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Iowa artists who want to work on a grand scale are urged to apply for the opportunity to paint a large mural highlighting conservation and water quality efforts in Iowa. The mural will be created during the Iowa State Fair in August. Dustin Vande Hoef, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, explains the goal of the project:
“We really want to showcase all of the aspects of Iowa agriculture,” Vande Hoef says. “Certainly, the livestock production, the beef and pork and dairy, the turkey production, the eggs as well, but also, the corn and soybeans as well as the specialty crops like grapes.”
The mural should serve as a visual representation of the commitment by Iowa farmers to protecting the land and improving water quality. It will be created on a six-panel, eight-by-24-foot wall in the Agricultural Building during the state fair.
Vande Hoef says, “We see it as an opportunity to highlight Iowa agriculture and the conservation and water quality efforts that are underway on our farms, in our rural small towns and in our cities.” At least a portion of the mural must be painted during the state fair, which runs August 11th through the 21st, including at least two hours each day between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Artists need to apply by July 1st. In addition to being seen by perhaps hundreds of thousands of fairgoers, there’s cash compensation, too.
“The ag groups have provided $1,500 to support the artist and an additional $500 to purchase supplies, so we want to encourage artists to apply,” Vande Hoef says. “We have all of the information on our website at IowaAgriculture.gov under ‘Hot Topics.'” Besides the state ag department, the project is being sponsored by: the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa Turkey Federation, Iowa Egg Council, Iowa Beef Industry Council, Midwest Dairy Association, Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association.
(Radio Iowa)
Forbes magazine is out with its list of the richest residents in each state and an agri-businessman from Adel is listed as Iowa’s richest person. Seventy-four-year-old Harry Stine is the founder of Stine Seed. He started experimenting with corn and soybean genetics in the 1960s and got patents on key soybean genetics in the 1990s. Forbes pegs Stine’s net worth at three-point-six billion dollars. The magazine’s website says Stine drives a Ford F-150 pick-up and lives in a small home near the Stine Seed headquarters.
Investment guru Warren Buffet is the richest person in Nebraska. South Dakota’s richest resident is a banker. The part-owner of Cargill is the richest person in Minnesota. Wisconsin’s richest person founded the Menard’s chain of home improvement stores. The richest person in Illinois is a hedge fund manager and Missouri’s richest person owns the St. Louis Rams, but recently struck a deal to move the team to Los Angeles.
(Radio Iowa)
The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, agreed to waive their right to appeal the issuance of a construction permit for Southwest Iowa Egg, near Massena. On May 11th, the Supervisors approved a Master Matrix scoring application for a construction permit. Southwest Iowa Egg plans to remove of two, older buildings and replace them with a larger, modern facilities that gives the chickens more room and is designed to considerably reduce out-gassing of odors from the manure.
The Board forwarded its recommendation of approval to the Iowa DNR, which, in-turn also approved the application. The DNR then created a draft permit for the Supervisors to either deny or approve. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman read a letter received from the DNR’s Senior Environmental Engineer, with regard to the application. The letter said Southwest Iowa Egg Cooperative has met the legal criteria to issue a construction permit for seven new poultry confinement buildings and one new dry manure storage building.
The Board of Supervisors, according to Sunderman, had the right to appeal the DNR’s statement of recommendation to issue the permit, or they could waive their right to appeal the permit, to expedite the permit process. They chose the latter.
In other business, the Board approved a Sheriff’s Deputies,’ Jailors’ and Sheriff’s Office Assistant bargaining unit agreement for Fiscal Year 2017.
A bridge that was closed in northern Cass County early last month, is once again open to traffic. On April 6th, Cass County Engineer Charles Marker told the Board of Supervisors high truss bridge #440, located a couple of miles south of Interstate 80 in Pymosa Township near the Buck Creek Church was closed, after an inspection revealed a wooden “pile cap” on the northeast corner of the bridge had shattered, making it unsafe. The repairs to that bridge have since been completed.
Marker told the Board of Supervisors during their meeting this (Wednesday) morning, inspections have revealed two other bridges, however, must be closed. One of those is Bridge #17, which is located about 5-miles south of Massena on Highway 148 and three-quarters of a mile west, on Yankton Road. Marker said the wood bridge pilings are continuing to decay. The bridge is posted for vehicles with a maximum gross weight of three-tons, but Marker says he’s heard from residents in the area, semis are crossing the bridge. He said they’re concerned if it continues to be used in that manner, a vehicle may end-up in the creek.
Bridge 17 is one of two bridges in the County scheduled to be repaired, with the bid-letting to take place in August. The other is Bridge #42 near the Cass/Adams/Montgomery County corner. Marker says the pile cap has begun to rotate, or twisted to the point where it is in danger of collapsing. The bridge is located along a Level B road.
He said also, Gus Construction has completed the concrete pour on a culvert for Bridge #20, located about two-miles south of Highway 92 on County Road N-28, south of Cumberland. Weather permitting, the project, including paving, should be completed by mid-July.
Governor Terry Branstad says he hopes some other Iowa city is able to land a new Prestage Farms pork plant after Mason City took itself out of the running. “I think they made a mistake,” Branstad says. “…First of all, Iowa is a leading pork producing state. It makes sense to process those pigs in Iowa.” The Mason City Council cast a tie vote on a development deal with the company in early May, rejecting the proposed 240-million dollar pork processing plant.
Branstad says he “was impressed” with Prestage when he met with the company’s executives. “It’s a family-owned business. They’ve had a great reputation in North Carolina,” Branstad says. Critics raised environmental concerns about wastewater from the plant and the odor from hog confinements that likely would be built or expanded to supply the plant. Others cited extra costs for the community, including the hiring of new school staff to teach the children of plant employees who do not speak English.
The C-E-O of Prestage says as the company examines other locations, he’ll be better prepared to deal with critics of the project, who he calls “kooks”. “What I’m concerned about is South Dakota and other states would like to have them,” Branstad says. “We hope that we could get this in Iowa because I think it would be good for the Iowa independent pork producers and good for the Iowa economy.”
Prestage Farms officials say “dozens” of cities in Iowa and elsewhere have expressed interest in their project. The Prestage Farms C-E-O says he’s open to building anywhere in the upper Midwest, but Iowa is still his “preference.” Mason City officials initially offered a more than 11-million dollar package of local incentives to land the deal. A petition drive is underway in the community to try to get the city council to reverse its rejection of the project.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement led the lobbying effort against the deal and the group vows to organize in other Iowa cities where Prestage might consider locating.
(Radio Iowa)
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