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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
(Radio Iowa) – Some farmers now have decisions to make after their crops were damaged by hail. Iowa State University Extension held a meeting Friday for those hit in the Plymouth County areas. Crop specialist, Joel DeJong says the hail damage appears to have started east of Le Mars. He says the damage looks to move in a southeast direction all the way east of Kingsley and north of Pierson and stops five or six miles north of Correctional. “The center can be about as wide as two miles wide where it pretty much looks like it annihilated soybeans and corn. And then you’ve got transition areas on both sides So, it’s a very significant area that got hit,” DeJong says.
DeJong says soybeans may be re-planted, but farmers also need to consider the possibility of an early frost. “It kind of depends on what insurance policy requirements are. Each individual needs to start by visiting with their insurance agent, then we can talk about the agronomic side to see how that fits in,” according to DeJong. “We don’t have the full yield expectation of soybeans that we would if we planted in a normal time period. We get into early July and it stays wet into early July — yield expectations about a third –maybe half if we get lucky.”
He says the later the replant happens the greater the chance frost could wipe out the crop before it matures. He says farmers may be able to utilize small cereal grain cover crops such as rye, oats, or wheat. He says it’s probably early to get a cover crop established and some may want to plant forages to help supplement livestock feed. DeJong says some farmers may decide they don’t need to take any action. “Not everybody is going to have to replant. There’s some fields on the edges if looks like we’ve got some yield loss — be the best choice is probably to salvage the crop,” DeJong says.
The crops specialist reminds farmers to check first with their crop insurance company before making any decisions.
(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling that now leaves open an option for refineries to apply for blending exemptions for renewable fuels. The executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Monte Shaw, says the ruling is disappointing.
“A really backward reading of agency discretion, saying that because it might be read this way they have to read it this way….in all the work we’ve done, I’ve never had a court take that approach,” Shaw says. He says the worst part of the ruling is it keeps the issue alive.
“You can’t extend something you don’t have — and if the majority would have seen it that way — then the refinery exemption nightmare would have been over, because I think you’d be down to only two or three refineries that could even apply,” according to Shaw. Shaw says the positive side is this only part of the lower court ruling and the rest still stands.
“There are very strict criteria to get a refinery exemption from the R-F-S, and if those provisions are properly enforced, then the vast majority of these applications will be denied,” Shaw says.
The Supreme Court ruling overturned the lower court ruling that refineries have to have a history of receiving Renewable Fuel Standard blending exemptions to apply for an extension of an exemption.
The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors visited with Grow Another Row on Thursday, June 24th, 2021. The Ambassadors visited with Claire Smith who is the new Grow Another Row coordinator. The Ambassadors also learned about everything that Grow Another Row is a part of and all they do for the community. With Claire’s guidance, Grow Another Row can plant and grow many different produces including, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and more. Claire is originally from Griswold and currently attends Northwest Missouri State University where she studies Agronomy and Horticulture. Claire enjoys attending meetings weekly where she can learn and bounce ideas off other people in similar roles.
Left to Right: Rachel Czaja, Jim Kickland, Krysta Hanson, Donnie Drennan, Jennifer McEntaffer, Bryant Rasmussen, Anne Quist, Marcus Daugherty, Dolly Bergmann, Kathie Hockenberry, Dr. Keith Leonard, Steve Tjepkes, Dawn Marnin, Tori Gibson, Carole Schuler, Claire Smith, Cathy Booth, Kate Olson, and Brigham Hoegh.
Grow Another Row is a program that started in 2020 with the goal to encourage, support, and network local growers for food donations. Grow Another Row works directly with local food pantries to try and put food on as many tables as possible. Any grower is encouraged to participate! There is no registration process and food may be donated whenever available.
The Masters Gardeners are offering an online course for growers in the Atlantic area. The cost of the course is $195 and will run August 30th – November 5th. Visit www.extension.iastate.edu/mastergardener to register. The deadline to participate is Thursday, July 1st.
For more information visit the Healthy Cass County Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/HealthyCassCounty
(Radio Iowa) – A massive “COVID-friendly” beef processing facility is planned for southwest Iowa that promises to create hundreds of jobs and boost the region’s economy by more than a billion dollars a year. Project developer Chad Tentinger is founder and owner of TenCorp, a cattle industry construction firm with offices in Des Moines and Marcus. The newly-formed Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef will construct the 325-million dollar plant in Mills County. “We’ll be the first state-of-the-art new facility built in western Iowa in more than two generations,” Tentinger says. “We will employ up to 750 workers and our estimated annual economic impact is $1.1 billion to the local economy.”
Tentinger says the plant will fill a “critical gap” between conglomerates and under-sized lockers that aren’t equipped to meet the needs of consumers, producers or retailers. He notes several years of weak cattle markets and strong retail prices demonstrate that now is the ideal time to build. Tentinger says, “What we’ve seen over the last two years with, obviously, interruptions in the economy has shown that over the last 20 years, we have added capacity through feedlots in the Midwest with high quality cattle and we just simply have not kept up with the capacity to process those cattle.” 
A news release says workers at the plant will have an average annual wage of $55,000, plus benefits. At capacity, Tentinger says the facility will be able to process up to 15-hundred head of cattle per day. Tentinger says, “I think a large portion will come from Iowa but I think, just based on location, obviously, we will draw out of eastern Nebraska and eastern South Dakota also.” The coronavirus outbreak forced the temporary closure of some Iowa meatpacking plants last year with deadly outbreaks among the workforce. Tentinger says this plant will be built with the advantage of having seen what’s happened with COVID-19. “Larger spacing, more room inside the plant, layout, taking all of that into consideration, with state-of-the-art new equipment, new spacing, new requirements,” he says. “It will be the first plant built with COVID-friendly in mind.”
The facility will be built along Interstate 29 in Mills County near the Pottawattamie County line and south of Council Bluffs. Construction is to begin in the spring of 2022 with opening in the winter of 2023.
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Governor Kim Reynolds released a statement this (Friday) morning: “Iowa has a reputation for producing safe, reliable, and quality products that feed our nation and a growing world population,” Reynolds said. “TenCorp, Inc.’s new facility will add greater stability, processing capacity and value to our state’s agriculture industry. I am excited about this project and what it means not only for Iowa’s cattle industry, but the continued growth and expansion of Iowa agriculture.”
Ag/Outdoor, Heartbeat Today, Podcasts
Jim Field visits with Deb Schuler about the 16th Annual Women In Agriculture Conference in August. For more information or to register, go to: www.iowawomeninag.org.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (24.1MB)
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The latest version of the Iowa Drought Monitor (released June 24th), shows very little change in drought conditions across the State, despite rain last week and earlier this week. The data show last week, slightly more than 94.6% of Iowa is Abnormally dry (D-0 to D-4 rating). This week, the rate improved slightly, to about 92.5%. Three months ago, a little more than 41% of the State was Abnormally Dry.
Cass and many other counties across parts of western, southern and east central Iowa are in a Moderate Drought (D1-D4). The percentage (76.15%) is slightly higher than last week (76.04%), thanks to widely scattered rainfall. The worst (Severe) drought conditions (D2-D4) continue to impact a large area of central, north central, northwest and northeast Iowa, where nearly 44% of counties are affected. That’s up from 40.82% last week. The Severe drought expanded as well across southern and northwest Minnesota, due to worsening precipitation deficits and vegetation conditions.
The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Carcass Challenge program is a yearly effort to showcase Iowa’s beef cattle genetics in the only statewide fed-beef competition. The 2021 program completed with an awards banquet held in early June. Steer sponsors donated 74 700-pound steers in November, which were delivered to Lauritsen Cattle Company, in Exira, to be fed out to 1,400 pounds in the 180- to 200-day time period. The top 10 percent of individuals were recognized based on the Retail Value Per Day on Feed (RVDoF), with a top cash prize of $5,000. The RVDoF formula is a dollar value that accounts for hot carcass weight, percent retail product, carcass price and days on feed, balancing the important factors that ultimately drive profitability.
The champion steer for the 2021 ICA Carcass Challenge with an RVDoF of $6.21 was awarded to steer 53, donated by Mosher Angus, Lauritsen Cattle Company and Mark Segebart, and the steer was bred by Mosher Angus.
Pictured (Left to Right): Cathy and Mark Segebart, Norval Mosher, Ty Lauritsen, Clara Lauritsen, Lauren Mosher, Leah Mosher
The award for largest ribeye, with a ribeye area of 16.29 square inches, was steer 43, donated and bred by Johnson Family Farms. The high marbling award winner was steer 4, donated by American State Bank, and bred by Trent Rehder, with a marbling score of 698. The Chef’s Choice award was developed with the goal of identifying the most economically efficient steer and to determine the genetic potential of individual animals to produce the safest, most nutritional and most desirable food product possible. This year’s winner of the Chef’s Choice award was steer 71, donated by the Woodhill Farms, Cherne Angus and Hosch Farms, and bred by Cherne Angus. The highest average daily gain was figured for the time the steers were on test, from November 17, 2020 to May 7, 2021. This year’s winner with an average daily gain of 5.31 pounds per day was steer 24, donated by Custom Precast and bred by Jason Kurt.
The sponsors of the 2021 program included Elanco, Lauritsen Cattle Company, Gregory Feedlots, the CUP Lab, Producers Livestock, Stuart Veterinary Service and Shawn Nicholsen, Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity, Allflex, Rueters Equipment and the Audubon County Cattlemen. The 2022 ICA Carcass Challenge recruitment will begin soon. For more information regarding the program, contact Jennifer Carrico at jennifer@iacattlemen.org.
(Radio Iowa) – A year ago in the midst of the pandemic, the price spread between packers and cattle producers rose to 1500 percent and John Tupper, vice president of the U-S Cattlemen’s Association, says the four big meat packers still are making significant profits. “Packers have enjoyed unbelievable profits,” Tupper said, “harvesting around 120,000 head per day while cattle producers go out of business and consumers pay double or even triple at the meat counter.”
Tupper, an auctioneer and cow-calf operator from South Dakota, testified during a U-S Senate Ag Committee hearing Wednesday afternoon. Farm state lawmakers are considering bills that would give independent livestock operators more information about prices, as many cattle sales are now private. “There is a crisis in rural America. We are losing our producers at an alarming rate,” Tupper says, “all the while watching big corporate feeders, packers make record profits with the threat of verticle integration hanging over our head.”
There were about three-point-six MILLION head of cattle and calves in Iowa on January 1st, down more than 200-thousand from the previous year. Tupper says a steer is worth about 16-hundred dollars today. “Packers could buy that steer and sell it for beef alone, not counting byproducts, for over $2800 a head today,” he says, “for a gross profit margin of over 80%.”
The North American Meat Institute, a trade group representing meat packers, says prices are following market trends as supply for meat struggles to keep pace with demand. Iowa now ranks eighth among the states in cattle production.
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