, and the vendors in the West Market Park craft area, to have a chance to actually make some of the funds this year that they would make in a normal year.” Atkins says many of the vendors are local churches and organizations that fund projects with the money they make. “So many of these other vendors — they’re raising money for wonderful causes — it’s heartwarming,” Atkins says.

Atkins says she’s already seen tulips poking out of the ground and expects that to continue as things warm up. “The city and the historical village and Central College and others who plant large, large gardens do a really good job of planting tulips that bloom, early, mid and late,” Atkins says. “So that some might have bloomed and be gone before people arrived, but there’s always some that are coming that will still be blooming and continue as we push into late May. That’s just the way it works so that we can have something and we can see them bloom.”

Activities will begin each day in Pella around 9 a-m and continue until the lighted parade floats go dim around 9:30 p-m.

(Updated) Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoege reports that on Tuesday April 13, a drive-thru USDA Farmers to Families Food Box distribution will be held at the Cass County Community Center from 3-6 PM, or as supplies last. Anyone is welcome to visit the drive-through food box pick-up, and no documentation or proof need is required.

Boxes will be given away at no cost. The USDA Farmers to Families Food Boxes are expected to contain 10 pounds of fresh produce, 5 pounds of pre-cooked meat, and 5 pounds of dairy with a gallon of milk. (this may change). People from surrounding towns and communities are welcome, and you may pick up an extra box for your neighbor or home bound friend.

Details: Cass County Community Center Farmers to Families Food Box Giveaway
What: Drive-through food distribution.
Where: Cass County Community Center (805 W. 10th St. Atlantic, IA 50022)
When: Tuesday, April 13 3:00-6:00 PM (or as supplies last).
Who: Anyone is welcome! No documentation required. People from surrounding towns and
communities are welcome.
Cost: No cost!
Contact: Brigham Hoegh, Cass County Wellness Coordinator, 712-249-5870

The Atlantic Fire Department has had a busy morning. At around 9:10-a.m., Atlantic and Marne Fire were called to the area of 590th and Chicago Road (north of Atlantic), for a field fire. As it turns out, that was a controlled terrace burn. Then, at around 10:17-a.m., Atlantic Fire was called to 54166 598th Street, north of Atlantic, for a barn fire. According to reports, persons on the property were burning in an in-ground fire pit when the wind switched directions and caught the barn on fire. There were no injuries.

And, at 11:48-a.m., Atlantic Fire was dispatched to the scene of a field fire south of town, at 60373 630th (or in the area of Highway 71, south of Keystone Lane). The flames/embers had reportedly found there way to some outbuildings.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and attorneys general from seven other states are siding with the biofuels industry in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. On April 27th, the court will hear arguments over how the E-P-A has granted waivers from the ethanol mandate to the oil industry. Monte Shaw with the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says his takeaway from the brief is the attorneys general are simply asking the Supreme Court to uphold the Renewable Fuel Standard.   “The process is laid out. These exemptions were supposed to be for a short period of time to help people transition into the RFS,” Shaw says, “and that was 13 years ago.”

The attorneys general argue in their brief that overturning an appellate court’s decision would be a devastating financial hit to many rural communities. At the Capitol in Des Moines, an Iowa House committee has made changes to the governor’s proposed biofuels mandate. A coalition of gas stations and convenience stores argued the initial plan would have cost their industry as much as a billion dollars to install new fuel pumps. The House Ways and Means Committee would let retailers have multiple pumps offering “no alcohol” gasoline — the governor’s plan would have allowed just one — but the committee’s bill still calls for all stations to start selling gas with 15 percent ethanol by 2028 and includes provisions to boost use of soybean-based biodiesel as well.

w/Max Dirks.

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Iowa Counties: Monona-Harrison-Shelby-Pottawattamie-Mills-Montgomery-Fremont-
Page–
409 AM CDT Thu Apr 1 2021

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of southwest Iowa…west central Iowa…east central Nebraska…northeast Nebraska and southeast Nebraska.

Today and Tonight: Fire danger could reach into the very high category this afternoon across portions of the area.

Friday through Wednesday: Fire danger could reach the very high category during the afternoons into early next week.

(Radio Iowa) – The grass is starting to turn green and a turfgrass specialist with the Iowa State University Extension says it’s time to begin working on our lawns. I-S-U horticulture professor Adam Thoms says the first thing he does is to pick up all of those twigs, sticks and other debris that gathered during the winter so it won’t get stuck in the mower or dull its blade. “Now’s a great time to go ahead and fertilize your yard and start to get that grass up and growing for the year,” Thoms says. “We typically say to put out three-quarters of a pound of nitrogen per a thousand square feet for a rate.”

The stores are full of heavy fertilizer bags and they can be pricey. What ingredients should we be looking for in a fertilizer for the yard? “Really, the big thing is to try to find a slow-release nitrogen source,” Thoms says, “something that’s going to release over time so you don’t have a quick flush of growth, so that you’re not mowing-mowing-mowing like crazy in the spring because it all grew out at once.” Some Iowans may be finding large grey spots in their yards, which he says can be fixed without too much trouble. “Grey snow mold is a pretty common thing over Iowa this past winter,” Thoms says. “It’s from extended periods of snow cover which we had in the state. The best thing right now is to get out some fertilizer to recover out of it. Rake your yard to stand the grass up and let’s hope for warm weather to help it grow out of it.”

Now is also the time to hit those pesky weeds that seem to creep back every year. “One of the most common problem weeds is crabgrass,” Thoms says. “That’s going to be controlled with a pre-emergent herbicide. As long as you get that on April15th through May 1st throughout the state, that will prevent the crabgrass from coming up.” If you’re planting grass this spring, he warns do -not- use any crabgrass prevention products as they’ll keep your grass seeds from germinating.