(Radio Iowa) – Iowa farmers who want to enroll in either of the two major U-S-D-A conservation programs have until month’s end to submit their paperwork. Kate Hansen, a policy associate with the Center for Rural Affairs in Nevada, says the deadline is October 1st. “It’s for both the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program,” Hansen says. “These are what we call working lands conservation programs. They’re administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and these are programs that help you implement conservation practices while you’re still working the land.”

Last year, Iowa farmers signed more than 12-hundred contracts for the two programs, known as C-S-P and EQIP. Hansen says the programs are similar but there are key differences. “EQIP contracts are typically more focused on a particular resource concern or maybe a singular practice,” she says. “CSP is a program designed to be operation-wide, so, a farmer in a CSP contract is going to be implementing multiple practices over a five-year period and addressing different parts of their operation.”

Farmers who are interested in signing up for these programs should contact the Natural Resources Conservation Service in their county.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says to achieve the goal of expanding existing Iowa meat lockers and getting new ones established, more people need to be trained as butchers. “You can’t just walk in off the street and automatically go to work,” Naig told Radio Iowa. “There’s training that’s required.”

A few college-level programs in the state offer instruction in meat processing, but Naig said more training programs, like apprenticeships, are needed. “There is a really good meat science program at Iowa State, but that’s a four year or an advanced degree and there’s a place for that from a management perspective or if you’re looking at food safety or specialty products….There’s a few community colleges with meat science programs as well, for a two-year program,” Naig said. “And then we think that there are folks who don’t need either of those and, really, what they need to do is come into a meat locker and do an apprenticeship.”

The Artisanal Butchery Task Force. (Ag Dept photo.)

Naig is chairman of the Artisanal Butchery Task Force, a temporary group created by a state law passed this spring. The group held its first meeting this week. “What we saw in the last year, year and a half is that the small meat locker was incredibly busy and we think there’s a tremendous opportunity for that to expand,” Naig said, “…so I think what we try to look at, then, is what can we do to try to have an impact.”

The legislature set aside $750 thousand worth of state grant money to help small meat lockers expand. Naig said the demand is there, from the consumer end. He’s heard from cattle producers who have potential customers for their beef, but can’t find a meat locker to break it down and package it. “It builds on a great Iowa brand for meat, direct to consumer and I think even branded products that end up in grocery stores and in restaurants is a good thing, too,” Naig said. “To me there’s just tremendous opportunity that also, potentially, can bring more cattle into the state.”

Naig is also lobbying the USDA to make more Iowa meat lockers eligible for the $500 million in federal grants that will be available. A meat processor must be federally-inspected or enrolled in a USDA program to ship meat across state lines to qualify. Naig said about half of Iowa’s 250 meat lockers are state inspected and under current rules would be ineligible for the federal grants.

(Williamsburg, Iowa) – An arson investigation at a large park led state conservation officers to an Iowa man. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 49-year-old Jereme Goltz, of Williamsburg, faces charges including two counts of third-degree arson, felony possession of a controlled substance- methamphetamine (3rd or subsequent offense), and littering following a two-month long investigation by Iowa Department of Natural Resources conservation officers.

During the months of July and August, DNR officials noticed an uptick in the number of illegal fires being set in parking lots, fields, and woodlands located within the 14,000-acre Hawkeye Wildlife Area. The fires damaged trees, fields, and parking lot posts and destroyed multiple hay bales owned by a farmer leasing a portion of the state land.

Jereme P. Goltz

As a result of the investigation, DNR conservation officers, along with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and the Iowa State Patrol executed a search warrant at Goltz’s residence in Williamsburg. There, officers seized electronics, evidence relating to the fires, as well as methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

In 2019, Goltz led an Iowa conservation officer in a vehicle pursuit at the Hawkeye Wildlife Area. During the chase, Goltz left his vehicle and fled on foot into flood waters of the Iowa River where he climbed a tree. A lengthy rescue effort by Iowa DNR officers, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, the Iowa State Patrol and local fire departments to remove Goltz from the tree. Goltz was charged and convicted of eluding, carrying weapons, and possession of methamphetamine.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) data released Thursday, indicates this past week saw continued improvement in conditions across drought-stricken areas of the Central and Northern Plains states as well as in Iowa and Minnesota, where light-to-moderate rainfall accumulations were observed. On this week’s map, widespread one-category improvements were made in drought-stricken areas in northern Iowa and western Minnesota, which received another round of beneficial precipitation this week. In those areas rainfall accumulations ranged from 1 to 4 inches. In areas of northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, percentage of normal precipitation has ranged from 150% to 300% of normal for the last 30-day period.

Likewise, light rainfall this week led to trimming back of small areas of Moderate Drought (D1) in northwestern Illinois and west-central Indiana. Conversely, dry conditions during the past 90-day period led to slight expansion of areas of Severe Drought (D2) in northern Wisconsin as well as areas of Moderate Drought (D1) in Upper Peninsula Michigan.

In the immediate KJAN listening area, the Drought Monitor map shows Abnormally dry conditions remain over most of Cass, Adair, Audubon, Montgomery and Madison Counties, along with small sections of Mills, Adams, Fremont and Page Counties. Under those conditions, corn shows drought stress and the soil is dry  The southeast quarter of Guthrie and most of Dallas County, is in a Moderate Drought. In a moderate drought: Soybeans abort pods; corn test weights are struggling; Grasses are brown; more grass fires occur; burn bans are issued, and pond levels decline.

The NWS Precipitation Forecast calls light precipitation accumulations (generally under 1 inch) during the week ahead.

(Radio Iowa) – Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says the initial draft of the Democrats’ infrastructure plan in the U.S. House now reserves a billion dollars to promote the use of ethanol and biodiesel over the next eight years. “To issue grants directly to fuel retailers so that they can convert their existing pumps to deliver higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel,” Axne says. “They can install new pumps or related infrastructure, retrofit terminal operations, etc., so that they can carry more ethanol and biodiesel.”

Axne says it will be quite some time before electric models make up the majority of vehicles in use in America and biofuels are a greener alternative to gasoline AND to hybrid electric vehicles with a liquid fuel back-up. “There are multiple sectors of transportation that should also look to other opportunities, so this is a win-win,” Axne says. “This puts money in the pockets of Iowans while literally reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”

A recent study led by a Harvard University environmental health professor found carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from corn-based ethanol were 46 percent lower than from gasoline. Axne says she’s pretty confident the billion dollars for biofuels will stay in the infrastructure package, but she concedes it hasn’t been an easy fight to get it included in the initial draft.

“I’ve been handing out flyers in, literally, the chambers, educating people about biofuels. We’ve been hammering this thing home and, I think it sunk in that: ‘Listen, as we move towards this, let’s not forget a tool that really can move us in the right direction immediately,'” Axne says, “and that’s biofuels.”

The bill, which Democrats call their Build Back Better plan, will be considered in the U.S. House Agriculture Committee today (Friday).

(Radio Iowa) – Biden Administration officials say the nation’s four major meatpackers are engaging in profiteering during the pandemic and generating record or near-record profits this year. U-S Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says it’s time to hold meatpackers responsible for unfair practices. “Farmers are losing money on cattle, on hogs and poultry that they are selling at a time when consumers are seeing higher prices at the grocery store,” he says.

Vilsack and other members of the administration’s competitiveness council meet Friday to discuss ways to address consolidation in the industry. “I remember talking to a producer the other day in Council Bluffs and he said: ‘I don’t get this, Mr. Secretary. I just sold my cattle and I lost $150 a head, but the processor made $1800 a head,” Vilsack says. “How can that be?”

Legislation introduced in congress would require more disclosure of the prices meatpackers are paying private contractors. That may give independent livestock producers a better sense of what meatpackers are willing to pay for cattle, hogs and poultry. According to the National Meat Institute, consumers are paying higher prices for beef, pork, chicken and eggs because of a persistent and widespread shortage of workers in meatpacking plants.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Atlantic, Iowa) Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh reports Produce in the Park is extending the farmers market season through October 14 for fall 2021. The extension of the season through the first two weeks in October is made possible thanks to sponsorship from the Atlantic Elks Lodge #445, and support from the City of Atlantic, and Atlantic Parks and Recreation.

Hoegh says “In August, Erickson Foods, a produce vendor at the market, realized fall crops were going to be ready later than usual, and they asked if other market participants would be interested in extending the season. Craft vendors, baked goods vendors, and prepared food vendors supported the idea, and Atlantic Parks and Recreation agreed to bring games and crafts to the park in October.”

October markets in the park will feature late-season produce crops such as sweet potatoes and winter squash, in addition to farm favorites such as local meat, granola, and honey. A highlight is sure to be candles, soaps, and wax melts from Smudge, as October is a perfect time for cozy fall scents.

Produce in the Park continues to accept vendors for the 2021 fall season. Both food and craft vendors are invited to join the market. More information on vending at Produce in the Park can be found at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com. Questions on vending can be directed to Market Manager Brigham Hoegh at produceintheparkatlanticiowa@gmail.com or (712) 249-5870.

Produce in the Park is a community-oriented farmers market held every Thursday evening (4:30-6:30 PM) from June through October 14 in the Atlantic City Park.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig is predicting Iowa will retain its spot as the number one corn producing state, despite challenging weather conditions in some areas. “Crop development is really kind of all over the map,” Naig said. “…Generally speaking, drought is the number one issue that folks are thinking about, however there are parts of our state that have gotten exactly what they’ve needed throughout the year and then we’ve got parts of southeast Iowa that have had too much rain.”

The U-S-D-A’s latest crop and weather report shows some corn fields in northwest and west central Iowa were damaged by heavy rain, hail and strong winds in the past week, but 60 percent of Iowa’s corn crop is still rated in good or excellent condition. Naig says the number of acres planted with corn this year will be the deciding factor in keeping Iowa at the forefront in corn production. “We are a big corn user in this state, so the user community, the livestock folks that use corn for feed and the processors are certainly looking at that supply very closely,” Naig says.

Sixty-one percent of Iowa SOYBEANS are in that good or excellent category.  “I think you’re going to see record yields in some places and you’ll yield reductions because of too much water or not enough water in other places,” Naig says, “and the true test is getting out and running the combine in the field and seeing what’s out there.”

The fall harvest of corn and soybeans hasn’t started, but record heat has advanced development of Iowa’s two main cash crops. Corn development statewide is about five days ahead of average, while soybean development is about two days ahead of normal.

(Radio Iowa) – State climatologist Justin Glisan says as we move into fall there’s a clear signal on the outlook for September, October, and November. “We are seeing an elevated signal for warmer conditions for much of the Midwest — including Iowa. And then no clear signal on the precipitation front,” he says. Glisan says the long-term outlook for September shows an equal chance of warm or cool, and wet or dry. “If we look at those short-term outlooks that get us into the middle of the month, we do see an elevated chance of cooler than normal temperatures — and that’s coupled with a slightly elevated drier signal,” according to Glisan.

Glisan says a little dry weather would not be a bad thing. “Those types of conditions would be great for harvest, we don’t want to get wet as we start to get the combines out into the fields,” Glisan says. “But we do want to replenish subsoil moisture profiles as we complete harvest and get into the later part of fall and into winter for the next growing season.”

Fall begins on September 22nd.