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!
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) – The president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation says the state legislative session that ended last week was a great one for agriculture, with one exception. Craig Hill praised the move by lawmakers to shift the burden of paying for the state’s mental health program away from county property taxpayers, since farmers own a significant portion of the state’s land. “There’s only a couple other states that actually pay for mental health service with a property tax,” Hill says. “Shifting, dollar for dollar, costs of mental health services away from property tax to the general fund was a goal that we’ve had.”
Hill says another legislative win this session included more funding for Iowa’s water quality programs. “Those dollars that were appropriated a few years ago to address water quality with our nutrient reduction strategy, we extended those,” Hill says. “We had some new opportunities for beginning farmer tax credits, some expansion there.” Hill says there was a big legislative disappointment in the 2021 session, one that would have benefited corn and soybean growers. “The one that we made progress on but we didn’t complete and that was to expand the use of biofuels, both ethanol and biodiesel,” Hill says. “We’ll be back next session, working away at that one.”
Overall, Hill says Iowa lawmakers did a good job in approving a budget that leaves the state sitting in a good position following the pandemic.
(Radio Iowa) – Wet weather slowed planting last week — while the corn and soybeans already in the ground are emerging. The weekly U-S-D-A crop report says there were only two-point-four days suitable for fieldwork during the week. Just three percent of the corn was planted last week and it is now 97 percent complete. That is two weeks ahead of the five-year average. Three-quarters of the corn has now emerged. The report shows 89 percent of the soybean crop has been planted — an increase of six percent during the last week. The overall soybean planting is 15 days ahead of average. More than one half of the soybeans planted have emerged.
(Radio Iowa) – The popular fish finder site run by the D-N-R is back up after being changed over to a new provider. Fisheries Bureau spokesman, Jeff Kopaska, says the site includes information on species and numbers the fisheries staff gather during their surveys on lakes, rivers and streams. “We’ve actually updated our data collection and we are using tablets out in the field and updating all the data electronically while we are out there. We just upload it to the cloud and make that data available to the public,” Kopaska says.
He says it gives you the size and weight of fish by species. “If you are interested in going bluegill fishing and you want to know which lakes we caught the most eight to ten-inch bluegills in last year — you can compare all of the lakes that have fish from that size category,” Kopaska explains. “So, it’s a pretty useful tool for anglers.” He says there’s a lot of interest from anglers in this info. “Since April of 2018 when the site went down I get emails about every week asking when its going to be back up,” according to Kopaska. “We’ve finally got it to a point where we are happy with it and feel that it is good information for the public, and we’ve made it available to them once again.”
Kopaska says it provides good short-term information for anglers looking for fish — but the D-N-R uses the info for longer-term management of the fisheries. “We strive to make data-based decisions and have a solid scientific rationale for what we are doing and why we are doing it,” Kopaska says. “You have to have this data and this information available to make decisions on what we should be stocking, if we should be changing any regulations.” Kopaska says the numbers show the overall health of the fisheries are pretty good. “We have record numbers of fish being Caught. We have high-quality populations in numerous lakes across the state. And the ones that aren’t doing as well — we continue to strive to improve them,” he says. “Our overall goal in D-N-R fisheries is to shorten the time between bites — and to make each one of those bites count.”
You can go to the D-N-R website at www.iowadnr.gov to find the survey information.
Atlantic, IA. – Fifty High School and Junior students anglers from across the state competed in the first TBF/SAF Iowa State Fishing Championship presented Conductix Wamplfer at Prairie Rose State Park on Saturday. Each team consisting of two competitors launched their boats at 7am to bagged their five largest fish on the 173- acre lake. The teams returned at 2:30pm to begin the official weigh-in to see who had hauled in the biggest bag of fish.
The Atlantic team of Cooper Jipsen and Dylan Comes won the SAF Powerade High School Competition with five fish, totaling 11.07 pounds. In the runner up spot goes to Joaquin Wailes of Wiota and Joey Oathoudt of Corning, IA with a 5 bag limit totaling 10.07 lbs, 3rd place went Carter Frost and Cade Hoover of Cedar Falls with 5 bag limit, weighing 10.03. Comes claimed the AM Corhon Big Bass award with 3.01 lb bass. Cooper Jipsen and Dylan Comes will now compete in a National Tournament in South Carolina.Drey Newell and Braden Smith, the overall points champions, will also advance to the National Fishing Tournament in South Carolina. The two seniors from Atlantic finished sixth in the Tournament.The two teams will also try to qualify for the SAF World Finals which held in conjunction with the National Championship Tournament. Over 3 million dollars worth of scholarships and prizes are on the line for the student anglers.
The Cass County Conservation Board will hold a National Trails Day T-Bone Trail Ride, on June 5th. The program will meet at the I-80/T-Bone Trail Trailhead, North of Atlantic, beginning at 1-p.m. There is no charges. Bike, walk, strollers…everyone is welcome! Come out and celebrate National Trails Day! All ages/abilities welcome and Free!
The event will be cancelled if there is inclement weather.
(Lewis) – The Cass County Conservation Board is excited to present “Nature Tots” Program during the months of June and July. The programs are targeted for tots 3-4 years old, with an accompanying adult, to introduce them to the plants and animals of the world. The Nature Tots will get to choose any or all three of our Free Programs. Travel to the savanna to see elephants and zebras with Safari Searchers. Learn about the plants and animals of the rainforest with Rainforest Rangers, and dig into what it takes to grow your own garden with Garden Growers.
The next programs are to be held on Thursdays and Saturdays:
The programs FREE, but you are asked to pre-register, by filling out the registration form Here. Or you may email lkanning@casscoia.us or call 712-769-2372. Space is limited and children must be accompanied by an adult.
Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Director Bryant Rasmussen, on Friday, said that “With the current weather pattern, heating up of the pool is taking longer. With regards to this the pool will open up on the June 7th as opposed to the 1st to allow for more time to increase the temperature of the water.”
(Radio Iowa) – Leaders of Iowa’s dairy industry are praising the state legislature for passing a pair of bills before adjourning to address the hauling of milk and also what are known as anaerobic digesters. Mitch Schulte, executive director of the Iowa State Dairy Association, says permission to use those digesters will mean Iowa dairies can improve their sustainability and environmental footprint — in addition to their financial pictures.
“It’s going to give us the ability to have more animals in an area,” Schulte says. “We’re still going to care for those animals in the same way, but as long as we have that anaerobic digester in place, we’re going to be able to clean the manure, we’re going to clean the water, and we’re going to clean that air as it comes out of there. And, we’re going to produce a fuel source that can be used by our consumers out there.”
One byproduct of anaerobic digestion is biogas, which can be burned to generate electricity and heat. It can also be processed into transportation fuels and into renewable natural gas.”The dairy industry has a collective goal of being carbon neutral or better by the year 2050 and it’s going to take everyone in our industry to work together to do that,” Schulte says. “A lot of what we need to do to be carbon neutral is just documenting the great work that our farmers are already doing today.” He says some of those efforts include the reusing of water at farming operations and the planting of cover crops to reduce erosion.
Schulte says the other piece of legislation to relax regulations on hauling milk will allow producers to truck larger loads on Iowa’s interstates starting in January of 2022. They’re now restricted to local roads and state highways. “It’s going to allow our milk haulers to get up on the interstate system with overweight loads,” Schulte says. “The way this bill is structured, our milk haulers will be able to obtain an overweight permit for the interstate system. We think this is beneficial, not only for our sustainable footprint and moving the product more efficiently, but it’s also good for the community.”
Schulte says being able to move milk on the interstate system will create a much safer environment by getting those vehicles off of town roads and out of congested areas.
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