CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says the full extent of the COVID-19 outbreak among employees at the Tyson meat packing plant in Columbus Junction isn’t yet known, but so far 166 employees at the plant have tested positive for the virus. Test results processed between Sunday and Monday alone indicated 86 workers have the virus. Reynolds says another 80 positive test results are from last week in Louisa and surrounding counties.
The plant processes pork and was closed April 6th after the first batches of test results shows more than two dozen employees had COVID-19.
The governor says state officials have secured extra testing supplies for the plant, which employs about 14-hundred people. Opening the pork plant back up will require extensive testing, according to governor. Reynolds has also communicated with managers of the beef plant in Tama that has closed after several employees tested positive for OCVID-19. Reynolds says getting these plants back up is critical to farmers and the food supply chain.
Reynolds says the companies that operate the plants in Columbus Junction and Tama have indicated they’ll have enough face masks and face shields for employees once they reopen.
(Radio Iowa) — Iowa ethanol producers are struggling as fuel demand is dropping with so many Americans staying home during the pandemic. Both of Iowa’s U-S senators are calling on the U-S-D-A to provide aid for ethanol producers before more plants shut down. Senator Chuck Grassley says the two-point-two trillion dollar CARES Act that passed Congress nearly three weeks ago was designed to keep all sorts of businesses afloat. “The effort at the time we passed the CARES Act was to bring equity to the ethanol industry like what the petroleum industry was hoping to get done,” Grassley says. “Nothing went through for the petroleum industry so we didn’t get anything for the ethanol industry.”
An official with the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says production has fallen by about half and at least seven ethanol plants and two biodiesel plants have closed. Grassley says there are several financial avenues he’s pursuing to keep biofuels plants open. “I tried to get money for the ethanol industry through their feedstock, subsizing their feedstock,” Grassley says.
Iowa is the nation’s number-one ethanol and biodiesel producer with about half of the state’s corn crop devoted to ethanol each year. Grassley says Congress has pumped an additional 25-billion dollars into the Commodity Credit Corporation due to the impact COVID-19 is having on corn prices. “There’s also money available for infrastructure for filling stations to get in E-15 pumps,” Grassley says. “We’re working to get that program operational.”
One report estimates ethanol demand could fall by eight-billion gallons due to coronavirus. Senator Joni Ernst tweeted on Monday night: “The decrease in fuel consumption during #COVID19 has left biofuels facilities little choice but to idle production or close completely. Keeping these plants open is vital for Iowa’s economy.”
Spring is in the air, and plans are underway for gardening projects in Cass County. Local groups planning community gardening, beautification or education programs will again be eligible for assistance from the Cass County Master Gardeners. The group is offering grant money to be used in the 2020 growing season, to encourage gardening to grow food for education or donation, and/or for gardening projects to improve local communities. The money may also be used for gardening education purposes. The Cass County Master Gardener Memorial Grants are offered in remembrance of the many years of service to the community provided by long-time Master Gardener volunteers who have passed.
Any Cass County not-for-profit group may apply. Schools, churches, libraries, 4-H clubs, Scouts, or other organizations/individuals working to improving their communities can apply for money to begin or improve gardens or landscaping for community benefit, or to provide education for their members or the public. To ensure the money is helping a wide variety of community organizations, those who were funded by 2019 grants will not be eligible to apply in 2020. Each grant has a maximum value of $300. Applications must include plans for teamwork and sustainability. Consideration for the environment is also an important factor in selection. All grant recipients will be expected to submit a report at the end of the growing season, detailing how the money was spent. Recipients will also be given a sign to place in their garden area for the 2020 growing season.
Applications must be received by 4:30 PM on Tuesday, April 28 for consideration. They may be submitted by mail or email. Grant recipients will be informed of their application status no later than Friday, May 8. For more information, or with questions, call the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or email keolson@iastate.edu. You may also contact Master Gardener Donna Reimers. Application forms can be printed from the Cass County Extension website- www.extension.iastate.edu/cass. You can also call or email the office to request a form be mailed to you, or printed for curbside pick-up.
The Master Gardener program trains volunteers to develop their knowledge and skills in horticulture. These volunteers then give back to their communities through gardening service and education. The program is available in all 50 states and Canada through land grant university Extension programs such as Iowa State University Extension. Education courses are available throughout Iowa on a regular basis. For more information on the program, contact Cass County Extension Director Kate Olson, at 712-243-1132 or keolson@iastate.edu.
(Radio Iowa) — With coronavirus forcing the closings of the Tyson Foods pork plant at Columbus Junction and the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, additional pressure is being placed on pork producers. Lee Schulz is an agricultural economist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach with a focus on livestock marketing. Due to the plant closings, Schulz says pork producers may see a drop in their prices. “A 1% decrease in capacity decreases hog prices by about 1.8% and that’s using the historical data,” Schulz says. “Obviously, we’re out of the historical realm, but if you look at roughly a 10% decline in that capacity, that’s about an 18% decrease in price.”
Schulz says the nation had already been operating above the processing level from a year ago, while cold storage has also been at a surplus. He says consumers may not see much change in the price of pork, however, grocery stores and butcher shops may not be featuring any specials on pork products heading into the spring, just to maintain supply. “Retail pork prices have been really close to a year ago levels,” Schulz says. “We’ll expect to see that at retail, with maybe a little less featuring than we typically see in the spring when we’re ramping up to the summer grilling season.”
Schulz says with many restaurants having been forced to close, that’s also impacting the pork demand. “Product can’t be quickly diverted from food service into the retail market, and that’s really the kink in the supply chain,” Schulz says. “Really, the impact here is the slowdown in slaughter is going to have an impact on the availability at the retail level.” Schulz says pork producers will soon find themselves without much capacity as they are forced to hang on to their hogs that are ready for market, while newborn piglets recently weaned will be coming to finishing barns with no space available.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An infectious and fatal strain of bird flu has been confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in northeast South Carolina, the first case of the more serious strain of the disease in the United States since it was reported in a Tennessee chicken flock in 2017.
A less severe strain of bird flu had been detected along the North Carolina and South Carolina state recently but the case in Chesterfield County, South Carolina discovered on Monday was found to be a more fatal and easily spread strain. More than 32,000 turkeys in the flock were euthanized. The USDA confirmed it Thursday.
(Radio Iowa) — The site of a movable restaurant that has moved on, is destined to become a gathering place to link biking and walking trails in the Iowa Great Lakes region. Erin Reed is executive director of the Dickinson County Trails Board. “It runs right along next to our railroad trail, so we’ve been watching that property for some time,” she says. “It’s been for sale for a while and just always thought it would be a great spot to have a trail head.”
The Lake Street Diner in Spirit Lake that sat on the property was moved in December. Reed says her group has gotten a grant to cover the cost of buying and developing the property. “At this time we are looking at different design concepts for a shelter type area that would include restrooms and be somewhat unique to the old rail trail concept,” Reed says, “and also include some landscaping and clean up of the area.”
Reed expects the project to take a couple of years. The city of Spirit Lake sits on the western shore of East Lake Okoboji. The railroad trail being developed in Dickinson AND Osceola Counties will eventually run 37 miles — on land first laid with rail tracks in 1867. The 14-mile Iowa Great Lakes Trail includes a loop through Spirit Lake’s residential and downtown areas.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Smithfield Foods says its pork processing plant in South Dakota will temporarily close for cleaning after over 80 employees were confirmed to have the coronavirus. The company plans to suspend operations in a large section of the Sioux Falls plant on Saturday, then completely close on Sunday and Monday. It plans to sanitize the plant and install physical barriers to “enhance social distancing.”
South Dakota health officials announced Wednesday that over 80 employees of the plant had tested positive for COVID-19. The Department of Agriculture says there has been no evidence that the coronavirus is being transmitted through food or its packaging.
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