Officials with USDA Rural Development have announced Iowa’s USDA Director Bill Menner will be in Wiota Monday, March 19^th, to participate in a public tour of Wiota Wind Energy’s new 1.5-megawatt hour wind turbine. The turbine, which is located at 68752 Independence Road in Wiota, will be open for public tours from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Representatives will be on hand to talk about the project and answer any questions.

Wiota Wind Energy LLC was formed in 2011 and includes several private local investors. The organization’s first commercial sized community-owned wind turbine is expected to generate as many as 5,900-Megawatt hours of energy annually, with a design life of 20 to 25 years. A power purchase agreement has been made with the local power cooperative.

USDA Rural Development participated in the project by providing a $504,733 loan guarantee through its Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

340 AM CDT TUE MAR 13 2012

INCREASING WINDS AND NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL RESULT IN A HIGH TO VERY HIGH GRASSLAND FIRE INDEX THIS AFTERNOON OVER A PORTION OF THE WESTERN COUNTIES OF IOWA. THE AREA OF GREATEST CONCERN IS GENERALLY ALONG AND WEST OF A CORRIDOR FROM NEAR IOWA COUNTY HIGHWAY 4 WESTWARD. THE GREATEST DANGER WILL BE THIS AFTERNOON WHEN WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE TO 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 30 MPH. EXTREME CAUTION IS ADVISED TODAY.

BURNING IS NOT RECOMMENDED IN THESE AREAS. SMALL FIRES MAY QUICKLY SPREAD INTO DRY GRASSES AND FIELDS…RESULTING IN LARGER AND UNCONTROLLED GRASS FIRES. THE DANGER IS NOT EXPECTED TO LOWER TO THE “MODERATE” FIRE RISK UNTIL LATE TONIGHT.

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/product.php?site=DMX&product=RFD&issuedby=DMX

Audubon High School FFA Advisor Brittany Elmquist says the Audubon High School Chapter of the FFA has been awarded a $1,500 “Planting a Seed” grant from the Iowa Food & Family Project. The grant will be used to conduct activities which increase agricultural awareness and interest among youth in food production and life sciences. The “Planting a Seed” program is sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred, in cooperation with the Iowa FFA Foundation.

The Audubon FFA and other grant recipients, will conduct programs this spring that stimulate interest among K-through 12 students in agricultural careers, and emphasize the role science and technology play in providing wholesome food, using less land and fewer inputs. The Audubon Chapter of the FFA plans to host a “Poverty Dinner” for the entire Audubon High School student body, grades 8-through 12. The goal of the event is to increase awareness about food insecurity and the important role farmers play in providing greater quantities of wholesome food for more people.

The dinner will be held during lunch on March 21st, with students randomly assigned to one of three Socio-economic levels that represent proportional global standards of living. The meal might be one of just rice and beans eaten on the floor, or, a nice four-course meal…depending on the students’ assigned socio-economic status. Prior to the dinner, FFA members will discuss scenarios which set the stage for the meal, and what the average day is like for people in the various levels around the world.

During the week leading up to the event, the Audubon FFA Chapter will post facts about agriculture and related Ag-science careers. The chapters’ members will also be recognized April 23rd at the Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference in Ames. The State Chapter determined to have conducted the most innovative and successful activity, will be presented with a $1,500 Award of Excellence, to be used for general chapter activity.

The Iowa House has endorsed the idea of new protections for property owners when trespassers get injured. It means a property owner — or the person renting the property — is not liable for injuries trespassers may suffer if the property’s in good condition. Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, supported the bill. “What we’re trying to do here makes sense,” she says. “…I think it clarifies some gray areas in the law. I think it can protect homeowners, which is what we want to do.” But critics, like Representative Kurt Swaim of Bloomfield, say the bill does not protect the accidental trespasser.

“That’s the mother that’s taking her child out on Halloween night. That’s a hunter that inadvertantly gets on the wrong land,” Swaim says. “…The person who gets on the wrong land has some fault, but we don’t bar that person from any recovery.” Recovery is another way of suing for money to cover injuries or “pain and suffering.” The bill passed on a 68 to 30 vote. Only three members of the Iowa House spoke during debate of the legislation — and all three are lawyers.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

w/ Dave York

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(Please note the time of Boswell’s visit is 11-a.m. Friday, not 10:45-a.m. as previously mentioned)

Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell will be in Atlantic this Friday, to hold one of several public “Listening Posts on Agriculture.” The session are being held as Boswell, a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, makes preparations to craft the next farm bill with his colleagues in Congress. On his website, Boswell says he wants to hear from “Farmers, producers, and rural business owners in Iowa about what is working for them in the current farm bill and what they would like to see done differently in the next one.”  Boswell’s visit to Atlantic takes place 11:-a.m. Friday, at the Atlantic Public Library.

The listening posts are also part of the Congressman’s “Spirit of Iowa” tour that focuses on how Iowans are partnering with the federal government to rebuild and reinvigorate local economies.

w/ Kate Olsen

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U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says crops could end up rotting in the fields because of a lack of labor due to the nation’s immigration problems. Speaking before a farm group in Omaha, Vilsack says the elected leaders in Washington understand illegal immigration is a problem, but nobody wants to put aside politics and address it. “Everybody in this country knows that this immigration system is broken, everybody in this country,” Vilsack says, “every member of Congress, all 530 members of the House, all 100 members of the Senate, they know the immigration system is broken, but yet nothing happens.” Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, says politicians are too eager to use the issue as a partisan tool rather than try to find a resolution.

“Everybody knows it’s a problem,” Vilsack says. “Where are the statesmen? Where are the people that are willing to put the national interests ahead of all else?” Vilsack, the head of the U-S-D-A, says the immigration issue may very soon begin to have a significant impact on agriculture.  “Here’s the risk to farming,” he says. “We’re getting to a point where crops may rot because we simply don’t have the people in the fields to do the work that needs to be done.” Vilsack insists the problem can be resolved. “The solution is not the issue here,” Vilsack says. “The problem is, people want to play politics with this issue. They want to go into your communities and they want to scare people about immigrants. They want to divide the nation over this issue because they think there’s political advantage.” Vilsack made his comments Monday to delegates to the National Farmers Union convention.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)