(Radio Iowa) — A northern Iowa farmer who’s been in the legislature nearly 12 years is proposing a new “corn state” license plate design. Senator Tim Kapucian, of Keystone, has drafted a bill that would carry out his vision. “It’ll say at the top of the plate: ‘The Corn State’ and then it’ll be a white plate with black letters,” Kapucian says, “and then behind the lettering there’ll be some type of an ear of corn.” Kapucian says when he saw how popular the state’s new “black out” specialty license plates have been, he decided to ask his fellow legislators to embrace this idea.

Kapucian expects plenty of farmers to be interested in getting one of these plates for their pick-ups. “I know I’m going to be in line to get one of these if we get it done,” Kapucian says. His neighbor has a license plate collection. It includes a mid-1950s black-and-white plate that has “THE CORN STATE” in capital letters at the bottom of the plate. “Every state has something on their license plate that makes them stand out and we used to have that…If people recognize an ear of corn, they’ll think: ‘Iowa!” he says. “You know you see the bucking bronc with the cowboy, we know that’s Wyoming.”

Kapucian’s plate plan has cleared a Senate subcommittee. His bill would have to pass through at least five other steps in the legislative process before it could be sent to the governor for review.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa D-N-R reports a drop in the number of deer taken by hunters this year. D-N-R Wildlife Biologist, Tyler Harms, says the drop coincides with a drop in the number of hunters. “We saw about a three percent drop in license sales and about a 14 percent drop in the deer harvest statewide this year,” Harms says. The deer taken dropped to 94-thousand — compared to nearly 108-thousand the year before. Harms says an outbreak of disease is likely behind the drop in license sales. “We had a significant outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease across the state. And that could’ve resulted in lower numbers of deer out on the landscape — and ultimately resulting in lower harvest,” Harms says. “We do know after an outbreak that we had in 2012 and 2013 we had similar trends in terms of license sales and harvest. So in other words — when we see these big E-H-D outbreaks statewide — we would expect to see a slight drop in both license sales and harvest.”

Harms says some hunters want to help the deer recover from such outbreaks. “Our hunters are conservationists, and so when they perceive that there’s a threat to the deer population, if they are seeing fewer deer, they are going to make decisions to not harvest deer. To not put additional pressure on the deer population,” Harms says. He expects future deer season will return to harvests of 100-thousand or more. Harms says the disease outbreaks cause some concern, but they monitor the deer population closely. “Both at local scales and also statewide. And we would anticipate, given what we know about the deer population status in Iowa currently, that the deer population would recover back to goal levels,” Harms says.

The state also reported the most positive tests for Chronic Wasting Disease this season since it started the testing. Harms says that is also a concern. “What we’re trying to do is gather more information on where the disease is and what the prevalence of the disease is in certain areas,” Harms says. “And then that helps us make a decision on how we are going monitor and manage the deer population moving forward to try and reduce disease spread and disease prevalence.” Harms says hunters have been very helpful in trying to manage the spread of C-W-D. He says they can continue to do that by following some simple steps. “Like refraining from putting mineral licks or bait piles out for deer — because that artificially congregates the deer with contributes to the spread. And then also minimizing carcass transport,” Harms says.

He says transporting the carcasses of deer that are infected can spread the disease.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The number of wild deer testing positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the season that just ended dramatically increased. D-N-R spokesman, Mick Klemesrud, says they get samples from hunters throughout the season. “Seven-thousand samples were collected and submitted — and form that we had 43 new positives this year — bringing our grand total since we had our first positive to 89,” Klemesrud says.

The first C-W-D positive was confirmed in the 2013-2014 hunting season and the number of confirmed cases were in the single digits until the 2016-2017 year when there were 12. The 43 confirmed cases this year surpasses the previous high of 18 found in the 2018-2019 year. “We’ve confirmed them for the first time in wild deer in four new counties — and that’s Woodbury, Winnekshiek, Fayette and Decatur,” according to Klemesrud. “So, we’ll be reaching out to our local hunters and people who hunt that area and setting up some meeting in early spring and talk about what that means to them, and how we want to go about trying to slow this disease.”

C-W-D attacks the brain of the deer and is always fatal. Klemesrud says it is not the same as Hemorrhagic Disease. “People get Hemorrhagic Disease and Chronic Wasting Disease mixed up. If you think about Hemorrhagic Disease — it’s really fast moving — where the deer if it gets bit by a midge that has the virus it’ll not always die, but if it does die, it’s usually really fast, 36 to 48 hours and it is dead,” Klemesrud says.

“Chronic Wasting Disease is something they can pick up and transmit from deer-to-deer — but it takes 18 months for that to really get going in the deer.” Klemesrud says the D-N-R will continue its effort to slow C-W-D. “It’s in every state around us, we are hoping we see some advances in science to help us battle this. And so we are trying to work with our hunters to maintain in these areas where we have Chronic Wasting Disease, we like to see our numbers towards our lower end of our goal. This is a deer-to-deer transmission issue,” he says.

Klemesrud says it is something they want to try and slow down. “It’s definitely a concern. We’re hoping that if we can go as slow as we can and keep the spread down, hopefully science will catch up and give us some answers here,” Klemesrud says. It is not believed that humans can contract C-W-D by eating venison; however, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends, when hunting in areas with C-W-D that hunters strongly consider having the deer tested they eat the meat. The D-N-R provides a way to check on C-W-D tests on their website.

Council bluffs – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting a series of town hall-style meetings where local staff will provide updates on recently completed hunting and trapping seasons, discuss possible changes to rules and regulations, and address other topics as requested.

Locally, the Iowa DNR will be at the Fish and Game Club, 531 Commanche Street, Council Bluffs, on Feb. 25. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Todd Bishop, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Wildlife Bureau, says “We want people to come out, listen to the seasons reviews, ask questions and hear directly from our staff. Part of the meeting will be devoted to discussing potential rule changes and collecting feedback as we work through the rules process.”

The meetings are open to the public. Comments collected from these public meetings will be considered along with other related comments received by the Iowa DNR prior to proposing changes to hunting rules and regulations. Proposed rules will be presented to the Natural Resource Commission during a regular public meeting for consideration and additional public comment.

These meetings replace the one night listening session held in late winter over the past 15 years.

Any person attending the public meeting and has special requirements, such as those related to mobility or hearing impairments, should contact the Iowa DNR or ADA Coordinator at 515-725-8200, Relay Iowa TTY Service 800-735-7942, or Webmaster@dnr.iowa.gov, and advise of specific needs.

You’re invited to attend the 29th annual meeting of the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development, scheduled for Wednesday, February 26, 2020, at The Learning Center located at the ISU Armstrong Research Farm near Lewis (Iowa). This year’s program will begin at 9:30 AM Featured speakers are Chad Hart, ISU Associate Professor of Economics Crop Markets Specialist Extension Economist (Topic: History of Revenue Insurance and Market Update), and Julie McMichael, Area Soil Research Scientist, who will discuss Soil Health.

A complimentary lunch will be served at 11:30, followed by the annual business meeting at 12:30.

The Armstrong Research Farm is located 12 miles southwest of Atlantic on Highway 6, half a mile south on 525th Street, and half a mile east on Hitchcock Avenue; or 13 miles east of Oakland on Highway 6, half a mile south on 525th Street, and half a mile east on Hitchcock Avenue.

For more information contact the Wallace Foundation at 712-769-2650 or raelynb@iastate.edu.

Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources invite you to join Springbrook State Park staff for two events, on Saturday, February 22nd. At 10 a.m., build “make and take” suet bird feeders at Springbrook’s For the Birds event. And, spend the afternoon on a hike using GPS technology to navigate geological and historical sites in the park at CSA 163 Discovering Prehistory, Geology and Fossils with GPS. More details can be found on the Parks 2020 calendar.

And, the Iowa DNR says for campers interested in spending Memorial Day weekend in a state park, the three-month window to reserve a campsite opens Saturday, February 22nd. Memorial Day weekend will be May 22 through May 25. Now is a good time to start planning an overnight stay to a state park this summer. Information on Iowa’s state parks is available online including the link to make reservations. Campers can also log on directly to the reservation site.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) – Deere & Co. plans to lay off 105 more workers in Dubuque. The company told workers Friday at the John Deere Dubuque Works that the layoffs will take effect April 6. It would be the third round of layoffs at the plant in the past few months. In October the company said more than 110 workers would be laid off by Nov. 18. In December the company announced that nearly 60 workers would be laid off effective Jan. 6. A company spokesman didn’t immediately return messages Monday from The Associated Press.

The 2020 Grow Rural Education program, which provides Iowa farmers with the opportunity to nominate local rural public schools for $15,000 grants designed to enhance STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, is officially underway!

Grow Rural Education, sponsored by Bayer Fund, has awarded more than $18 million to more than 1,000 schools nationwide since the program began in 2011. Now until April 1st, farmers can nominate their school district by visiting www.Americasfarmers.com.

Previous winners include an Iowa school district that converted an unused locker room into a Monarch butterfly incubator. And a Missouri high school used a Grow Rural Education grant to enhance its STEM classes by purchasing an aquaponics system that breeds fish and grows plants in an integrated environment.

Since 2010, America’s Farmers have awarded more than $53 million to worthy causes, students and public schools across the country. For the Grow Rural Education program specifically, farmers nominate a local public school to apply for one of the grants by visiting AmericasFarmers.com. The process takes less than five minutes and has strengthened schools by bringing together students, teachers, farmers and community members to make STEM programs more engaging.

After the school district receives a nomination, they will be notified and teachers are encouraged to submit a grant application describing their desired STEM project by April 15, 2020. A panel of qualified math and science teachers reviews the applications and selects the finalists. The program’s Farmer Advisory Council, consisting of approximately 30 farming leaders from across the country, will then select the winning school districts.

In the fall, farmers can enroll in the Grow Communities program for the chance to direct a $2,500 donation to a local eligible nonprofit organization, and the Grow Ag Leaders program will begin accepting applications for $1,500 scholarships for students pursuing an education in agriculture-related fields.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa egg and poultry producers are on high alert as China reports an H-5-N-1 bird flu outbreak has occurred near the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Iowa Poultry Association C-E-O and executive director Kevin Stiles says avian influenza is always top of mind for Iowa producers. “I don’t think though that necessarily transmitting into the United States via human contact is the first concern,” Stiles says. “We’re mostly concerned just with migratory patterns that we see and what implications that might hold for us looking ahead.” Stiles says Iowa’s poultry producers are better prepared now than they were five years ago as biosecurity is much improved.

“We continue to work with our producers, with the larger egg and poultry community,” Stiles says, “to practice diligence in their biosecurity practices, to make sure they are always on high alert when it comes to any sort of disease threat, but in particular avian influenza.” Since the latest Chinese bird flu outbreak was the H-5-N-1 strain, Stiles says it’s more concerning than if it were another type. “That certainly raises it a little bit higher in our attention, certainly,” he says, “but we also know there are strains and outbreaks of avian influenza in various countries in Europe at the present time, so that also puts us on high alert.”

An outbreak of the similar H-5-N-2 strain of avian flu in 2015 caused more than one-billion dollars damage to Iowa poultry producers as millions of chickens and turkeys had to be destroyed.