(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.

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.

Jim Field visits with Carole Schuler about the Cass County Relay for Life event on Sunday, June 30 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Nishna Valley Family YMCA.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

DES MOINES – Today Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the extension of a disaster proclamation for Sioux, Cherokee, and Sac Counties effective immediately through July 26, 2024. The USDA has confirmed positive cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in all three counties.  

This proclamation allows state resources from Iowa Homeland Security, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other agencies to assist with tracking and monitoring, rapid detection, containment, disposal, and disinfection. The proclamation also waives regulatory provisions related to commercial vehicles responding to affected sites.  

The recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, and it remains safe to eat poultry products. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately.  

 You can find a copy of the proclamation here.  

DES MOINES, Iowa, June 26, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield today announced that USDA is investing $1,842,725 in 23 projects across the state to lower energy bills, expand access to clean energy, and create jobs for Iowa agricultural producers and rural small business owners with funding through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). USDA also unveiled the “Rural Energy Resource Guide” to make it easier for rural communities to identify federal funding for clean energy, including programs made possible by President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act.

“The investments we’re announcing today demonstrate how producers and small business are embracing clean energy systems to address the impacts of climate change and save money,” said Director Greenfield. “These investments are at the heart of President Biden and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack’s commitment to create jobs, lower consumer costs, and strengthen Iowa’s rural communities – building the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.”

The REAP project grants are part of a larger nation-wide announcement today.

REAP grants in Iowa

A full list of today’s REAP awards in Iowa may be found here and include these:

-Remington Seeds LLC, owner of a seed processing operation in Belle Plaine, Benton County, received a $553,351 grant to help install a 412 kilowatt solar array. This project is expected to save $97,782 per year. It will replace 570,666 kilowatt hours (82 percent of the business energy usage) per year, enough energy to power 52 homes.

–Dalton Ag Enterprises received a $575,000 grant to help install a 639.5 kilowatt solar array at its farm machinery and equipment manufacturing operation in Lenox in Taylor County. This project will realize $96,972 per year in savings and will replace 764,794 kilowatt hours per year (65 percent of previous use), which is enough electricity to power 70 homes.

-Schumacher Company LC, a farm machinery and equipment manufacturing business, received a $255,600 grant to install a 255.6 kilowatt solar array in Durant in Cedar County. This project will generate 347,249 kilowatt hours per year, saving $54,581 per year. This is enough electricity to power 32 homes.

Jim Field visits with Dolly Bergmann about the Atlantic Rotary Club Pancake Flight Breakfast on July 4th.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (24.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

w/Kate Olson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

(Iowa News Service) – Farm advocates claim price gouging on meat and poultry in California is spreading across the country, including in Iowa, which is the nation’s largest hog producer.
California passed a law banning the use of gestation crates for raising hogs, and producers said it increased production costs which are rippling across the country to Iowa. Iowa has similar regulations on gestation crates. The agriculture advocacy group Farm Action has issued a report which shows in addition to blaming the California law, corporate meat producers also continue to use supply chain disruptions as an excuse to price-gouge.

Joe Maxwell, chief strategy officer for Farm Action, offered as evidence a 20% hike in California pork prices.  “It’s just a part of their doing business now,” Maxwell pointed out. “They find excuses in the markets to gouge that consumer. And one thing we want to be very clear on is that the consumer knows it’s not the farmer. The farmer’s getting squeezed just as much as is the consumer.”

Iowa is the nation’s leading hog producer, but still lost $32 per hog in 2023, a number experts said could grow this year. They blamed increased demand but have also come under scrutiny for trying to meet demand by raising hogs in large confinements, which are known to cause environmental damage.  Farm Action is the same group which, not long after the official end of the pandemic, asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate egg prices, which had tripled in some cases. The group researched U.S. Department of Agriculture data and said the numbers did not justify the price hike. Producers said other factors are driving up prices, including inflation and animal illness.

Maxwell added corporate food producers have positioned themselves to have outsize control over the market. “They’ve got that control over the farmer, not unlike oil companies have over oil fields,” Maxwell argued. “They now have that control because there are very few buyers of farmers’ commodities, so they have that control over the farmer, the producer.”

Iowa produces almost 50 million hogs a year. It costs nearly $4 billion a year just to feed them.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says dairy exhibitors will be required to submit additional tests before their dairy cattle can be transported to a show to help minimize the potential spread of Avian Influenza. The Department’s order for fairs and exhibitions will go into effect on July 1st. The order will require dairy exhibitors participating in Iowa fairs or exhibitions to complete testing for Bird Flu within seven days of moving to the exhibition.

Secretary Naig says in a statement the state wants to strike a balance between allowing our 4-H, FFA, and dairy exhibitors the opportunity to show their animals, while also requiring additional testing to protect livestock and minimize the potential spread of the virus.

(Radio Iowa) – The top Republican in the Iowa House says the legislature must update the state’s eminent domain laws in response to the Iowa Utilities Board decision to approve the route for the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline. The board’s decision gives the company authority to force unwilling property owners to let the pipeline on their land. House Speaker Pat Grassley says landowner rights are one of the highest priorities for House Republicans and that’s why they passed two different bills on the topic — bills that died in the Republican-led Iowa Senate.

Grassley says House Republicans will seek feedback from Iowans on changes in the use of eminent domain in projects like the carbon pipeline. Two dozen other House Republicans — and seven Republicans who are state senators — have signed a joint statement, calling the Iowa Utilities Board decision a dark day for anyone who owns property in Iowa. The group says the board has crossed a line and the state’s proud tradition of clean government is being sullied.

Supporters of the pipeline say it will help Iowa-produced ethanol compete in low carbon fuel markets around the globe. In a written statement, Monte Shaw of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association said despite the overheated rhetoric of a few, the overwhelming majority of impacted landowners support this project. According to Summit’s C-E-O, 75 percent of Iowa landowners along the pipeline route have signed contracts to let the pipeline pass through their property.

_______________

Here is the list of lawmakers who signed on to the statement: Senator Kevin Alons, Senator Jeff Taylor, Senator Dennis Guth, Senator David Rowley, Senator Sandy Salmon, Senator Cherielynn Westrich, Senator Lynn Evans, Representative Steven Bradley, Representative Ken Carlson, Representative Mark Cisneros, Representative Zach Dieken, Representative Dean Fisher, Representative Thomas Gerhold, Representative Cindy Golding, Representative Helena Hayes, Representative Steven Holt, Representative Thomas Jeneary, Representative Bradley Sherman, Representative Jeff Shipley, Representative Luana Stoltenberg, Representative Mark Thompson, Representative Anne Osmundson, Representative Brooke Boden, Representative Henry Stone, Representative Heather Hora, Representative Skyler Wheeler, Representative Eddie Andrews, Representative Dan Gehlbach, Representative Bob Henderson, Representative Bobby Kaufman, and Representative Charles Thomson.

(Radio Iowa) – Landowners who have refused to grant property easements for the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline say they’re outraged state regulators have given the project a green light — and considering their legal options. The Iowa Utilities Board announced today (Tuesday) that the project would get a construction permit if regulators in the Dakotas approve the pipeline route in their states. Jess Mazour of the Sierra Club’s Iowa chapter has been working with a coalition of landowners for the past three years.

“The Iowa Utilities Board voted 3-0 against Iowans and impacted landowners in favor of a dangerous and unpopular project that violates private property rights and the fact that IUB related this decision when a large portion of Summit’s route is underwater is shameful and callous,” Mazour said. “Iowa landowners are currently losing their homes and now get word they may be losing their farms.”

Sherri Webb and her siblings inherited Shelby County land from their grandmother. During the Iowa Utilities Board hearings last fall, she testified against the use of eminent domain to seize her family’s land for the project.  “I hope that the Iowa landowners now understand that absolutely none of their land is safe from being taken,” Webb said. “Will we give up? No. We will appeal and we will never give up.” Attorney Brian Jorde says the first step is a formal request that asks the Utilities Board to reconsider its decision, then a lawsuit could be filed in Iowa district court after that.

“They were handpicked, the three members of the IUB, to do this job,” Jorde says. “…Obviously disappointing, but I invite people to be more disappointed in Iowa’s politicians than Summit.” Jorde says Iowa politicians rolled out the red carpet for the pipeline developer. Governor Reynolds appointed two of the three members of the Iowa Utilities Board after it began reviewing Summit’s construction permit.

Wally Taylor, an attorney for the Sierra Club Iowa chapter, says regulators ignored evidence showing the project had no direct benefit to the public, but is designed to profit Summit and the ethanol plants it chooses to link to the pipeline.  “It isn’t like a train or an airplane where any passenger that buys a ticket can get on,” Taylor says.

The Iowa Utilibites Board decision stipulates that Summit must get approval from North Dakota for its pipeline route and underground storage location AND from South Dakota regulators for the route in that state. The approval process in South Dakota could stretch into 2026.