(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Conservation Dept. is hosting its first kayak fishing session in a little over three-weeks. The event takes place Saturday, June 3rd from 8 AM to 10 AM, at Prairie Rose State Park. The group will meet on the east side of County Road M47. Women and families are highly encouraged to participate! This session will be limited to 15 people and there is a $5 fee. Pre-registration is required, please sign-up here: https://conta.cc/3ob9RYO

Kayaks and fishing poles will be provided, but feel free to bring your own equipment. If you are signed up for the hook and paddle program through the DNR, you will get extra points for attending this event. This is a free fishing weekend, so fishing licenses are encouraged, but not required.

(Radio Iowa) – Researchers at Iowa State University are developing an advanced type of sensor which farmers can place in their fields to keep constant tabs on nutrient levels and soil moisture. Jonathan Claussen, a mechanical engineering professor at I-S-U, says the sensors are about the size of a tent stake and they’re designed to stay in the ground all growing season, about four months, through any temperature swings or rain events.  “They monitor total nitrogen, so both nitrates and ammonia, and they can tell the farmer when and where in that field fertilizer needs to be applied,” Claussen says. “Fertilizer can be up to a third of their farming costs, so it’s potentially a big cost savings if we can reduce even a portion of that.”

The device needs to be both rugged and easy to use, Claussen says, as he notes farmers don’t want to read a 20-page instruction manual. It also needs to be inexpensive, so farmers can place a wide network of sensors. “This really gives the farmer an opportunity to practice precision agriculture,” Claussen says. “This way, they can do kind of a spoon feeding of the fertilizer throughout the growing season so they only apply when and where they need it.”

Ideally, farmers could purchase dozens of the sensors to monitor the soil’s nutrient levels in real time, as they’ve worked to keep the price at less than one-dollar per sensor. “This allows them to do continuous soil sampling without that expense of having to ship it off to the lab but they can get results immediately,” Claussen says. “They can monitor so they can still have their maximum yields. But at the same time, we can show them, you can get those great maximum yields but still use less fertilizer and have less agricultural inputs.”

The I-S-U team has worked to develop an array of sensors for other purposes, for things like food safety and even testing for COVID-19.

(ISU Extension News) – Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will offer the Iowa Master Conservationist Program in Adair and Cass County as a joint program between the two county Extension Offices this summer and fall. The program will take place at outdoor parks and public areas within the two counties, providing participants with hands-on interaction with the diversity of the state’s natural resources. The program teaches about Iowa’s natural ecosystems and the diversity of conservation challenges and opportunities that exist in the region. Graduates of the course learn to make informed choices for leading and educating others to improve conservation in Iowa.

The program consists of approximately 12 hours of online curriculum and six face-to-face meetings. The online modules will include lessons and resources by Iowa State subject-matter experts to be reviewed at the participants’ own pace at home or at their local County Extension office. Module topics include conservation history and science, understanding Iowa ecosystems, implementing conservation practices in human dominated landscapes and developing skills to help educate others about conservation practices.

The first meeting will take place on Tuesday May 30th at Lake Anita State Park, beginning at 6 PM. A total of six face-to-face meetings will build on the online lessons and be held at different locations in Adair and Cass County one Tuesday evening per month from June-October of 2023. All meetings will begin at 6 PM and last from 2-3 hours depending on the topic. Each face-to-face meeting will be led by local subject-matter experts to demonstrate how the principles covered in the online curriculum and play out locally.

Registration for the course is $50 per person and is due at the time of registration. To register or with questions, contact the ISU Extension and Outreach office in Adair County at 515-231-2741 or Cass County at 712-243-1132 or visit www.extension.iastate.edu/cass or www.extension.iastate.edu/adair for registration forms and details. The deadline to register is Thursday, May 25 to guarantee a space in the course.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley fears the recent U-S Supreme Court ruling on hog confinement sizes will have “a tremendous economic impact” on Iowa’s pork producers and he hopes a legislative solution will help to ease the blow. The ruling upheld what’s known as Proposition 12, a California law that will ban the sale of pork products from sows that come from pens of a certain size. “It’s not only going to make it difficult to market any Iowa products in California, maybe even prohibit it,” Grassley says. “I don’t want to go that far, for sure, but it could.”

Nearly one-third of the nation’s pork is raised in Iowa and while California only raises about one-percent, that state consumes about 15-percent of the pork that’s produced in the U-S. Grassley couldn’t yet offer specifics on any bills in the works. “We need a legislative solution that is bipartisan, and put it in the Farm Bill as an option,” Grassley says. “I think you’re going to see Senator (Roger) Marshall of Kansas lead the way in this direction.”

Grassley says he and fellow Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst co-sponsored Marshall’s bill last year called the EATS Act, or the Exposing Agricultural Trade Suppression Act, which did not win passage. It would have banned state and local governments from interfering with agricultural production in other states. If that bill is reintroduced by Marshall, who’s also a Republican, Grassley is uncertain what level of support may come from the other side of the aisle. “The animal rights organizations of this country are going to be a big voice in this,” Grassley says, “and Democrats tend to listen to their voice more loudly than they should, and that’s a factor that we have to fight here.”

Grassley fears the court ruling could raise pork prices while also forcing some producers to close up shop. An Iowa ag economist says we’re already seeing some of the biggest losses in the pork industry in 25 years and some farmers won’t be able to afford to implement major changes in their operations.

DES MOINES, Iowa (May 15, 2023) – The Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program (RFIP) Board approved 15 project applications and 11 supplemental grant requests for a total of more than $800,000 during its quarterly board meeting on May 9. Twelve of the fifteen projects are for E15 infrastructure, three are biodiesel terminals, and the eleven previously funded ethanol projects received supplemental grants of $6,000 each. The RFIP helps fuel retailers provide higher blends of lower cost Iowa grown biofuels to consumers by incentivizing the installation, replacement and conversion of ethanol and biodiesel dispensing and storage infrastructure. Incentives to upgrade biodiesel terminal and storage facilities are also available. While the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship manages the program, a board appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Iowa Senate determines grant allocations on a quarterly basis.

“Consumers save money when they can fill their tanks with higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “By helping fuel retailers install this infrastructure, we are continually increasing the number of Iowa fueling stations where consumers can buy cleaner burning and more affordable homegrown biofuels.”

Counties with locations receiving one or more of the 15 project grants include the following: Story, Polk, Dallas, Linn, Sioux, Benton, Buena Vista, Crawford, Dickinson, Dubuque, Clinton, Howard, and Madison. The complete list of locations can be found here. The supplemental grants were awarded to retailers that have added tanks and associated equipment, including dispensers, for dispensing E15 or higher ethanol blends at additional locations. To receive supplemental grants, retailers must be awarded multiple RFIP grants and complete their projects within one year of the original installation.

To date, $5,755,228 of funding for this fiscal year has been awarded to 119 biofuels infrastructure projects. The program also leverages significant private investment by the participating fuel retailers. The Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Board will consider additional RFIP grant applications during its next quarterly meeting in July, and the deadline for accepting new applications for that meeting will be Friday, June 23 at 4:30pm. The RFIP grant application is available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s website.

The breakdown of RFIP funding for this fiscal year, so far, is as follows:

• $270,000 to 6 E85 projects
• $3,738,320 to 76 E15 projects
• $1,250,000 to 26 Biodiesel projects
• $430,908 to 9 Biodiesel Terminal projects
• $66,000 to 11 ethanol projects as supplemental grants

Over the history of the program, the state has invested approximately $60 million while private industry has invested over $200 million. To learn more about the Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program, visit the program’s webpage on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s website.

(Radio Iowa) – Wetter weather slowed the planters in the fields a bit last week.The U-S-D-A crop report released Monday, showed an increase of 16 percent in the amount of corn planted during the week — about half the amount planted last week.

The corn planting total is now at 86 percent — eight days ahead of last year and one week ahead of the five-year average. Bean planting moved at about the same pace — gaining 20 percent compared to last week — putting the total at 69 percent. That’s about one week ahead of last year and the five-year average for beans.

Thirty-five percent of planted corn has emerged from the ground, nearly five times as much as last week. And the report now says 19 percent of the beans have emerged.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is the nation’s top corn grower, with more than 13-million acres devoted to the vegetable, but some Iowans are planting their first small crops of -sweet- corn this spring. Aaron Steil, consumer horticulture specialist at the Iowa State University Extension, says if you’d hoped to have sweet corn by the 4th of July, you would need to have planted in mid-April, but he says there’s still plenty of time to get seeds in the ground. “The last practical planting day, especially for the early varieties, is the end of June,” Steil says. “You would obviously be harvesting later if you planted that late, but you would still be able to get a crop in before frost easily.”

There are many types of sweet corn from which to choose. Steil says the “standard sugary” cultivars have the traditional sweet corn flavor and texture, but are only of the best quality within the first day after harvest, because sugars quickly convert to starch after picking. “Most folks really enjoy sweet corn that has good storage life,” Steil says. “Sweet corn really does start to go downhill very quickly after harvest and so certain varieties, like the super sweet or the augmented super sweets, store pretty well.”

Before buying seed, you’ll need to consider what elements are important, including flavor, sweetness, crunch and kernel color. When arranging your sweet corn plot, plan ahead for irrigation and make sure the soil is well fertilized, because corn uses a lot of nitrogen, as well as phosphorus and potassium.  “Rather than planting corn in long rows, like we so often see it in the field, planting our sweet corn in blocks because it’s wind-pollinated,” Steil says. “When we plant them in blocks, it does a better job of pollinating those ears of corn and you get better filled corn ears. You don’t have those little gap-tooth missing spots in the corn ear.”

Crayon drawings by kids may depict eight or ten ears of corn on each stalk, but Steil says you shouldn’t expect nearly as many. “One good ear can be expected from each stalk of corn,” Steil says. “In general, you can expect in a 10-foot row that you’ll get about 11 to 13 ears of corn, when you properly space your corn plants when you’re planting.”

For a continuous supply of sweet corn, plant early, mid-season and late cultivars. Also, he says to plant only fresh seeds, as old seeds may not germinate well. In addition, keep sweet corn isolated from popcorn as the quality of sweet corn will be lowered if it’s cross-pollinated by other types of corn.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University economist says there was a whole lot of uncertainty in the hog market well before last week’s Supreme Court opinion on pork production. The court ruled California may require that any pork sold in California must come from pigs that are the offspring of sows that had enough room to turn around in a livestock barn. I-S-U Extension livestock economist Lee Schulz says some producers have already retrofitted or built new confinements. Others may not be able to afford it.

“Pork producers are having some of the largest losses in 25 years. You have to go back to 1998 to see losses this large,” Schulz says. “…We’re already seeing contraction in the industry.” There could be an opportunity for businesses that make and install the metal enclosures for sows, but Schulz says given the labor market, finding enough employees to do the work will be challenge.

“Not only the availability of labor, but the cost of labor also is kind of a prohibitatnt when we think about having to make large changes on farms to both buildings and equipment,” Schulz says. California produces just one percent of U.S. pork. However, Californians consume 15 percent of all the bacon and other pork products sold in the country.

“The adjustments will have to take place outside the state of California. Where those exactly take place are still to be determined,” Schulz says. “Certainly there will be an impact here because of the size of Iowa’s pork production.” Nearly a third of the nation’s hogs are raised in Iowa. Schulz says Iowa swine operations that have already adjusted to California’s new rules will get higher premiums for their pigs in the near term.

“Likely they are the lower cost producers that would enable them to do that,” Schulz says. “A lot of times it’d be the larger producers. There are economies of scale in pork production, so if I have per unit lower costs, I am able to make some of those transitions a bit quicker.”

A court injunction that has prevented pig production rules for pork sold in California from taking effect will expire July 1st. The U.S. Humane Society says the Supreme Court made it clear preventing animal cruelty is a core function of state governments and California will have the strongest animal welfare law in the country.

(Radio Iowa) – A scientist who’s monitored Iowa’s water quality in the public and private sectors for 36 years is retiring this week, while also publishing a book about what he says are the reasons our waterways are dying. Chris Jones has run the state’s largest water sensor system at the University of Iowa’s Institute of Hydraulic Research the past eight years. Jones says we need common-sense regulation of corn and soybean production with regard to its environmental outcomes.

“We ask the taxpayer to mitigate the pollution from the system while at the same time giving farmers and the industry at large license to do whatever they want on the field,” Jones says. “You know, this is just not going to work. It’s a perverse approach to it.” In his book, “The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality,” Jones says Iowa has devoted the equivalent of 20 counties solely to growing corn that’s used to make ethanol.

“Is that contributing to the common good? Well, there’s a lot of evidence that ethanol production does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for example, and there’s some evidence that it actually increases greenhouse gas emissions. So why are we doing this?” Jones asks. “We need to take a look at that land area again, which is 20% of our state.” Jones suggests the solution to the long-running water pollution problems may also lie in diversifying what we grow in Iowa. He says we only have two species covering the majority of our fertile cropland — corn and soybeans.

“We need diversity on our farms. We need more and different crops. We need different systems of animal production,” Jones says. “That’s just the bottom line here. If we want these nice things, nice lakes, nice rivers, nice air and so forth, we need to look at the entire system and what can we do to transform it to something else?” Jones hopes the book finds wide appeal, as he says it’s important that people — politicians, farmers, industry leaders and everyone else — know the truth about what’s happening to our Iowa’s water, and to that “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I’m 62 years old. The water has been bad here my entire life,” Jones says. “Has that been explained to anybody why that is the case in any sort of detail? I don’t think it has. I’m trying to reach the person on the street. I think this condition only changes if there’s grassroots demand for that change, and so that’s my audience.”

The book is being published by North Liberty-based Ice Cube Press.

DES MOINES, IA, MAY 15, 2023 — USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is seeking new Organic Transition Initiative (OTI) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) applications now in local NRCS field offices. NRCS accepts conservation program applications on a continuous basis but sets application cutoff dates as funding allows. The next application cutoff for OTI and CSP applications is June 15.

Organic Transition Initiative (OTI)

Through OTI, NRCS will dedicate $70 million nationwide to assist producers with a new organic management standard under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The OTI supports conservation activities and practices required for organic certification and may provide foregone income reimbursement for dips in production during the transition period. NRCS will help producers adopt the new organic management standard by giving producers flexibility to get the assistance and education they need, such as attending workshops or requesting help from experts or mentors.

OTI-specific practices include:

Organic Management (Practice Code 823)
Conservation Plan Supporting Organic Transition (Practice Code 138)
Transition to Organic Design (Practice Code 140)
Conservation Cover (Practice Code 327)
Conservation Crop Rotation (Practice Code 328)
Cover Crops (Practice Code 340)
Field Borders (Practice Code 386)
Nutrient Management (Practice Code 590)

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
NRCS is also announcing an application cutoff of June 15 for new CSP applications in Fiscal Year 2023 for Iowa farmers. CSP funding is available for organic production practices and applications through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which emphasizes the adoption of climate-smart practices and enhancement activities. In Iowa, areas of focus for climate smart agriculture include soil health, nutrient stewardship, grazing and pasture lands. Eligible practices include cover crops, no-till, crop rotations, prescribed grazing, and nutrient management.

During this application signup cycle, NRCS will use ACT NOW, where applications can be immediately approved and obligated when an eligible applicant meets or exceeds a predetermined minimum ranking score. Higher payment rates and other options are available for historically underserved producers including socially disadvantaged, beginning, veteran, and limited resource farmers.

For more information or to apply, visit your local NRCS field office.