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!
An Iowa State University scientist says if this coming spring is dry, record high temperatures are likely for the summer of 2013. Christopher Anderson is the assistant director of Iowa State University’s climate science program.”Our recent history tells us what can be predicted with certainty,” Anderson says. “Iowa’s wet years will become wetter and dry years will become drier (and) hotter.” Anderson says Iowa’s “deep, organic soils” help “modulate” the temperature in the summer — but only if the ground is moist. “In Iowa, wet springs lead to cool summers. It seems counter intuitive, but the reason is because of our great soils. Recent examples are 2008, 2010 and 2011,” Anderson says.
“In 2012, rainfall was much below normal and we didn’t have floods, but instead July temperatures ranked third highest in the 140-year record.” According to Anderson, the summertime “cooling mechanism” that Iowa’s soil provides when it’s moist may be altered, however, by more frequent springtime floods that sweep away the topsoil. “The clearest trend that we’re seeing in Iowa’s climate records is in the spring rainfall,” Anderson says. “Our spring rainfall is much higher than it has been in the 140-year record and so what happens when there’s more spring rainfall is there’s potential and there is actual soil loss and if we lose our soil, we lose this ability to keep ourselves cool in the summer.”
There are about 450 different types of soil in Iowa. The average depth of topsoil in Iowa is between six and eight inches.
(Radio Iowa)
The Iowa otter season officially closed at 2-p.m., Saturday, Nov. 24, when the quota of 850 otters was reached. The otter call-in line was updated reflecting the season quota had been filled and the grace period to move traps is underway. Trappers may keep otters captured prior to midnight Nov. 25th. Otters captured after the grace period must be turned over to the DNR without penalty.
The harvest quota numbers are updated regularly on the DNR website www.iowadnr.gov or by calling the Iowa DNR at 515-281-5918.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A lawsuit filed by three farmers is aimed at ending electrical inspections at Iowa farm facilities. The Carroll County farmers are challenging the state Electrical Examining Board’s authority to require inspections and permits for electrical installations on farm property. The lawsuit says farm property is immune from board regulations and those issued the Iowa Department of Public Safety regarding the permits or inspections.
In defending the state, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office says the board did not err in determining that electrical installations at farm buildings were regulated commercial applications that weren’t exempt. Court records don’t show a trial date.
Information about the Atlantic Animal Shelter.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.0MB)
Subscribe: RSS
SHELDON, Iowa (AP) — Investigators are searching for several hundred pigs and hogs that were stolen from a northwest Iowa farm last weekend. KMEG reports the animals that were taken from the Dekker family’s farm last Saturday night were worth more than $38,000. The Dekkers say 220 feeder pigs and 195 fat hogs went missing.
Tina Dekker says she and her husband have no idea who took the animals, but they are installing an alarm system on their hog barn to prevent future thefts. Investigators say the burglars broke into the back of the hog barn and loaded the pigs onto a semitrailer truck. Dekker says it’s common for many hog farmers to load animals at night, so a neighbor may not have noticed the theft.
NORWALK, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa fruit and vegetable distributor is recalling several lots of cherry tomatoes after the grower notified the distributor that Salmonella was found in random sample testing by the Food and Drug Administration. Capital City Fruit Inc., of Norwalk says the recalled cherry tomatoes from Rio Queen Citrus are packaged in one-pint containers as Capital Brand Clamshell Cherry Tomatoes. They were shipped to retail stores from Nov. 14 to Nov.18 and sold in stores in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
No illnesses have been reported. Capital City Fruit on Wednesday says it asked retailers to remove the product from their store shelves. Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
Rare creatures were spotted in two regions of Iowa in recent months. White-tailed squirrels have been seen near the Minnesota border in the town of Osage, and now in central Iowa in Des Moines. Vince Evilsizer, a biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says they’re not albino squirrels, as only the tail is white. “If it was albino, it would likely be all white,” Evilsizer says. “Genetically, it’s probably a recessive trait just expressing a different color pattern. It’s pretty interesting and it must just be a recessive gene that’s showing up.”
Witnesses say the squirrels’ bodies are the typical brown while their bushy tails are pure, snowy white. “I am not sure what’s causing it to show up right now,” Evilsizer says. “I would guess it’s not weather but I’m not sure. I would guess something that emerged in maybe one or a few squirrels. It may stick around and become more prevalent or may kind of melt away again.” Evilsizer says he has never seen a white-tail squirrel, and anyone who does, should consider themselves lucky.
(Radio Iowa)
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS