(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Food System Coalition wants to make locally-produced food the norm, not the exception, and is releasing a 250-page plan to get there in the next decade. One priority in the plan is to make it easier to get food from the farm to the table. That means supporting more local and regional infrastructure, like small-scale processing for specialty crops, grains, dairy and livestock. Coalition executive director Chris Schwartz says more than 40 partners across Iowa helped shape the plan.

“Which details all the things that we think we need to do in the state of Iowa to have a food system that is more local, that is more nutritious, that is more environmentally sustainable, and is more just for people doing the work.” Strategies include improving farmers’ access to land and expanding incentives to adopt practices that protect Iowa’s soil, water and air. Giselle Bruskewitz is the senior program director at Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development.

“We’re talking about small grain processing, rural grocery stores getting the infrastructure that they need,” Bruskewitz says, “vegetables that can be processed at scale so that schools and other institutions can buy them.” She says the coalition also wants to invest in more refrigerated trucks and food hubs, which aggregate and distribute local products.

Iowa’s network of food hubs serves nearly 70% of the state’s counties.

(Radio Iowa) – Thirteen businesses, including one here in Cass County (IA), will get state money this year from a fund designed to help small-scale meat processors. Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson Kanan Kappleman says the grants total more than 970-thousand dollars.”Eligible projects under the Butchery and Revitalization Fund would include expanding or refurbishing an existing facility or establishing a new business,” she says. Kappleman says the money is often used for buying equipment.”Refrigeration facilities, freezer facilities, or equipment that is necessary to expand the processing capacity of a facility,” Kappelman says. Kappelman says the fund was created after the need was revealed for these type of processors when the large-scale meat processors were shut down during the pandemic. She says there are just a few requirements to get the grants.

“Number one they would be authorized to do business in Iowa. The second is that they employ less than 75 individuals,” she says. There also some limits on the amount of the grants. “The maximum award amount for any one company was 100-thousand dollars and no more than 50 percent of the eligible project expenses can be made with these grant funds,” Kappelman says.

There were five projects that requested grants that didn’t win awards this year. Locally, Bailey Beef Processing in Anita received a grant for $41,500 toward their total project cost of $83,000. As KJAN News reported in May,The Cass County Board of Supervisors received a request for County participation in helping the Anita Locker receive an economic development grant. Supervisor’s Board Chair Steve Baier said he wrote “a general letter of support” for the grant, because other projects that have flourished under similar grants.

Scot and Cheryl Bailey, along with their son Jackson, own the Anita Locker. Scot and Cheryl appeared before the Board to explain the need for funds to update their facility, especially in light of business coming from the Minden Locker, which had to close due to damage from the April 26^th tornado.

Cheryl Bailey said they applied for a matching grant from the IEDA (Iowa Economic Development Authority) because of the need to improve their freezer capacity.

She said they had also applied for a CIS (Cooperative Interstate Shipping) license, which allows participating state-inspected meat and poultry establishments to ship products across state lines. To qualify for the CIS program, a meat processor must have fewer than 25 full-time employees and comply with all federal food safety, sanitation and facility regulations. Anita Locker has six employees, including two full-time and two part-time, and if the locker can update it’s compressor, that would bring in more business and allow them to hire three-to-four more people.

Here is a list of the rest of the grant recipients with the amount of the project and amount of the grant awarded:
Amana Farms Beef Homestead project cost $16,640; grant awarded: $8,320
Cooks Meat Locker LLC Parnell project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Double Dutch Meat Processing, Inc. Pella project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Edgewood Locker INC project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Friedrichsen Meat Company LLC Sutherland project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Grimm Family Farm LLC Williamsburg project cost $176,503; grant awarded: $88,251
Jakes Meat Market Sibley project cost $60,418; grant awarded: $30,209
LDL Investsments Brighton project cost $99,210; grant awarded: $49,605
Northcote Meats Inc. Melcher project cost $200,000, grant awarded: $100,000
Regenerative Food Processing Stacyville project cost $105,350; grant awarded: $52,675
Skoglund Meats & Locker Inc West Bend project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
The Good Butcher LLC Des Moines project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Fair continues now through Tuesday, in Corning. The Fair began Saturday. See the full schedule of events (HERE) below:

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Fair takes place now through July 15th, in Harlan. You can find a full schedule of events HERE. Some of the highlights this week, include:

• Remembering Our Fallen exhibit/memorial to remember all of the brave Iowa soldiers who have passed from their service in the military. The exhibit will be in Floral Hall at the Shelby County Fair from Thursday, July 11 to Saturday, July 13.
• Open class entries and exhibits for youth and adults in many categories, including: Oven products; Agriculture; Needlework; Hobbycraft; Sewing; Homemade wine and craft beer; Canning; Photography; Genealogy; Floriculture, and Art.
• A baby contest, and,
• Cookout contest

The events conclude July 15th with the Livestock Auction on the Shelby County Fairgrounds.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in their latest Beach Monitor, say swimming is not recommended at multiple sites in Iowa. In western Iowa, swimming is not recommended at the following lakes:

• Blue Lake Beach at the Lewis and Clark State Park (Monona County)  – due to high E. Coli levels.
• Black Hawk State Park/Black Hawk Beach (Sac County) – high e.coli levels.
• Prairie Rose State Park beach (Shelby County) – high e. coli levels
• Lake Manawa State Park beach (Pottawattamie County) – high e.coli levels.
• Lake of Three Fires State Park (Taylor County) – high e.coli results.

No sampling was done in the Okoboji area lakes due to flooding.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Here’s a reminder about an upcoming meeting in Atlantic, Monday, with regards to a thinning deer population in the region. Iowa DNR State Deer Biologist Jace Elliott says the presentation takes place from 6:30- until 8-p.m., Monday, July 8^th, at the Venue in downtown Atlantic.

Other meetings are being held next week, in Denison, Council Bluffs, and Shenandoah. Elliott says the deer population degradation is not specific to any one county. It’s occurring throughout western Iowa.

He says discussions will be held in eight locations altogether. The week of July 15^th, meetings will be held in Onawa Sioux Center, Sioux City, and Cherokee. Jace Elliott says the discussions will be tailored to the region.

He says you don’t need to bring any materials with you to the meetings. You ARE encouraged to bring your fellow hunters along with you, or at least let them know about the sessions, because input from hunters is needed to determine how the DNR should proceed with helping the deer herd to recover.

The results of questionnaires available at each meeting will be published once all the meetings are completed. He says they have a lot of data to put what’s happened, in context.

Elliott says they’ve made “some pretty drastic changes over the last three-years in southwest and west central Iowa, in terms of reducing county anterless tags and other regulations,” in an attempt to turn around the downward deer population trend. He says the DNR is confident they can revitalize the deer population in a few short years.

Elliott said deer harvest practices that have taken place from the mid-2000’s on, is the main factor which has resulted in the current reduced deer population, but there are other factors as well. “Deer hunting, he says, “is one of Iowa’s most recreationally and economically important traditions. Our goal is to manage deer numbers at a level that is acceptable to our citizens and that supports a quality hunting experience.”

See the schedule below for information on other meeting dates, times and locations. All meetings run from 6:30-until 8-p.m.

• July 9, Denison, at Yellow Smoke Park Lookout Shelter
• July 10, Council Bluffs, at Bass Pro Shops
• July 11, Shenandoah, at the Public Library
• July 15, Onawa, at the Public Library
• July 16, Sioux Center, at Sandy Hollow Clubhouse
• July 17, Sioux City, at Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center
• July 18, Cherokee, at the Community Center Auditorium

(Radio Iowa) – A growing number of Iowa students are participating in target shooting contests. Marty Eby is the shooting sports coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the “Scholastic Clay Target Program” in Iowa. He says the trapshooting championships held in early June are example of that growth. “When we first started this thing back in the mid-2000s, we had a couple of hundred kids. It was a two-day event,” Eby says, “and now 15 years later we’ve morphed into our American Trap, a seven day event with over 3100 participants.”

About 42-hundred Iowa students were involved in the program last year. Youth shooting sports have grown more popular over the the past decade. Nearly all states are participating in the Scholastic Clay Target Program. “Through last year, Iowa was the largest SCTP state in the number of participants in the United States,” Eby says. Thirty-six Iowa school districts sent teams to the state Skeet Championships in Waukee last month. The statewide shooting competitions for Iowa community college students will be held in October. Eby says the program’s first priority is teaching the kids how to safely handle a gun.

“Before every practice, before every meet, anytime the kids are going to go onto what we call the field, the ultimate importance is safety,” Eby says. “We ingrain our coaches to hammer that home to the kids so that there are no incidents when we’re on the field.” Students who mishandle their gun are disqualified from competition. All tobacco products and alcohol are banned at events — for students, coaches and spectators. Gun critics raise concerns about the growing popularity of youth shooting sports and argue marksmanship training should be the responsibility of parents, not schools.

DES MOINES – The popular Trees for Kids grant program is accepting applications through August 26.

Grantees can be awarded up to $2,500 to purchase trees and mulch. All trees for this program must be planted on public community grounds (park, community center, public school, etc.)  Youth are required to be engaged in the process, most often helping to plant the trees on site.

“Planting trees is a fun way to connect kids to nature, build on their sense of wonder and explore the benefits trees provide at their school and in their community,” said Chip Murrow, urban forestry program specialist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Studies show trees planted around schools and in neighborhoods give youth increased levels of concentration, lower levels of aggression, lower levels of obesity and fewer symptoms of ADHD.

To apply for the grant, visit: www.iowadnr.gov/UrbanForestry.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds believes the burgeoning market for hemp-infused candies, drinks and other products is taking advantage of the 2018 Farm Bill’s hemp provision. “I had issues with this bill from the beginning. It was never designed to do that, it was the intent of the hemp bill. It was actually another commodity for our farmers. That was actually the intent,” Reynolds says. New regulations on these products begin in July that only allow people who are 21 and older to buy the hemp infused items. And the state will restrict the potency of these products to four milligrams of T-H-C per serving or ten milligrams per container.

Reynolds visited Alcohol & Drug Dependency Services of Southeast Iowa in Keokuk, and says the state regulations address the issues that the Farm Bill didn’t. “It didn’t deal with minors and their access to T-H-C. This mixing T-H-C with alcohol. That’s a dangerous combination. I’m at a recovery center and we want to make sure people are informed,” she says.

Hemp infused products (IPR photo)

Two Iowa companies which make the hemp infused products are suing the state over the new regulations. The lawsuit says the regulations would criminalize 80 percent of their current inventories. Neither company sells products that mix T-H-C and alcohol.

(Radio Iowa) – The longer Independence Day holiday had boaters looking to spend more time on the water, but heavy rains and flooding could interrupt those plans. Iowa D-N-R Boating Law Administrator, Susan Stocker, says continued rain has caused water levels and conditions to change daily.  “Make sure wherever you’re going you check to make sure the ramps are open because with the high water there certainly should can be some ramps that are closing,” she says. The flooding has washed all kinds of debris into the water and it may be tough to tell what is lurking below. “You may only see a small what appears to be a small log but that is now a potentially 30 foot tree that is under the surface,” she says.

Stocker says a lifejacket is always important, and even more so in high water conditions where you could be thrown from the boat. “Wearing the lifejacket is very, very important because in an emergency situation you won’t be able to find it and or you’re thrown in one direction and the lifejacket is thrown and or the water current is taking it downstream,” Stocker says. She expects the waterways that are accessible to see a lot of traffic.”We do anticipate good crowds we may see that there is a shift in where people are traveling because some of the areas are flooded but it’s also going to depend on the weather, Stocker says.

Stocker says officers will be looking for drunken boaters, so if you are going to drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a boat.