(Radio Iowa) – With clear skies and highs in the 40s forecast for much of Iowa this weekend, it’s expected to be an extremely busy opening weekend for shotgun deer season. Tyler Harms, a biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the fields and forests will be full of hunters. “It’s our most popular deer hunting season of the year,” Harms says. “We expect to see about 120,000 hunters in the field hunting deer in the next few weekends. The weather forecast for this weekend looks really great.”

Harms says those hunters should find a target-rich environment in many parts of Iowa. “So far this year, our harvest is trending right along about where we were at this time last year,” Harms says. “That’s a good sign. That indicates to us the population is fairly similar to where it was last year and things are looking good for this weekend.” Harms says there are a few key changes in deer hunting regulations this year, like allowing for antlerless deer hunting in seven north-central Iowa counties. “That is something that we have not allowed in previous years, mostly to allow the population to recover to goal levels,” he says, “but our data suggests the population is increasing so we’re allowing antlerless harvest in those counties.”

Harms reminds all hunters to review their safety training. “Have a plan and hunt your plan, make sure you’re wearing plenty of blaze orange,” Harms says. “Also, be mindful of your shot. Make sure you know what your target is and what’s beyond your target.” Hours for shotgun deer season are from sunrise and sunset. The first shotgun deer season runs from December 5th to the 9th, with the second season running December 12th to the 20th.

On the same day Des Moines leaders announced coronavirus would cost the city 25-million dollars in lost revenue this fiscal year, the Iowa Pork Producers Association added to the misery by cancelling next month’s Iowa Pork Congress. Association spokeswoman Dal Grooms

“This is going to be our 49th Pork Congress, or it was going to be,” Grooms says. “We’re still having some events. We’re going to have an awards event and we’ll be holding our annual meeting, just as we do every year.” The event was slated for January 27th and 28th. The annual meeting will still be held in-person on January 26th and it’ll include the Master Pork Producers Awards program as well as the announcement of the 2021 Iowa Pork Youth Leadership Team.

“A lot of people really enjoy that, they like to see who the master pork producers are, and that is going to be available virtually,” Grooms says. “We also have some educational seminars that we hold every year, and those, too, will be available so that people can tune in from home and listen and get some information that they can apply to their farms.” The popular Taste of Elegance restaurant event, which usually kicks off the Iowa Pork Congress, was also postponed.

“We do hope to hold that later in the year,” Grooms says. “It’s a great opportunity for Iowa restaurants to show us what they’ve got in terms of pork and what they share with their customers as well.” The Iowa Pork Congress is billed as North America’s most successful winter swine trade show and conference. The next show is scheduled for January 26-27, 2022.

IowaPorkCongress.org

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S-D-A is forecasting net farm income for 2020 will jump 43 percent over last year, reaching a seven-year high of nearly 120 BILLION dollars. Ag economist David Widmar is with the consulting firm Agricultural Economic Insights.  “I would summarize this as an update of a pretty dramatic upswing in the farm economy,” he says. The previous U-S-D-A forecast was released in early September. “It was about seven or eight weeks in August and September that the farm economy got to sort of the edge of looking really, really bleak,” he says, “and then all of a sudden things started turning favorably.”

Widmar uses the word “dramatic” to describe the jump in commodity prices since September. There have also been record direct government payments to farmers in 2020, more than double the amount in 2019, as the Trump Administration made extra farm payments for trade disruptions and the pandemic. Government payments will account for 39 percent of net farm income in 2020 according to the U-S-D-A.”$40-plus billion in direct payments,” he says, “a historically high level of direct payments.”

Adjusting for inflation, 2011 and 2013 were the only other years when net farm income has been higher. Widmar cautions, though, that not ever farmer is making a profit, especially when considering livestock and dairy prices.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – A draft list from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources indicates 750 segments of lakes, rivers and streams in Iowa are impaired due to pollution and are not suitable for at least one of its intended uses, like swimming or as a source of drinking water. Ken Krier, a D-N-R environmental specialist, describes Iowa’s water quality as stable.

“I don’t know if we can really point to one direction or the other,” he says. “You know, last cycle from 2016-2018, there was a 2% increase and we’re at a 2% decrease this cycle.” The state is required by federal law to update the list of impaired waters every two years. This is the first time in more than two decades there’s been a decrease in the total number of bodies of water classified as impaired.

Alicia Vasto of the Iowa Environmental Council says with hundreds of bodies of water still on the impaired list, state officials must establish regulations that limit pollution. “We believe that the voluntary approach that the state is taking to water quality is not sufficient,” she says. The list is a draft and Iowans may submit written comments to the D-N-R about the list this month, before it’s submitted to federal officials.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is asking for public input on two laws passed and signed during the 2020 legislative session. The first is from House File 716 that directs the DNR to develop a list of cartridges approved for use in rifles to hunt deer in Iowa.  The following list of cartridges is proposed for inclusion:

Allowable cartridges for use in handguns that were considered for use in rifles but deemed ballistically dissimilar from allowable pistol or revolver cartridges include (these cartridges are NOT proposed for inclusion to the list of allowable rifles to hunt deer in Iowa):

Hunters interested in additions or subtractions are asked to send their request along with a brief justification to wildlife@dnr.iowa.gov by Dec. 14, 2020.

The second is House File 2455 that requires hunters and dogs to be trained prior to tracking wounded deer. In order to satisfy this requirement, the DNR proposes to provide a form to document the hunter and the dog’s blood tracking training and experience. This form would be kept on file for three years and the hunter and dog(s) would be eligible to track wounded deer during that period. Hunters receiving trespassing or other violations in the act of tracking wounded deer will be deemed “not trained” until a formal blood tracking certification is obtained.

Hunters interested in commenting on this proposed approach are asked to send their ideas to wildlife@dnr.iowa.gov by Dec. 14, 2020.

DES MOINES, IOWA, Dec. 1, 2020 – The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has preapproved the funding of 150 applications totaling more than $2 million across 26 Iowa counties to help farmers affected by the Aug. 10 Derecho windstorm apply or replace damaged conservation practices on their land. NRCS will fund disaster recovery applications through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) – a voluntary program in which NRCS provides financial and technical assistance to ag producers to address natural resource concerns.

Of the 150 applications:

•                     142 are for seeding cover crops to protect soil from erosion and to keep a living root in the soil until the 2021 planting season;

•                     6 are to replace previously USDA-funded high tunnel systems that many fruit and vegetable growers use to help extend the growing season and improve crop quality; and

•                     2 are to replace previously USDA-funded roofs or covers on livestock waste storage facilities.

Scott County had the most applicants with 24, followed by Linn County with 16, and Benton and Tama Counties with 12 apiece. Approved applicants will receive higher EQIP payment rates than normal due to the special disaster recovery. NRCS offered an early start waiver that allowed applicants to implement the conservation practice before the application was officially approved.

Iowa farmers were unable to harvest an estimated 850,000 cropland acres this fall, due to Derecho winds that blew as hard as 140 miles per hour. For more information about conservation practices and programs for your land, contact your local NRCS office or go to www.ia.nrcs.usda.gov. USDA Service Centers are temporarily restricting in-person visits in Iowa because of elevated rates of coronavirus community spread, but USDA employees will continue to assist agricultural producers with programs and services.

(IA DNR) Hunters donated more than 4,100 deer hides to Elks Lodges across Iowa last year, which was a slight decrease from the 2018-2019 season. The Iowa DNR says the deer hides are used by the Veterans Leather Program to make professionally-crafted leather gloves for veterans in wheelchairs and also turned into leather used for therapy programs for recovering veterans.

The Veterans Leather Program relies on the charity of hunters to donate their deer hides. Hunters willing to donate their hides are encouraged to contact the local Elks Lodge for drop off locations or visit www.elks.org/lodges to find the nearest lodge. The therapeutic kits and gloves are distributed at no cost to the veterans.

(IA DNR) – The inaugural season for the Iowa Deer Exchange has attracted 350 Iowans who indicated they were interested in receiving venison and 60 hunters willing to provide it.  The deer exchange, along with the Help us Stop Hunger (HUSH) program, allows hunters an opportunity to provide high quality lean protein to their neighbors, while continuing to do what they enjoy – hunting deer. Officials say they are pleased with the participation we’ve seen thus far, and the large number of registered recipients shows there’s an audience who wants venison. They’re encouraging hunters who are making their plans now to consider picking up another doe tag and registering to donate venison.

To sign up for the Iowa Deer Exchange, go to www.iowadnr.gov/deer then scroll down to Iowa’s Deer Exchange Program link and fill out the required fields. The database creates a map and table with information deer donors and deer recipients can use to get connected. There is no cost to participate. It is illegal to sell wild fish and game in Iowa.

Hunter who prefer to use the HUSH program are encouraged to contact a participating locker before they harvest a deer to see if the locker has any additional drop off instructions. The list of participating lockers is available at www.iowadnr.gov/deer the scroll down to the Help Us Stop Hunger link. The HUSH program is a partnership between the Iowa DNR, the Food Bank of Iowa and participating meat lockers.

(Radio Iowa) – Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says this year’s increase in farm income is leading to an increase in farmland prices. “Farmers are out there and they’re feeling better about the economy, but unfortunately we’re not seeing it in the businesses on what we call ‘Rural Mainstreet,'” Goss says. Every month, Goss surveys rural bankers for a Rural Mainstreet Index. His latest survey indicates the economy in Iowa and nine other states in the Great Plains and Mountain West will dip in the current 4th quarter.

“It looks like we’re hitting a hiccup in the global economy and a hiccup in the US economy and, for that matter, in the regional economy,” Goss says. “Growth is just slowing down and potentially moving what was a V shaped recovery into a W shaped recovery — in other words, back down into the recession.” But Goss says farmland and commodity prices have beem climbing fairly dramatically this fall, leading to optimism in the ag sector. About a third of U.S. farm income this year will have come, though, from the Trump Administration’s payments to make up for trade losses and Goss says those are likely to end with the Trump presidency.

“On the flip side, we’re likely to see the Biden Administration be a little more positive on trade,” Goss says. “…You’ve got some positives and some negatives. I expect 2021 – at least as we sit here now — to be pretty good for the agricultural sector given the expansion on trade.” And Goss says rising global oil prices are generally good news for the state’s ethanol industry as well.