(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are spotting vast numbers of bald eagles this winter, but time’s running out to admire the big birds. More than 400 eagles were counted recently along one mile of the Iowa River in Johnson County, but D-N-R wildlife biologist Stephanie Shepherd says nesting season is almost here, and that means it’ll be much harder to find eagles. “They can begin as early as February and sort of the peak of them initiating nesting is in March, so they’re actually going to be breaking up here pretty soon, probably in the next three weeks or so to start getting back to their nest sites and initiating that nesting cycle,” Shepherd says. “I think we’re probably going to see numbers dwindling a little bit over the next few weeks.”

While many of the eagles we’re seeing are migrating here from states like Wisconsin and Minnesota, Shepherd says Iowa has many hundreds of resident eagles. “We probably have at least 500 active nests in the state but of course they’re not as gathered together or congregated around open water sites,” Shepherd says. “There’s still a lot of eagles here, it’s just they’re spread out across the countryside, hanging out in their nest and being busy and not congregated around open water.”

The Mississippi River has traditionally hosted Iowa’s highest eagle numbers — both resident and wintering — but in recent years, the Iowa and Des Moines rivers have hosted even more.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor’s revised plan to boost sales of E-15 has been approved by a House subcommittee. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard Governor Kim Reynolds presented last year stalled in the legislature. Reynolds says her new proposal is designed to expand consumer access to gasoline that contains more ethanol and to diesel that has a higher percentage of a soybean-based additive.

“Under the bill, any newly-installed or upgraded fuel infrastructure must be E85 or B20 compatible and all retailers with compatible infrastructure must offer E15 by 2026,” Reynolds says. Reynolds reviewed her NEW plan at Tuesday’s Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit in Des Moines and urged the industry to lobby Iowa lawmakers.

“Let’s together remind them how important it is that we finally send a message that DC can’t ignore,” Reynolds says. “America’s energy is growing right here in Iowa’s fields.” The plan includes grant money to install new fuel systems. Sara Allen, a lobbyist for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, spoke at a statehouse hearing on the bill.

“We think it gives consumers the ability to purchase E15 more freely across the state,” she said, “because that’s not happening right now.” The bill sets up a waiver process for stations with equipment that’s incompatible with fuel that has higher blends of ethanol. Casey’s General Stores, which has 535 stores in Iowa, opposes the bill as it’s currently written. Tom Cope, the company’s lobbyist, says there’s no guarantee a station would get a waiver — and the grants cover a fraction of what it costs to upgrade underground fuel systems.

“We’re really, really concerned that it could have a negative impact on stores that are, especially, located in small town Iowa,” Cope says. Marc Beltrame is a lobbyist for Fuel Iowa, which represents the retailers that sell fuel. He says the industry is willing to do its part to help ethanol and biodiesel producers, but the bill as written penalizes a lot of small stores which are primarily in rural Iowa.

“We’ve worked very hard to come to yes,” Beltrame said. “There’s still some sticky points.” Kevin Kuhl, a lobbyist for the Iowa Farm Bureau, says his organization supports the bill because Iowa still lags other states in sales of ethanol and biodiesel. “We’ve states have implemented policies that promote the sale and consumption of biofuels,” Kuhle says. Fewer than one out of four Iowa gas stations sell E-15 and the bill seeks to push beyond that blend. Starting in 2023, any new fuel systems installed at Iowa gas stations would have to compatible with E-85.

Drew Klein is state director for Americans for Prosperity, a group that opposed the governor’s Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard in 2021 and opposes this 2022 rewrite. “This is, inevitably, going to impose new costs on small businesses in Iowa,” Klein says. The bill was introduced in the House Monday and a three-member subcommittee signed off on it Tuesday. The bill is now scheduled for debate in the full House Ways and Means Committee late this (Wednesday) afternoon.

(Radio Iowa) – An ag economist from Iowa State University suggests farmers look seriously at selling their crop before it’s planted. Chad Hart says farmers are seeing good prices for their commodities, mainly due to strong exports, and they should consider forward contracting, though he notes, there are signs the export trade may weaken during the year ahead.  Hart says, “The price series that we’ve got right now in front of us does lead to some opportunities, not only in marketing the corn and soybeans that are sitting in the bin right now, but also taking a look at those new crop opportunities for the 2022 crop, and even for those who are fairly aggressive, they could be looking out there to 2023 as well.” Hart says the futures trade today shows profitable levels extending for both corn and soybeans for the next couple of years, and he says farmers should take advantage.

“Corn prices right now, all the way out to 2024, are all above $5 a bushel. Soybean prices, all the way out to 2024, are all above $12 per bushel,” Hart says. “That’s an amazing pricing plateau to take advantage of right now and it’s something we see very rarely.” China remains a good trading partner with the U-S, but Hart says the Chinese are beginning to cut back on their buying spree.  “They’re the ones that are backing off the most as we look at these higher prices,” Hart says. “They remain a very strong market for us. As you look at our top markets, they’re still our biggest buyer on the soybean side, they’re our second biggest buyer on corn and pork.” China’s also the third biggest buyer of beef, however, in the commodities of corn, soybeans and pork, Hart says orders to that nation have been dropping year-over-year.

Hart will appear in Le Mars tomorrow (Wednesday) for the I-S-U Extension and Outreach “Crop Advantage” seminar.

(Radio Iowa) – The voting delegates of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, representing all of the state’s 99 county pork organizations, will be in Des Moines tomorrow (Tuesday) for the annual meeting to vote on policies. Association spokeswoman Dal Grooms explains what will be discussed.

“There’s been a Visioning Task Force that’s been going on between the National Pork Producers Council and the National Pork Board,” Grooms says. “They are ready to give a report. They’re going to be sharing that with the delegates and having delegates respond to that and then talk about accountability, as to who should managing which portion.” Under the pork check-off program, producers pay 45-cents per 100-dollars of pork value.

Membership dues are used for lobbying, while the check-off funds can only be used for promotion, education, research, market development and exports.  “They’re also going to be talking about rates for both the checkoff and then also for the rate that we have for special interest programs,” Grooms says. “People have been kicking that around for a year or two as well.”

The industry trade show and seminars as part of the annual Iowa Pork Congress will be held Wednesday and Thursday at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines.

AMES, Iowa [ISU Press Release] – ISU Extension specialists are teaming up with ISU Ag and Biosystems Engineering specialists to bring planter equipment expertise across Iowa on February 10, 2022. The workshop is an opportunity for farmers, agricultural service providers, equipment and precision ag dealers, and others to gain insight into how both traditional and high-speed planters function, optimize settings for individual seed, field, and equipment needs, and improve understanding of planter wear and calibration. “Planter University will go far beyond a typical planter clinic, offering attendees direct access to specialists with expertise in planter technology and settings,” said Aaron Saeugling, field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, “We are excited to offer this opportunity.”

Specialists from the ISU Digital Ag group will lead each workshop and focus on small-group, hands-on learning with row units representing a variety of technologies currently available for planters. “We are going to help attendees better understand the physics behind traditional and high-speed planters and how to evaluate planting performance,” said Levi Powell, ISU Ag and Biosystems Engineering Program Specialist. “Every planter, operator, and operation is different; one setting doesn’t work for everyone, this event will focus on how to dial in the right settings for you and your operation,” added Ryan Bergman, ISU Ag and Biosystems Engineering Program Specialist.

The ISU Digital Ag group is a renowned group known for their key industry partnerships and unique expertise in equipment and precision agriculture. Meetings will also offer continuing education credits for Certified Crop Advisers (CCA). Join us at one of the five locations we will be offering this training. Attendance will be limited to maintain small group sizes and allow for hands-on activities. Registration for each location is $75 and closes 7 days ahead of each meeting. Register online at https://www.aep.iastate.edu/planter/. Registration includes lunch, refreshments, materials, and CCA credits. Each workshop will begin with check-in and refreshments at 9:00 a.m. and adjourn at approximately 2:30 p.m.

February 7 – Northwest Research and Demonstration Farm, Sutherland

February 8 – Northeast Research Farm – Borlaug Learning Center, Nashua

February 9 – Iowa National Guard Armory, Washington

February 10 – Barkley Farms, Lyman

February 11 – CNH Industrial Ag Information Center, Nevada

For questions, contact ANR Program Services at 515-294-6429, or anr@iastate.edu, or contact your regional Iowa State University Extension and Outreach field agronomist.

Related links:

https://www.aep.iastate.edu/planter/

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ag/field-agronomists

https://www.extension.iastate.edu/digitalag/digital-ag-isu

KJAN’s Chris Parks and Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly talk about what’s happening in the great outdoors. This week they discuss license and registration renewals, ice fishing safety, and upcoming public input meetings.

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(Radio Iowa) – The head of Iowa’s largest agricultural organization is urging state lawmakers to reconsider a measure which would -mandate- the use of renewable fuels in Iowa that are produced in-state. Iowa Farm Bureau president Brent Johnson says the Iowa Biofuels Standard was narrowly defeated in the legislature in 2021.

He says the organization has some work to do to rebuild consumer support and to get the legislative backing needed for the mandate to pass. Johnson is also urging the E-P-A to uphold the Renewable Fuels Standard R-V-O or Renewable Volume Obligation levels, after reports the Biden administration may drop the proposed blending levels below 15-billion gallons.

Johnson says the Farm Bureau supports Governor Kim Reynolds’ move, asking the E-P-A to provide a waiver to sell E-15 year-round in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s record 2021 corn harvest led to a significant increase in traffic on the rail lines that run through Iowa. “The car loads of grain in 2021 were the most since 2008. This is mostly due to the high volumes that were being exported. That’s a great spot for our state here in Iowa.” That’s Iowa D-O-T director Scott Marler, who says railroad traffic nationwide increased seven percent in 2021, but has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

Marler says the volume of cars and trucks on Iowa streets and highways dropped over 40 percent at the beginning of the pandemic. “Our traffic levels are pretty much back to pre-pandemic levels, but they’re different than what they used to be,” Marler says. “…In our cities and urban areas, we’re still seeing a slightly depressed amount of traffic volumes. We think this might be one of the trends from teleworking that we hear about. In our rural areas, by contrast, our traffic levels are actually a little higher than pre-pandemic levels.”

Marler says that’s likely because of the high volume of trucks carrying freight on Iowa highways and interstates. Passenger traffic at Iowa airports that offer commercial flights dropped significantly during the first year of the pandemic and Marler says it’s bouncing back.  “We’re not back to pre-pandemic levels with passenger counts at our eight commercial service airports, but we’re close,” he says, “within about 10-15% of pre-pandemic levels.”

Marler made his comments during a briefing yesterday (Thursday) for the Iowa House Transportation Committee.

(Radio Iowa) – MidAmerican Energy has filed plans with the Iowa Utilities Board for a three-point-nine BILLION dollar($3.9) renewable energy project. Company spokesman Geoff Greenwood says the goal is to hit net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. “It includes wind projects, solar by 2024 — but we’d also like to study some new technologies for clean energy. And that includes, carbon capture, energy storage, and modular nuclear,” Greenwood says. They are calling the project Wind PRIME and Greenwood says they would add more than two-thousand megawatts of wind generation and 50 megawatts of solar. The location of each has not yet been decided.

“It’s a little bit hard to say. We know what we would like to add right now in terms of additional wind and solar generation. What we don’t know yet is where we would have these projects,” Greenwood says. So, we know roughly how many more projects we need to add — but we don’t yet know exactly where we would add them.” Greenwood says past projects were built with federal production tax credits — but the amount paid in tax credits is dropping — and could lead to customers paying more. “It’s not as much as it used to be — it used to be 100 percent — and now it has gone down to 60 percent. So we expect that this will still be of value for our customers — but there likely will be a modest cost to our customers over the life of these project,” according to Greenwood. “But nonetheless, it is renewable energy and that is something that our residential and business customers are demanding more of.

The wind and solar projects are the major part of the plan, while Greenwood says they want to explore other things like carbon capture. That would help reduce emissions for coal-fired energy plants. “Our current plan calls for retiring our existing (coal) generating plants no later than 2049. So we are looking for a shorter-term carbon capture technology that may allow us to capture that carbon sooner rather than later,” he says. He says they want to look at all the technology available and the does include the small modular nuclear generation.

“We certainly have not decided to pursue this — but it is something that we think is worth exploring, because it is an emissions-free technology. And it is something that can help us get to where we want to get and where our customers want us to get — which is NetZero greenhouse gas emissions,” Greenwood says. The proposal has to go through the I-U-B process to get the plan approved. That will include public hearings and comments on the plan.

(Radio Iowa) – Charges are dismissed against a man who was accused of breaking into a Wright County hog operation in 2020, placing hidden cameras and stealing a live piglet. Thirty-five-year-old Matthew A. Johnson of Berkley, California was to have had his trial starting today in Wright County District Court in Clarion on the charges of third-degree burglary, electronic or mechanical eavesdropping and agricultural production facility trespass. On Tuesday, Wright County assistant attorney Joseph Corrow filed a motion to dismiss the charges.

According to criminal complaints and court documents, Johnson and an accomplice entered the Iowa Select hog site in rural Dows in May of 2020 without permission. Johnson and his accomplice, Linda L. Cridge of Fishers, Indiana placed two live video streaming cameras and an audio recording device in the facility. Johnson was being prosecuted under a new section of the Iowa Code known as the Iowa Ag Gag law put into law prior to the break in at the Iowa Select farm facility. Meanwhile Johnson’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that the ag gag law is unconstitutional under the first amendment was denied.

Wright County district court judge Derek Johnson dismissed the charges with prejudice, meaning the defendant cannot be charged with these crimes for the offense again.