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!
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) — This time of year is when Iowa pork producers see a large inventory of hogs, as consumers cut back on backyard barbecues. The latest reports show a record number of hogs. Greg Hora of Fort Dodge, president of the Iowa Pork Producers, says despite recent trade tariffs that hurt prices, producers remain optimistic the world wants U-S pork as sow herds expand in Iowa and elsewhere. “We’ve had investment in hog facilities, we’ve had investment in infrastructure, we’ve had investment in packing plants and processing facilities to feed a growing and emerging market around the world,” Hora says.
New trade agreements have recently been signed between the U-S and Mexico, Canada and Japan, while Hora hopes an agreement with China can soon be reached. The fifth largest buyer of American pork is South Korea. “We have to have optimism knowing that in the past year, South Korea has increased the volume of pork being imported into their country from the U.S. by nearly 40%,” Hora says, “which is about a 50% increase in value.” Consumers at home and abroad realize Iowa pork is a great value, he says, and they may soon be able to find additional savings. Hora says, “In the United States, we spend less than 10% of our take-home income on food, but emerging countries are spending 20-25% of their take-home income on food and a country like Japan, they’re spending 18-20% of their take-home income on food.”
He says producers are constantly working on identifying new markets for pork and new ways to serve pork. Iowa ranks first in the nation for pork production with more than 22-million head statewide.
(Radio Iowa) — Between international trade troubles, continued rain and now freezing temperatures that are hampering the harvest, many Iowa farmers are getting stressed. Tammy Jacobs, a coordinator with the Iowa Concern Hotline, says they’ve seen a slow but steady increase in the number of calls from farmers in recent months, with a ten-percent spike in July alone. Jacobs says the pressure of the harvest can ratchet up nerves. “We are starting to see a little bit of activity towards that,” Jacobs says, “but I’m going to anticipate that as we get into getting the harvest finished up in October and November and as things start to hit home, we’re going to see an even greater increase in our calls at that point in time.”
Commodity prices remain low and demand for some grains is dipping due to trade disputes. Also, some areas of Iowa have seen rain almost daily for two weeks straight. It’s created muddy fields and flooding in some areas and farmers are rightfully concerned about their crops. Jacobs says, “The calls that we’re receiving at this point in time is those frustrations and struggles for farmers to get out into the fields, having some good days to get harvesting done and how that’s going to have an impact on their overall yield for the year.”
The hotline’s phone lines are staffed 24-seven, so there’s always a real, live person you can talk to about anything that’s worrying you. “Through our website, we have a ‘live chat’ so if people don’t want to talk on the phone, they can get on the computer and type in the situation going on and someone is going to be able to respond right then to what the situation is, get them pointed in the right direction and just be there to talk to them,” Jacobs says.
The service was launched at the height of the Farm Crisis in 1985 as the Rural Concern Hotline, but during the floods of 1993, shifted gears to address problems beyond agriculture, becoming the Iowa Concern Hotline. The toll-free number is 800-447-1985 and the website is www.extension.iastate.edu/iowaconcern.
Members of the City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Dept. Board will meet 5:15-p.m. Monday, in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. Parks and Rec Director Seth Staashelm will provide the Board with updates on: The Schildberg Development Project, including – the west playground, west restroom proposal and bath house/shelter agreement; An update on the Sunnyside Entrance sign (which was installed last week); a Park Shelter Reservation Proposal; Atlantic Sports Complex plan, and updates on plans for Community Parks.
Staashelm is also expected to report park restrooms are, or will be, closed for the season, but the parks will remain open.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A defense lawyer says three Nebraska farmers charged in an organic grain fraud scheme were working under a Missouri businessman who marketed ordinary corn and soybeans as organic. Tom Brennan, James Brennan and Michael Potter are expected to appear this (Friday) afternoon in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to plead guilty to wire fraud. Prosecutors say each received $2.5 million from 2010 to 2017 from sales of corn and soybeans falsely marketed as certified organic.
Potter’s attorney Clarence Mock says the scheme was led by Randy Constant, president of Jericho Solutions, Inc., who bought and sold their crops. Constant, of Chillicothe, Missouri, hasn’t been charged but the investigation is ongoing. Court documents refer to the owner of a company initialed “J.S.” as a co-conspirator. Constant didn’t immediately return phone messages.
The Cass County Conservation Board is asking you…When do you think the first Trumpeter Swans will arrive at the Schildberg Quarry? You can call-in your prediction (by November 12th) to the Conservation Board at 712-769-2372, leave a message and return phone number if the staff is not in. Duplicate dates will not be allowed. For example, if a caller predicts November 25th, no one else will be allowed to predict that arrival date. So, call anytime until November 12th to make your prediction! One prediction per family, please.
The sponsors of this contest will determine the official arrival of more than 6 trumpeter swans to Lake 4. The winner will receive a Trumpeter Swan 8×10 print from the Cass County Conservation Board. This contest is only for residents of Cass County.
Trumpeter Swans have visited the Schildberg Quarry for, at least, seventeen out of the last eighteen winters. Arrival and departure dates of the swans have been as follows:
1997/1998 December 18 – January 2
1998/1999 Nothing on record
1999/2000 December 25 – February 15
2000/2001 November 23 – March 6
2001/2002 December 25 – February 24
2002/2003 November 23 – March 15
2003/2004 November 26 – March 21
2004/2005 November 25 – March 18
2005/2006 November 17 – March 5
2006/2007 October 30 – March 9
2007/2008 November 22- February 14
2008/2009 November 18- March 12
2009-2010 November 19 – January 5
2010-2011 November 5 – February 10
2011/2012 November 17 – February 21
2012/2013 November 24– March 4
2013/2014 November 12- April 7
2014/2015 November 11- April 6
2015/2016 November 22- March 24
2016/2017 November 19- March 9
2017/2018 November 9- March 20
(Radio Iowa) — Many Iowa growers will be storing — not selling — their soybeans this harvest season, given low commodity prices and troubles with international trade. Iowa State University Extension ag engineer Kris Kohl recommends farmers cool down the storage bin and make sure the moisture level isn’t too high when the beans are harvested. “We need to aerate the bin and get the temperature down to refrigerator temperatures which would be 40-degrees or below,” Kohl says. “Soybeans in general, it’s hard to harvest them when they’re above the 13%.”
For soybeans with a higher moisture content, it’s sometimes best to dry them using natural air and to avoid firing up the heaters. “A lot of people say that soybeans don’t dry like corn or they don’t dry normally,” Kohl says, “but all of the calculations show the rate of speed is what you’d expect it to be.” Precautions need to be taken when drying soybeans. “The really scary thing about soybeans is, being an oil seed, they have a lot of energy in them and if you ever get them to catch fire, they will burn up everything,” Kohl says. “I really encourage people to just use natural air.”
Some growers might want to take their soybeans to a commercial elevator and run them through a corn dryer, but he says the risk of fire is far too great.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Three farmers have agreed to plead guilty to fraudulently marketing non-organic corn and soybeans as certified organic as part of a lengthy, multi-million-dollar scheme. Documents filed in federal court in Iowa show that Tom Brennan, James Brennan and Michael Potter each intend to plead guilty to wire fraud. All three are identified in court papers as farmers from Nebraska, but additional information about them wasn’t immediately available. Their attorneys didn’t immediately reply to phone messages.
Prosecutors allege that the three sold non-organic grains to an Iowa company that marketed them nationwide with an organic label. In particular, they allegedly used unapproved substances such as pesticides and nitrogen to grow the crops. The scheme allegedly lasted from 2010 until 2017 and netted at least $10.8 million.
(Radio Iowa) — Federal officials are considering a plan to move two divisions of the U-S Department of Agriculture out of the nation’s capitol. It could mean Iowa has a shot to become the new home to the Economic Research Service or the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Iowa Rural Development Council executive director Bill Menner says it would be a tremendous lift for the state to land either division, or both. “In my mind, as someone who’s involved in economic development, that makes perfect sense,” Menner says. “The reasons for the decision to want to move the agencies out of Washington D.C. not withstanding, any time you have a chance to find a good fit when you’re looking for businesses and creating jobs, you take advantage of it.”
Menner, who used to work at U-S-D-A Rural Development, says Iowa would be a good fit for both offices and the state’s in a good position to compete. “The resources that exist at Iowa State University and, to some degree, at the University of Iowa are a good fit for what these two agencies do,” Menner says. “Iowa State’s a land grant institution and they have folks who study these things and do this kind of work every day.” He notes, it won’t be a slam-dunk for Iowa. “There would be a number of other states that would also be competitive because they have institutions similar to Iowa State and Iowa and that have strong land grant histories,” Menner says, “but Iowa certainly has to be in the running, if this indeed is going to happen.”
He says the National Animal Disease Center and Veterinary Diagnostic Lab located in Ames are a good demonstration of the fit that exists between Iowa and the U-S-D-A. He says those should be considered in any possible relocation efforts.
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