ATLANTIC, IA (July 13, 2021) – Produce in the Park is welcoming a special musical guest to the market this Thursday, July 15. The country music band Cloverdayle will be giving a free concert in the Atlantic City Park this Thursday, July 15 from 5:00-6:00 PM. Rolling Hills Bank & Trust is sponsoring this week’s musical entertainment. Bring a lawn chair, and enjoy yard games and dinner at the park while you listen to the music.

Produce in the Park is held every Thursday evening from 4:30-6:30 PM in the Atlantic City Park from the beginning of June through the end of September. This week, the market will offer fresh produce favorites including green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and more. In addition to delicious, fresh, local produce, Produce in the Park offers baked goods including Danish Kringle from the Kringleman Danish Pastries, dinner in the park, and handmade crafts including goat-milk soaps and lotions, candles, and more. The market also features a guest chef offering taste tests, free produce snacks for kids, and other kids activities, in addition to information booths by area community organizations.

Produce in the Park’s summer farmers market and community gatherings are sponsored by Atlantic Community Promotion Commission, 1st Whitney Bank and Trust, Cass County Tourism, Camblin Mechanical, Cass Health, Nishna Valley Family YMCA, and the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. Produce in the Park now accepts SNAP EBT, a payment method also known as “food stamps,” and many vendors accept credit cards and Venmo.

Stay up to date on the latest with Produce in the Park by signing up for the Produce in the Park newsletter at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com, and following Produce in the Park on Facebook @ProduceInThePark and Instagram @ProduceInTheParkAtlanticIA.

The Adams County Fair wraps-up its week-long run today, in Corning. The final, big day starts off with a 7-a.m. Pancake Breakfast, followed by the Dairy Show and 8 and the Beef Show at 8:30. Here’s the rest of the schedule:

• 12:30-p.m.: Dog Show Check-in
• 1:00-p.m.: Dog Show
• 1:30-p.m. Livestock Judging
• 2-p.m. until 5-p.m.: Ag Day in the Pavilion
• 4-p.m.: Tall Corn Contest
• 5-p.m.: Ag Day Meal & Open Class Bottle Buckaroo Show
• 6-p.m.: Livestock released
• 7-p.m.: Fair Sale.

On Wednesday, there will be clean-up beginning at 8-a.m., and Static Projects will be released from 8-a.m. to 5-p.m.  And finally, on Saturday, July 17th, at Carcass Judging begins at 9-a.m., followed at Noon by Carcass Results being announced at Corning Meat Processing (w/Swine Caracass Exhibitors present).   At the Montgomery County Fair, beginning at 9-a.m., there is entries and judging of 4-H Ag and Natural Resources, Creative Arts, Family and Consumer Sciences, Personal Development & STEM Exhibits at the 4-H Building.

Also:

• from 4-until 6-p.m.: Enter, Weigh-in and check papers for 4-H/FFA Poultry at the Livestock Pavilion
• 7:30-p.m.: Welcome by Montgomery County Fair Board President Andrew Herzberg at the Fairgrounds Auditorium, along with the following….
  • Clover Kids Graduation
  • Montgomery County Fair Hall of Fame
  • Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame
  • Presentation of County Youth Council Scholarship
  • Rotary Club “Service Above Self” Awards
  • Presentation of the John Hossle Scholarship
  • Bake sale of food and nutrition exhibits
  • Announcements and Crowning of Fair Queen
  • 4-H Pie Auction.
• 8:15-p.m.: Religious Rally – Fairground Auditorium
• 8:30-p.m.: Montgomery County Youth Council Gaga Ball Tournament – Gaga Ball Pit.

A full slate of activities get underway Wednesday at the Audubon and Shelby County Fairs, also. Look for those schedules tomorrow, here at kjan.com.

Here are the results fro m the Adams County Swine show held on Monday, July 12, 2021 at the fairgrounds in Corning.

Breeding Gilts Grand Champion:  Ally Birt   Reserve Champion:  Morgan Schuler

Market Hog Grand Champion:  Dustin Schuler   Reserve Champion:  Ada Lund

Pen of Three Grand Champion:  Sarah Shipley   Reserve Champion:  Chase Sonntag

Carcass Grand Champion:  Morgan Schuler   Reserve Champion:  Megan Ramsey

Champion Senior Showman:  Morgan Schuler

Champion Intermediate Showman:  Ada Lund

Champion Junior Showman:  Walker Bissell

The Montgomery County Fair gets underway in earnest today (Monday). Here’s today’s schedule in Red Oak:

• 4:00 PM – Awardrobe Clothing Event Judging
• 4:30 PM – 4-H Table Setting Event Judging and Display
• 5:00 PM – Educational Presentations, Extemporaneous Speaking & Working Exhibits
• 7:00 PM – Program and Announcement of Awards: Fashion Show participants & Share the Fun

The Montgomery County Fair runs through July 18^th.  The Adams County Fair began last Thursday, with the last full day of activity, tomorrow. Here’s a look at today’s schedule in Corning.

• 7:30 a.m. Swine Show
• 10:30 a.m. Small Pet Check-In
• 11:00 a.m. Rabbit & Small Pet Show
• 1:00 p.m. Bill Riley Talent Show
• 2:00 p.m. Bucket of Junk Contest
• 2:00 & 3:00 p.m. Family Fair Tours
• 4:30 p.m. Pedal Pull Check-In
• 5:00 p.m. Pedal Pull
• 6:00 p.m. 4-H Foundation and State Fair Awards
• 7:00 p.m. Draft Horse Pull

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S-D-A will spend half a BILLION dollars to help establish smaller-scale meat processing plants to compete with the four major corporations that dominate the industry. U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement in Council Bluffs. “It’s first and foremost going to create an opportunity to reverse what’s happening today out in the countryside where producers are having to sell their cattle at a loss, only to learn that processors end up taking that cattle and generating a profit,” Vilsack said. “It seems to me, in fairness, the profit ought to go both ways.”

Vilsack says spurring development of more meat processing facilities addresses some of the supply chain issues that cropped up as large pork, beef and poultry processing plants shut down early in the pandemic. In addition, Vilsack says smaller plants, closer to where animals are raised, give farmers more options for selling their livestock.  “It’s going to allow us to have greater price discovery because now we’ll have more markets to have information from,” Vilsack said, “so we’ll get a true sense of what the market is.”

The 500 million will be distributed as grants, loans and technical assistance. “We think there’s private investment interest in this. We think there’s philanthropic interest in this. We think there are state economic development resources that can be leveraged. There’s local government commitments that can be made,” Vilsack said, “so we’re not just talking about $500 million. We’re talking about the power of $500 million to stimulate interest.” Vilsack is also committing 100-million dollars in U-S-D-A funds for meat processing facilities with fewer than 500 employees, to reduce the meat inspection fees.

In addition, President Biden has signed an executive order calling for action on consolidation that not only limits where farmers can sell commodities, but has shrunk the number of companies selling things like seed and fertilizer.  “With the president’s executive order, we can move the bureaucracy more quickly because they understand that it’s not just secretarial priority, it’s not just a Cattlemen’s priority,” Vilsack said, “and in Washington, that makes a difference.” Vilsack says the goal is to draw a bright line and define what constitutes unfair competition in the agricultural sector.

“Making the burden of proving a violation a little bit more producer balanced than it is today,” Vilsack says. “When you say to prove a violation, you have to prove that the entire industry has been impacted, well, that’s virtually an impossible standard to meet, ok? So what we’re going to do is say, ‘That’s not the standard, should not be the standard,’ to give producers a fair shake.” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s glad the Biden Administration is beefing up enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act and he applauds Vilsack’s effort to make markets competitive for all Americans.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says while much remains unclear, he’s optimistic about the Biden Administration’s efforts to address anti-competitive practices in agriculture.

(Atlantic) – The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Rec Department is planning to hold two recreational days this week, to go along with the National Parks and Recreation Month Calendar they have put out. Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen says “On Wednesday July 14th, we will be offering a pool day with a lower entrance fee and some games to be played while enjoying the Sunnyside Pool. The other day is Friday July 16th from 9am-11am, we will be opening up our recreation shed with over 30 items for people to choose from and try out.”

If you have any questions, call 712-243-3542.

(Radio Iowa) – Recent rains have helped with dry conditions — but they have been spread out and some areas of the state could use much more rain. The Iowa D-N-R’s Tim Hall says severe drought conditions expanded in June from 12 counties in northwest Iowa across nearly all of northern Iowa. “Sixty-two-percent is now severe drought — up from only about eight percent at the beginning of the month,” Hall says. “So that is a significant uptick in coverage of the D-2 drought.”

While the severe drought has spread across the state — the rain we did get in June was beneficial. “June was drier than normal. Normally we get about five inches of rain. We ended up getting about three inches. That three inches of rain certainly has helped to push off any of the real severe conditions that we might otherwise be seeing right now,” according to Hall. Streamflow conditions across approximately half of the state remain in the below normal condition. Hall says other states are in worse shape coming out of June.

“As dry as it is in Iowa, it gets progressively worse as you go north and west into the Dakotas and Montana,” Hall says. “And the prediction in the Missouri River basin is that the runoff north of Sioux City could very well be the tenth lowest on record, going back to the late 1800s.” He says that is a big contrast to the flood fears on the Missouri River in the last couple of years.

)”The Missouri River is in as bad a shape as anything we’ve got here in the state. And it does not look like they are going to come out of that anytime real soon,” Hall says. Hall says the crops need continued moisture as they grow and there is hope we can get more rain as we move through July.

(Radio Iowa) – Cattle producers see hope in a new beef processing plant coming to southwest Iowa in 2023, as ranchers often complain about limited choices when it’s time to sell their beef cattle. A new company, Cattlemen’s Heritage, will build a facility on the Mills-Pottawattamie county line to process 15-hundred head of cattle per day. Iowa State University livestock economist Lee Schulz says another player in the packing industry means “tremendous opportunity” for Iowa producers. “Locally, that should really help competition for the cattle that are available,” Schulz says. “Cattle can only travel so far and so the largest impact is going to be to producers in that area.”

Four big meatpackers control most of the beef slaughter and farm groups say less market competition means lower prices for cattle. The new plant should help to change those dynamics and Schulz says it’ll have ripple effects across the region. He says, “If that’s the new demand there, the other plants are going to have to bid higher prices or go out further distances to find cattle to supply their plants.”

Schulz says it’s hard to say how much the new plant will affect prices because markets and production costs are constantly changing.

(by Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

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