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!
The 5th Annual “Fields of Flight” Hot Air Balloon Festival will welcome more than 20 hot air balloonists from across the country this weekend.
Area residents can enjoy the floating works of art as they grace the skies of Pottawattamie County on Friday, September 7th and Saturday, September 8th, beginning at 5:00pm. The hot air balloons and their pilots will light up the evening skies at the nightly balloon glows, held both evenings.
Net proceeds from the annual event will go to purchase food for MICAH House, an emergency shelter in Council Bluffs serving families and individuals who are experiencing the crisis of homelessness. The funds will support services for more than 760 individuals annually, half of whom are children. For over 26 years, MICAH House has been a haven of shelter and support services for those who are homeless and is the only family shelter in the metro area.
Guests enjoy admission for just $1.00, $5.00 parking (per car), and fun entertainment featuring something for every member of your family including competition and fun flights, balloon glows, live music, kids activities, apples, a wide variety of food items unique to the orchard/vineyard, and wine. Spread out your blanket and enjoy a truly memorable experience in one of Council Bluffs most beautiful settings, Ditmars Orchard & Vineyard, located at 19475 225th Street.
For more information on this special event or to learn more about MICAH House, please contact Lisa Emken at 712-323-4416
* All balloon flights and displays are weather permitting.
Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert said today (Thursday), that the Fire Danger Index will remain in the “Extreme” category in Shelby County. Seivert says his office will continue to monitor any rain that falls over the weekend, to see if there is any impact on reducing the fire danger. Farmers in the area are working on bringing in their crops, and as the amount of available fuel for explosive fire growth…corn, beans, and tall grasses.. are removed from the equation, the threat of uncontrolled fires will continue to diminish as well. The next scheduled update on the fire conditions, is expected on Monday, Sept. 10th.
In the meantime, extra precautions should be taken while farmers are out in the field, to ensure their machines are free of debris and that fires are not started behind those implements while the harvest is underway.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has signed a proclamation to allow the transportation of oversized and overweight loads of soybeans, corn, hay, straw, silage and stover. The proclamation took effect Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 and expires after 60 days.
This proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within Iowa, excluding the interstate system, and which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code section 321.463 paragraph “5.b”, by more than twelve and one-half percent (12.5%), do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.
The action is intended to allow vehicles transporting soybeans, corn, hay, straw, and stover to be oversize and overweight, not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight, without a permit, but only for the duration of this proclamation. The Iowa Department of Transportation is directed to monitor the operation of this proclamation to assure the public’s safety and facilitate the movement of the trucks involved.
ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – Landowners in Monona County are complaining about a big increase in their property taxes. The Sioux City Journal reports the landowners gathered Tuesday at the county courthouse to discuss what they could do about the tax increase and to question county assessor Tim Peters and county board members. Castana farmer William Brink says his taxes have increased by $9,000 in one year. Officials say the change is because of a new way counties value land based on the ability to produce crops. If soil is more fertile, it’s taxed at a higher rate. The new system also applies to more land, causing increases on property once overlooked. Some counties adjust taxes for property not used for row crops, but Monona County is among 50 counties that doesn’t make adjustments.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. corn harvest continues ahead of schedule with some states nearly half-finished at a time when they usually are just getting started. The USDA said Tuesday in its weekly crop update that little has changed in the condition of drought-damaged corn and soybeans. That’s because the plants are too far along for recent rain to make a difference. Corn was planted several weeks earlier this year and matured more quickly in the summer heat, allowing farmers to start harvesting early. Tennessee has 49 percent of its corn in, compared to the usual 21 percent. Missouri is at 44 percent, ahead of the average 8 percent. Nebraska is at 7 percent, and Iowa, the nation’s leading corn producer, is at 5 percent. Typically those farmers haven’t begun yet.
Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say five deer at a breeding facility in Pottawattamie County have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), resulting in that operation placed under quarantine. Three of the five deer in Pottawattamie County along with a single white-tail deer at a hunting preserve in Davis County – Iowa’s first confirmed positive CWD sample – have been traced back to a breeding facility in Cerro Gordo County. In addition, 14 deer from the breeding facility in Cerro Gordo County have been sampled for CWD with one yielding a positive result for CWD. The Cerro Gordo facility is also currently under quarantine meaning live animals are not allowed to come or go from the operation.
After the first positive sample of the deer in Davis County was confirmed in July, both the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) have been working to trace back deer that have moved to and from the Cerro Gordo County facility. Once the initial positive detection of CWD was found in Davis County, the DNR worked with several other states that had clients of the facility to determine which deer was the carrier of the disease. Through DNA testing, it was determined that the affected deer had originated from the Cerro Gordo County facility. The DNR has regulatory authority on hunting preserves while IDALS regulates captive breeding herds.
Bruce Trautman, deputy director of the DNR, said “It’s important for us to gather as much information as possible as to where these deer have come from and gone to if we are going to be successful in containing the spread of CWD. Our primary concern is to keep CWD from spreading to the wild herd.” The 330-acre Davis County facility is currently surrounded by an eight-foot high fence and routine inspections are being conducted by the DNR to ensure the integrity of the fencing system so that no deer are coming or going from the area.
The DNR will increase testing of wild deer in the area by working with hunters and landowners to collect samples from hunter harvested deer beginning this fall. A goal of 300 samples within a five-mile radius of the Davis County facility has been established. There is no evidence that CWD can spread to humans, pets or domestic livestock such as pork, beef, dairy, poultry, sheep or goats. Iowa has tested 42,557 wild deer and over 4,000 captive deer and elk as part of the surveillance program since 2002 when CWD was found in Wisconsin.
CWD is a neurological disease that only affects deer, elk and moose. It is caused by an abnormal protein, called a prion, which affects the brains of infected animals, causing them to lose weight, display abnormal behavior and lose bodily functions. Signs include excessive salivation, thirst and urination, loss of appetite, progressive weight loss, listlessness and drooping ears and head. The prions can attach to soil and spread the disease among deer. Chronic wasting disease was first identified in captive mule deer at a research facility in Colorado in 1967. Prior to the positive detection in Iowa, CWD had been detected in every bordering state.
The Fire Danger Index will remain in the “Extreme” category in Shelby County, at least until the next update, on Thursday. Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert says field work is beginning in the County, and there are typically three or four combine fires each harvest season. Seivert says while the short grasses have greened-up thanks to recent rainfall, the major fuel source for explosive fire growth…corn, beans, and tall grasses.. continue to dry-up due to the sunshine and wind.
Extra precautions should be taken while farmers are out in the field, to ensure their machines are free of debris and that fires are not started behind those implements while the harvest is underway.
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