The president of a research firm devoted to agriculture says while the number of millennial farmers is small, their impact on farming operations is surprisingly large. Jan Johnson of Millennium Research says producers between the ages of 18 and 34 aren’t always recognized for the important decisions they’re making “Even though they’re young and might actually still have a job off the farm, they’re making a lot of the decisions regarding seed, feed, fertilizer, crop protection, technology and all those sort of day-to-day or seasonal decisions that farmers make,” Johnson says.

With the majority of U.S. farmers over the age of 55, Johnson predicts fewer farmers will control more land. “From the work that we do, which tends to concentrate on commercial-sized operations, we find that farmers under 44 years old tend to control farming operations of almost twice the size of older farmers,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s research also finds “technology adoption” high on the list of priorities for millennial farmers, and most are extremely well-educated.

(Reporting by Mark Dorenkamp, Brownfield Ag News)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Drake University student is challenging a federal government policy that he says discriminates against men in campus sexual assault cases. He claims the Des Moines-based university failed to consider his allegations of sexual assault by a female student but believed her allegations against him and expelled him. The case is one of several filed in recent years claiming federal guidance from 2011 has resulted in reverse discrimination.

HIAWATHA, Iowa (AP) — A man police found earlier this month wandering naked on an eastern Iowa street has been charged with second-degree murder in his mother’s death. Hiawatha Police said Tuesday that 32-year-old Joseph Hubbard faces the murder charge in addition to other charges levied against him earlier. Officers found him wandering naked on a Hiawatha street on Dec. 2 after they say he broke into a church, poured gasoline inside and punched a man. They then found the body of his mother at the home they shared.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified a woman killed at a northeast Des Moines home. The Des Moines Register reports that Polk County deputies called to the home for a domestic disturbance on Monday found 19-year-old Katelynn Rose Gould, of Urbandale, injured in the garage. She died at the scene. Officials have not detailed the nature of her injuries.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City lawyer has been sentenced to 15 days in jail for a hit-and-run that injured two pedestrians and damaged a vehicle. Television station KTIV reports that 32-year-old Thomas Farrens was sentenced Friday after entering an Alford plea to leaving the scene of a serious injury accident. Court documents say Farrens didn’t stop after his car hit two pedestrians and sideswiped another vehicle on April 4.

Members of the Griswold City Council will hold a Special Meeting Wednesday (Dec. 14th) at the Griswold Community Building. During the 6-p.m. session, the Council will discuss Mediation, with regard to the Griswold Rescue Department.

During a work session held November 30th, the Council agreed to a request for formal mediation from four of the nine members of the Rescue Department who had resigned in November following the resignation of former Rescue Captain Julie Kline.

Kline resigned the day after the Council held a closed session Nov. 12th. At a public meeting held soon thereafter, Mayor Jeb Peck said they had issues with the Rescue Department not following its own By-Laws, and their response time to calls, but nothing has ever been mentioned publicly about why Kline resigned.

Griswold City Attorney David Wiederstein said during the Nov. 30th meeting that a complaint had been filed by Kline with the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB) following the Nov. 12th closed session. Wiederstein said on behalf of the City, he gave IPIB the materials they requested with regard to that meeting, and that the Board is conducting an investigation into whether there was a violation of the Open Meetings Law. He could say nothing further on that topic.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer said today (Tuesday), a Pottawattamie County man was arrested last Friday night following a chase that began with a traffic stop. 35-year old Randy Buck Evans, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody after the Ford pickup he was driving missed a turn during the pursuit, and crashed into a metal ditch tube. Evans faces charges that include Eluding, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and several traffic offenses.  He was unable to post bond at the time and was held on $5000 bond.

Randy Buck Evans Jr.

The incident leading up to his arrest began just after 11-p.m., Friday. When a Deputy tried to stop the pickup Evans was driving near 130^th and Q Avenue, or about seven-miles north of Clarinda, the vehicle did not stop, and fled at a high rate of speed.

The ensuing pursuit continued west on 130^th to O Avenue and then south on O Avenue to 150^th Street.  Evans then attempted to turn east onto 150th, but the pickup was traveling too fast to negotiate the turn.

Job seekers in Iowa should find plenty of opportunities in the New Year, according to a new survey of employers. The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey found, between January and March, 24 percent of the Iowa companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while just four-percent expect layoffs. Another 68 percent expect to maintain their current workforce levels. The hiring intentions are stronger than surveys conducted both three months ago and one year ago.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved a Traffic Safety Improvement Program (TSIP) project in Montgomery County. The Commission approved a requested $500,000 for a pavement widening project on County Road H-34. The project is expected to cost a little more than $1.2-million altogether.

The Commission however declined to provide funding for traffic signals at 32nd Avenue and Manawa Center Drive, in Council Bluffs, and elsewhere. The City of Council Bluffs had requested $164,200 toward the $191,000 cost of the signals.

The Iowa Transportation Commission, meeting today (Tuesday), in Ames, approved the a Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy (RISE) grant application from the City of Council Bluffs. Up to $957,374 from the city share of the RISE Fund was approved for a Local Development grant to assist in reconstruction of approximately 710 feet of Gifford Road and construction of approximately 1,880 feet of South 19^th Street located on the south side of town.

Officials say the project is necessary to provide improved access to six lots totaling more than 89 acres for light industrial purposes. The project is anticipated to be completed by November 2017.

The downturn in the agriculture economy continues to impact the state with the latest evidence another drop in the price of farmland in the annual Iowa State University Extension survey. Wendong Zhang conducts the survey. “Essentially a five-point-nine percent decline. It’s the first time that the Iowa farmland values have been declining for three years in a row since the 1980’s farm crisis,” Zhang says.

The average price of an acre of farmland fell to $7,183. The three years of falling prices come after the peak in 2013 when it took $8,713 to buy an acre of land. Zhang says one key factor is driving the downward trend. “Mainly the weak commodity prices, the low corn and soybean prices. And this time the livestock margins are no longer that strong either,” Zhang explains. He says none of the 99 counties were exempt from the drop.

“No county saw an increase this time– all counties dropped — ranging from a two percent decline in the southern-central to a nine percent in western-central,” Zhang says. Zhang says the drop in farmland prices will likely slow, but won’t end immediately. “The next year or two we will probably see modest declines at the state level — although we’re already seeing some promising signs that south-central and north-central Iowa, are seeing some growth in land values over the last quarter. So, there might be some bounce back, ” Zhang says. But he says it could take three years for the whole state to turn things back around.

The three-year drop in value causes some to think history might be repeating itself. “A lot of people are now concerned about whether we will see a replay of the 1980s farm crisis,” Zhang says. “I think the probability is probably low.” He says landowners were saw some very good earning years between 2003 and 2013 to help their bottom line, which puts them in better position to handle the latest declines. And he says greater lending restrictions have also kept landowners from getting in over their heads.

“And you have much greater and hopefully stronger coverage from crop insurance. So I think overall the factors are better suited to weather the storm. I think people who are over-leveraged or bought too much machinery, they need to watch the working capita,” Zhang says.

The most expensive farmland was in eastern Iowa’s Scott County at $10,335 dollars an acre. Two counties in northwest Iowa were right behind, with O’Brien County at $10, 194 dollars and Sioux County at $10,066 dollars an acre. The least expensive farmland was in Decatur County in south-central Iowa at $3,443 dollars.

Find out more at: www.card.iastate.edu/farmland/

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Drake University student has sued the university claiming it discriminated against him by failing to consider his allegations of sexual assault by a female student but believing her allegations against him.

The case centers on a night of drinking in October 2015. The university determined the male student made his allegations against the woman in retaliation for her complaint. But the man’s lawsuit, filed this month, says the university never investigated his claims.

The lawsuit alleges violations of John Doe’s constitutional due process rights and federal sex discrimination laws. The university says it disagrees with his depictions of the facts and will prove its commitment to fairness. It’s among several recent lawsuits claiming federal guidance pushing aggressive pursuit of campus sexual assaults has resulted in bias against men.