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The Iowa DNR invites hunters and trappers to attend listening sessions where they can share suggestions and thoughts about Iowa’s hunting regulations and seasons. The public meetings are the first step in setting rules for the fall 2018 hunting season and will take place Feb. 21 from 6 to 9 p.m. at 18 Iowa locations.

During each meeting, DNR staff will facilitate a discussion about what went well last fall, what didn’t, and what changes hunters and trappers would like to see for the upcoming seasons.

Meetings will be held locally, in Atlantic, Council Bluffs and Creston.

• Atlantic, Iowa DNR office, 1401 Sunnyside Lane
• Council Bluffs, Fish and Game Club, 531 Comanche Street
• Creston, Southwestern Community College, 1501 West Townline, Room 180

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Labor, public health, environment and animal protection organizations are asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reject plans to change the way hogs are slaughtered and processed for meat.

Thirty-five organizations, including Compassion Over Killing, Friends of the Earth and Waterkeeper Alliance, asked Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Tuesday to reject the rules proposed last month.

The rules allow plant employees instead of government inspectors to determine which animals are slaughtered and allow increased line speeds. The groups say the changes risk increased food contamination, worker injuries, animal abuse and water pollution.

The USDA says the rules don’t risk food safety and improve industry practices, and the National Pork Producers says they increase efficiency, inspection effectiveness and the rapid adoption of new food-safety technologies.

The USDA is taking comments until April 2.

• KJAN, Atlantic  3″
• Massena  3.5″
• Audubon  4″
• Guthrie Center  6″
• Oakland  2.2″
• Schleswig  5″
• Clarinda  1″
• Shenandoah  1″
• Carroll  5.5″
• Denison  4.5″
• Corning  1″
• Manning  4.9″
• Underwood  3.2″
• Woodbine  3″
• Logan  4″
• Bedford  1″
• Council Bluffs  1.5″
• Red Oak  1″
• Sidney  1.1″

Despite many challenges in the ag industry, the new president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association says he looks forward to the opportunities ahead in 2018. Gregg Hora (HORE-uh) of Fort Dodge replaces the retiring president Curtis Meier, of Clarinda. Hora says this is an exciting era to be raising hogs in Iowa. “The pork industry has been changing with the times, modernizing our facilities, the way that we house our pigs, the efficiencies and the health status of what we do with our pigs in the barns,” Hora says. “Part of that in this structured change is worker safety and worker productivity. We have new technologies that we’re implementing on the farms.”

One of his primary objectives is making more improvements across the industry in the year ahead. “Some of our goals have to do with continued training and education of our members from the environmental perspective, what we do around our farms and what we do around our pig buildings,” Hora says. “The PQA or pork quality assurance and the trucker quality assurance or TQA are two important aspects that we do with all of our farm workers.”

Hora says it’s vital that pork producers are good neighbors in their communities, calling the pork industry the bedrock of rural Iowa. He says the state’s pork industry continues to have annual growth of two-to-three percent which he calls a job creator. We always talk about efficiencies as an important aspect but consistent improvement is another aspect,” Hora says. “Iowa Pork, along with a number of different ag organizations, continue to have leadership training programs where we’re talking about quality improvements.”

Hora is a contract grower with three finishing sites in Webster County. He finishes 25-thousand hogs per year and raises corn and soybeans on nearly 2,000 acres. He is also the president for the Webster County Pork Producers.

(Radio Iowa)

EAGLE GROVE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa authorities have punished a north-central Iowa egg facility for allowing wastewater to reach a creek. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that the Department of Natural Resources said Daybreak Foods Inc. must pay an administrative penalty of $5,500.

The department says a heavy rain in August washed a recent field application of wastewater into the creek near the facility in rural Eagle Grove. The company has a permit to spread the wastewater but can’t let it run into surface waters.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a bill into law that redirects existing money toward voluntary water quality programs in Iowa. Reynolds signed the bill Wednesday at the state Capitol, marking her first bill signed as governor. The law is expected to redirect $282 million over 12 years from an infrastructure fund and water tax. Research shows it would cost billions of dollars to effectively clean Iowa’s waterways, in large part blamed on farm runoff.

The law doesn’t mandate comprehensive water quality metrics and excludes benchmark improvement goals. Environmental groups argue that lessens the impact. State agriculture officials counter that existing water quality programs rely on extensive research from a voluntary state-backed initiative.

Reynolds says the bill is a first step. It’s unclear if other water-related legislation will advance this session.

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Montgomery County Extension and Outreach will offer the Commercial Ag Weed, Insect and Plant Disease Management Continuing Instruction Course (CIC) for commercial pesticide applicators Tuesday, February 13, 2018. The program will be shown at locations across Iowa through the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP). The local attendance site is 400 Bridge St. Ste 2, Red Oak, IA.  Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the course runs from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The registration fee is $35 on or before Feb. 6 and $45 after Feb. 6. To register or to obtain additional information about the CIC, contact Angela Silva at the ISU Extension and Outreach office in Montgomery County by phoning 712-623-2592.

The course will provide continuing instruction credit for commercial pesticide applicators certified in categories 1A, 1B, 1C, and 10. Topics covered will include information on equipment calibration and safe application techniques, pesticide drift reduction, phytotoxicity, pesticide stewardship, and pest management. Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in Integrated Pest Management will be offered at this program. Interested participants should bring their CCA number.

Additional information and registration forms for this and other courses offered by the PSEP program can be accessed at www.extension.iastate.edu/PSEP/ComAp.html.

(Clarification/correction)The City of Audubon will featured during a 15-second Cenex commercial during the Super Bowl. The spot was shown last Saturday night, during the annual Audubon Chamber of Commerce Banquet, auction and awards program. Filming the spot occurred in mid-November on location, in Audubon, and prominently features Albert the Bull, along with some local citizens.

Albert the Bull was spiffed-up prior to shooting the Cenex spot.

There is also a 5-minute tribute You Tube video for viewing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llKOk_AA02A