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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
(Radio Iowa)- While Mason City set a record high temperature of 88 degrees on Wednesday, this week’s unseasonably warm weather is prompting many farmers in north-central Iowa to fire up their tractors and start planting. Angie Rieck-Hinz, a field agronomist with Iowa State University, says things are suddenly very busy, considering there was snow on the ground just a matter of several days ago.
“We have manure application, we have dry fertilizer, we have anhydrous, we have lime, we have tillage,” Rieck-Hinz says, “and there are a lot of people planting. Our soil conditions are, in most places, exceptionally good for this time of year.” Parts of Iowa have struggled with soil that may be too dry one month and flooded the next, but she says we’re in a sweet spot right now.
“It has warmed up and with all this wind and low humidity, our soils have dried out up in the top couple of inches,” Rieck-Hinz says. “While most people I think were thinking at the end of last week, they would hold off on planting because it was still a little wet, that has definitely changed this week.” After all the weather challenges farmers have been facing in recent years, she says it’s a nice reward to be able to get started on planting this week.
“I’m glad to see the soil conditions are in great shape. We want that soil temperature at 50 degrees and warming — which has been happening,” she says. “We want good, dry conditions so we make a good furrow for that seed and we can get good roots established, because all those things have an impact on what happens all growing season long.”
Forecasters say we’re in for a change as soon as this (Friday) afternoon, with cooler temperatures expected and the likelihood of rain through the weekend.
DES MOINES – The City of Atlantic was recently honored with the 2022 Tree City USA Award at the 32nd Annual Community Forestry Awards Luncheon in Ankeny. The award was presented by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources April 12th at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny.
“The Tree City USA award is a symbol for communities who have made a commitment to the management of public trees,” says state forester Jeff Goerndt. “Your community has provided an outstanding example for other Iowa communities by enhancing our forest resources and demonstrating the great value of trees in providing multiple benefits for future generations.”
Dignitaries in the photo: Kayla Lyon, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Jeff Goerndt, State Forester; Atlantic representatives are: Wyatt Adderton, Director of Parks and Recreation, Jeff Christensen, Assistant Director Parks and Recreation, and Dolly Bergmann with Atlantic Trees Forever
Atlantic was one of 74 Iowa communities to qualify for Tree City USA status. To receive the award, a city must, at a minimum, have either a city forester or an active city tree board; have a tree ordinance; spend at least $2 per capita annually for its community forestry program; and have a tree planting and maintenance plan.
(Radio Iowa) – The U-S District Court for the District of North Dakota has granted a preliminary injunction, stopping the Biden Administration’s new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule for Iowa and 23 other states. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird issued a statement saying the ruling is a huge win for Iowa farmers, builders and landowners. She says the new rule expands the definition of “WOTUS” under the Clean Water Act and would impose additional federal regulations to as much as 97 percent of Iowa’s land.
Bird says that would likely raise costs and cause delays for infrastructure projects. She says they will continue to fight back against the Biden Administration’s aggressive federal overreach and will turn this into a permanent win.
(Radio Iowa) – After a long, snowy winter, this week’s warm weather has many Iowans leaping at the chance to get into their yards and start beautifying and landscaping for the seasons ahead. Adam Thoms, a turfgrass specialist at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, says it’s probably still a little early for mowing our lawns, but when that time comes, he suggests you don’t sharpen the mower blade first thing.
“There’s a lot of debris in yards from the winter, whether it be rocks, if you had a gravel driveway and you moved snow, or twigs that have fallen over the winter,” Thoms says, “so if you spend the time sharpening your mower blades, you’re just going to go out and dull them up on that first mow, so just mow with it the first time and then sharpen them up.” The home improvement stores are stockpiling pallets of weed-and-seed products, and Thoms says now is an ideal time to start spreading those tiny pellets.
“Crabgrass is going to be germinating here in the next two to three weeks, especially with the warm weather we’re having,” Thoms says, “so we’d like to see you put that out here by the end of this week or by at least early part of May, at the latest.” Creeping Charlie, or ground ivy, is one of the hardest weeds to control in Iowa. Thoms says he gets calls about it almost daily, and there -is- a chemical out there that can kill Creeping Charlie. The problem is, now is not the best time to try.
“It’s going to be two to three weeks where you could start to try to get after it,” Thoms says. “Typically, you get best control if you wait until the fall. You’re going to want to try to treat it with something that contains a lot of Triclopyr in it. That seems to be what controls Creeping Charlie the best.” There may be a few dead spots in your yard where you need to plant new grass, and there are a variety of turf-building products on the market, but again, Thoms says the ideal season to do that is in several months.
“Springtime is not the best time to seed your yard, and a lot of people think it is,” Thoms says. “So we typically say wait on that until the fall. That’s the best time to seed your yard.” When it comes time to start mowing your lawn, he suggests the ideal cutting height is between three and three-and-a-half inches, and he recommends you never remove more than a-third of the leaf blade. Find more spring lawn care tips, here: https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/
(Iowa DNR News) – The new Armed Forces Hunting and Fishing licenses are now available to residents of Iowa who served in the armed forces of the United States on federal active duty. The new annual fishing license, or hunting and fishing combo license, is $5, with a $2 processing fee.
To qualify, veterans will need to submit a one-time application for the Iowa Hunting/Fishing License for Resident Armed Forces Veteran along with a copy of their DD214. The application is available online at
https://www.iowadnr.gov/Hunting/Hunting-Licenses-Laws/License-Applications under Residents Only Applications.
Upon approval, the applicant’s account will be updated to reflect their status. They may then purchase the new license anywhere Iowa hunting and fishing licenses are sold. Qualifying veterans who have already purchased a hunting or fishing license for 2023 may submit the application, and then purchase the veterans license once their current license expires.
(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – A ban on outdoor burning is in place effective immediately, for Adair County and Guthrie Counties. The ban was implemented at 8-a.m. today (Wednesday, April 12, 2023). The ban prohibits open burning in Adair County and Guthrie County, including all the cities within the counties. The current dry conditions throughout the region have caused an increase in fire responses throughout Adair and Guthrie County. As dry conditions and winds persist, dead and drying vegetation is the perfect fuel to spread fires rapidly.
Adair-Guthrie County Emergency Management Deputy Coordinator Jeremy Cooper says “Adair and Guthrie County Fire Departments have seen the effects of fires in extreme conditions, and we want to do everything we can to help mitigate life threatening incidents from occurring. These Fire Departments are volunteer departments and are responding to numerous calls a day that pull them from their everyday life and work and becomes very taxing on those volunteers.” 
During these dry conditions, he says, citizens are reminded to not throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles and to discontinue burning yard waste, piled tree debris or other items during the ban. Small recreational campfires are permitted only if they are conducted in a fireplace of brick, metal or heavy one-inch wire mesh. Any campfire not in an outdoor fireplace or left unattended is prohibited. Fire Departments will still be able to proceed with their scheduled controlled burns of CRP land and citizens can also obtain a burn permit from their local Fire Chief approves such a request and signs the permit.
Violation of a burn ban can subject a person to citation or arrest for reckless use of fire or disobeying a burn ban. For more information on burn bans and the law or to check the current status of burn bans statewide on the State Fire Marshal’s statewide burn ban website: https://dps.iowa.gov/divisions/state-fire-marshal/burn-bans.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s lone prairie chicken population appears to be struggling to sustain itself. The Iowa D-N-R and Missouri officials brought in about 500 birds from Nebraska between 2011 and 2015 to bolster a small, existing flock. The chickens were released in the Kellerton Grasslands Conservation Area in Ringgold County and a nearby natural area in Missouri. Iowa D-N-R biologist Chad Paup says there are now fewer than 50 birds in the area. “We cannot really put our finger on it,” Paup says. “Do we still not quite have the habitat they need? Do we not have the size that they need? Do we not have the large enough expanse of grasslands that they really need?”
Kellerton is a roughly four-thousand acre grassland area, and Paup says the birds might need a larger, contiguous area to sustain a bigger flock. Paup says the species’ future in Iowa doesn’t look bright. “There’s not going to be a lot of support, quite frankly, for going out and spending tens of thousands of dollars to transport more chickens back here,” Paup says.
When European settlers first arrived in Iowa, the prairie chicken was everywhere, and unlike almost every other wild creature, its numbers increased during the early years of the settlement movement. After a few decades though, they were overharvested by the millions for meat and nearly wiped out. Paup made his comments on IPR’s Talk of Iowa program.
(reporting by Michael Leland, Iowa Public Radio)
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University is getting a more than half a million dollar grant from the U-S-D-A to support research focused on planting two crops in the same field, like soybeans and winter wheat. It’s called relay intercropping and researchers are assessing how it impacts soil health and water quality in the area. U-S Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says large commercial operations are doing well financially and the goal is to find ways to help small and mid-sized farms stay afloat.
“Let’s figure out a way in which as you embrace sustainable practices that you benefit from those sustainable practices with increased productivity, with increased value,” Vilsack said. The I-S-U project will incorporate winter wheat or rye in corn and soybean fields on three university research farms and six other independent farms.
“An exciting opportunity for farmers to see the benefit of potentially harvesting three crops in two years,” Vilsack says, “as opposed to just two crops.” The Iowa Soybean and Iowa Corn Growers Associations will get nearly 900-thousand dollars from the U-S-D-A to conduct trials of how conservation practices and crop genetics impact yields.
“It’s tough to ask farmers to do this because oftentimes is requires an expenditure, an investment up front and it’s important for farmers to be able to see the benefit of that investment before we ask them to essentially spend their own resources,” Vilsack says, “so the OnFarm program really provides additional resources to make it a little bit easier for farmers to really embrace innovation in conservation.”
Vilsack made his comments Thursday afternoon during a news conference in Ames.
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