SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Missouri River Historical Development Board has approved a $1 million grant for a proposed agricultural expo center in Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal reports that the grant from the nonprofit group could help leverage state funds to help build the $6.7 million Ag Expo & Learning Center.

Plans call for the center to include a 3,000-seat arena, a warm-up arena, livestock pens and a stockyards hall of fame. The proposed center would host equestrian competitions, livestock shows and other farm and agriculture-related events.

The board is set to formally present the grant to expo center leaders at a ceremony Thursday. The development board’s president, Mark Monson, said he hopes the grant will help kick-start additional private contributions for the center.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Three finalists have been announced for the New Food Contest at the Iowa State Fair.  Fairgoers can vote on them Aug. 11-15. The winner will be announced Aug. 16. The finalists are Ice Cream Nachos, Not Your Mamma’s Taco and Pride of Iowa Wrap.

The nachos are described as crisp cinnamon sugar chips covered with cinnamon ice cream drizzled with hot fudge and caramel and sprinkled with chocolate, caramel and strawberries. It’s topped with nuts, whipped cream and a cherry. The taco is made from a deep-fried flour tortilla that’s layered with shredded turkey and veggie slaw and topped with mango salsa. The wrap uses a jalapeno-cheddar tortilla with pork shoulder, corn salsa and bacon bits. It’s layered with cheddar jack cheese, avocado relish, chipotle aioli and crispy tortilla bites.

w/ Extension Program Coordinator Kate Olson.

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The owners of a company that wants to build a massive pork processing plant in Iowa are looking at multiple Iowa communities after the project failed to win approval in Mason City last month. Ron Prestage, president of of Prestage Farms, says he’s gotten interest from nearly 20 other Iowa cities and is giving each of them fair consideration. “We had 19 communities in Iowa that contacted us after the Mason City vote,” Prestage says. “We’ve gotten through eight or nine of those communities that we have looked at their sites. We intend to look at all of the sites where people have expressed an interest in talking to us about locating the plant there.”

Prestage says there are several Iowa communities that look to be a good fit for their project, but that they want to avoid the opposition they faced in Mason City by the activist group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. “We’ve already seen some sites that appear to be very attractive,” he says. “We’ve made it very clear to everybody that we do not want to see a repeat of what occurred in the circus in Mason City. The Mason City people we were dealing with were very, very professional and respectful. We really are unhappy about how that got somewhat hijacked by ICCI.”

Prestage says for the most part, his company has gotten a good reception from Iowa officials, and that’s part of the reason the state is the company’s first priority for the processing plant. “We’ve been treated very well in Iowa by the state government and all of the regulatory agencies we obviously have to deal with,” Prestage says. “If possible, we would prefer to build this plant in Iowa and I’ve been very honest with the adjoining states that have expressed an interest in the plant as well.”

The North Carolina-based Prestage Farms pork processing facility is a 240-million-dollar project that would employ up to 2,000 workers and process 10,000 hogs a day.

(Radio Iowa)

Area residents interested in food preservation are invited to Food Preservation 101, a two-hour overview of general food preservation principles. The class includes current recommendations for canning, freezing and drying, display of equipment and utensils and sources for safe and tested food preservation information.  The course will be held Tuesday, June 28th, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Cass County Extension office in Atlantic. Fee for the course is $5 per person, and includes all materials, recipes, etc. Pre-registration is requested by Monday, June 27 by calling 712-243-1132 or emailing xcass@iastate.edu.

Preserve the Taste of Summer is a longer, more in-depth course that combines educational classes and hands-on food preservation workshops, and is a great opportunity for those who want to go beyond the basics. The educational classes can be done online anytime by registering at www.extension.iastate.edu/registration/events/conferences/preservation/ or they can be viewed in a group setting by making arrangements in advance (call 712-243-1132). The classes are required to be completed before participating in the hands-on workshops. Two workshops will be hosted later this summer, at the Cass County Fair Food Stand. A workshop on salsa making (hot-water bath canning) and freezing food will be held on Saturday, July 30 from 9 am to 1 pm, and a workshop on pressure canning will be held on Saturday, August 1, from 9 am to 1 pm. Fees for this program start at $25, depending on the number of courses and workshops you plan to attend. All participants in hands-on workshops will leave with several jars of freshly canned goods to take home and enjoy!

Updates for Home Food Preservers

Look to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach for up-to-date, accurate and safe information on home food preservation.  Publications and programs are under regular review and revision and some important changes have been made for this year’s gardening and preserving season, according to Barb Fuller, local human sciences specialist in nutrition and wellness.

“If you have older versions of these publications, throw them away and replace them with the revised versions to be sure you are using current recommendations,” says Fuller. “Home canned food is a great way to have fresh summer produce available all year, but safety is key to enjoying that food year round.”

Cass County Extension also offers pressure canner dial gauge testing by appointment.  Dial gauge pressure canners should be tested annually for accuracy. Dial gauges will also be tested at the end of the Food Preservation 101 program on June 28 for any participants interested.

If you get stuck or have a question about a recipe, you can get answers to food preservation questions by calling ISU Extension and Outreach’s toll-free AnswerLine. Experts answer questions Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and from 1– 4 p.m. In Iowa, call 1-800-262-3804; Relay Iowa phone linkage for deaf/hard-of-hearing individuals, 1-800-735-2942. Questions can also be emailed to answer@iastate.edu.  Frequently asked questions and other resources are available at the AnswerLine website, www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/answerline.

The Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) is partnering with the Iowa Pork Industry Center and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, to offer FREE Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA) programs, for Iowa Pork Producers. PQA Plus and TQA training session will be offered in each of the eight IPPA districts throughout the summer. Locally, the District 5 session takes place Monday, June 27th, at the Cass County Extension and Outreach office (at 805 W. 10th St.). with the TQA session from 9:30-a.m. until Noon, and the PQA Plus session from 1-until 5-p.m.

Producers are encouraged to pre-register in order to allow adequate space and materials. To do so, or to get more information, contact the IPPA at 515-225-7675, or email bmeyer@iowapork.org.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey has announced that Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupons are now available for eligible WIC recipients and low-income older Iowans. The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs provide eligible Iowans with checks that can be redeemed for fresh, locally grown produce at authorized farmers markets and farm stands from June 1 through October 31, 2016.

Northey said “Iowa-grown fresh fruits and vegetables can be found at farmers markets throughout the state.  The Famers Market Nutrition Programs are designed to give WIC participants and low-income seniors better access to these fresh and nutritious foods.”

The Farmers Market Nutrition Programs are administered through the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, in partnership with the Iowa Department of Public Health and Iowa Department on Aging.  For more information contact Stephanie Groom, Program Administrator, at 515-725-1179 or at Stephanie.Groom@iowaagriculture.gov.

WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program

The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program provides eligible WIC recipients with nine checks valued at $3 each. WIC FMNP checks will be distributed statewide on a first-come, first-served basis.  Eligible individuals may pick up checks at arranged appointments or at regularly scheduled clinic appointments.

A combination of state and federal funds will be used to make benefits available to more than 24,000 eligible WIC recipients this year.  Eligible individuals include children ages 1 through 4, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women that participate in Iowa’s WIC Program.

The state’s twenty local WIC agencies have begun to distribute checks and nutritional education information.  WIC recipients interested in obtaining the benefits are encouraged to contact their local WIC clinic or visit https://idph.iowa.gov/wic/families  for more information.

Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program

The Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program provides eligible seniors with ten checks for $3 each.  In addition to produce, locally produced honey can also be purchased with Senior FMNP checks.  Applicants throughout the state are offered the checks on a first-come first-served basis and the checks are available through Area Agency on Aging offices. A combination of state and federal funds will be used to make benefits available to more than 19,000 eligible seniors this year.

Eligible seniors must be sixty years of age or older with a household income less than $21,978 if single or $29,637 for a married couple.  Iowa seniors will be asked to complete a one page application verifying their eligibility, by providing their birth dates and the last four digits of their social security numbers.

The Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) have begun to distribute checks and nutritional education information.   To find an Area Agency on Aging near you, contact the Iowa Association of Area Agencies on Aging (i4a) toll free at 866-468-7887 or at www.i4a.org.

Ames, Iowa –The Iowa 4-H Foundation has announced the recipients of over 70 Iowa 4-H college scholarships valued at over $70,000. Recipients accepted their awards on Sunday, June 5 at the Foundation’s Scholarship Reception held in the Scheman Building at Iowa State University. Over 500 applications were submitted. Award recipients hail from 33 counties across the state of Iowa with a wide variety of 4-H experiences.

Here’s a list of local 4-H Foundation Scholarship Honorees, by county:

• Donald and Ruby Godfrey Family 4-H Scholarship: Nick Frazee—Mills
• Phyllis J. Olson 4-H Scholarship: Anastasia Frazee—Mills
• Career 4-H Scholarship: Jill Vanderhoof—Montgomery
• Roberts Family 4-H Scholarship: Isabelle Perkins—Montgomery
• Stakey 4-H Scholarship: Michael Rueschenberg—Shelby

Scholarship applications were evaluated based on the applicant’s 4-H participation, academic accomplishments, goals and future plans, financial need as well as other criteria established by the Iowa 4-H Foundation and the scholarship donors.

Iowa corn growers could face higher input costs if a federal agency moves forward with efforts to strictly limit the use of a popular pesticide. An E-P-A report on Atrazine shows the agency has concerns with the chemical’s impact on birds, mammals and fish. Scott Merritt, a spokesman for the agriculture industry’s Triazine  Network, says growers know to follow the guidelines on atrazine carefully.

“We think the label is sufficient the way it is. You can’t use it around water,” Merritt says. “There are setbacks in the application of it, have been for a decade, and we think those are very reasonable.” The E-P-A suggests farmers should only be allowed to use eight ounces of the chemical per acre, when they typically will use two pounds for that much ground. Merritt says the proposed change could be a financial detriment to Iowa growers.

“It could increase by having to change products or limitations on his application or just his ability to grow a crop and not compete with weeds,” Merritt says. “We’re seeing numbers almost up to $60 an acre would be the added cost to the farmer.” Environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, have spent years urging the EPA to ban the use of Atrazine. The public comment period is open until August 5th.

(Radio Iowa)