CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
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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) – The Iowa D-N-R is in its second year of a pilot study on the gray fox. D-N-R wildlife biologist Vince Evelsizer says the animal’s numbers have been dropping.
“The reason for doing pilot gray fox research is because we’re concerned about their population decline statewide, and that is occurring in other Midwest states too,” he says. Evelsizer says they are asking trappers who catch a gray fox in a live trap to give the D-N-R a call. “We are hoping to catch live foxes and put collars on them for tracking purposes,” Evelsizer says.
He says they want to find out where the gray foxes are living and hunting. “The objective with that is to better understand the habitat use within the state and causes for their what’s causes of mortality, what’s leading to their decline population level wise,” Evelsizer says. Evelsizer says there is a 400-dollar reward provided by the Iowa Wildlife Federation for anyone who catches a gray fox that can be used for this study. He says the fox will be released on the site where it was caught.
Small Gray Fox
The D-N-R is also working with Iowa State University on a pilot project this winter in northeast Iowa, using cameras to track gray foxes to determine what areas these species occupy. He says other regions may be surveyed in the future, depending on how this study goes.
(Radio Iowa) – Voters in Story and Johnson counties approved conservation bonds to help fund new trails, support wildlife and improve water quality. The 25 million dollar Story County Water and Land Legacy Bond passed with nearly 80 percent of the vote. Jim Pease is chair of the Story County Conservation Board.
“It says, I think to us, how important parks and wild places and wild things are to the people of Story County and to people in general,” Pease says. He says the new funding will support more than one dozen projects in the next two decades and shows that people want more opportunities to recreate outside and that they value wild places in Iowa.
“Iowa is one of the most altered states in the union. The prairies, woodlands and wetlands that were once here have been tremendously altered to make a very strong agricultural state and a very altered state from the nature that was here,” he says.
Nearly 80 percent of the voters in Johnson County approved a 30 million dollar conservation bond. Residents passed a similar measure in 2008. Polk County passed conservation bonds in 2012 and in 2021.
(Radio Iowa) – Donald Trump has said his first act after he’s sworn in on January 20 will be appointing a task force to plan for the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026 — and he picked Iowa as the spot for a major exposition. “The Great American State Fair will showcase the glory of every state in the union, promote pride in our history,” Trump said, “and promote innovative visions for America’s future.”
A video Trump posted on social media back in May of 2023 is recirculating online after X owner Elon Musk commented on it. Trump said he’d work with all the nation’s governors to create pavilions for each state that will be set up on the Iowa State Fairgrounds — for a year-long expo.
111,591 people attended the Iowa State Fair on August 16, 2024. (RI photo)
“My hope is that the amazing people of Iowa will work with my administration to open up the legendary Iowa State Fairgrounds to host the Great American State Fair and welcome millions and millions of visitors from around the world to the heartland of America for this special one-time festival,” Trump said. “Together we will built it and they will come.”
Governor Kim Reynolds, in a post on social media today, said Iowans “know the Iowa State Fair is the best fair in the country!…We stand ready to host the Great American State Fair.” Reynolds was at Trump’s Election Night party in Florida Tuesday night.
Jeremy Parsons, the manager and CEO of the Iowa State Fair, issued a written statement. “We know the world’s greatest state fair is in Iowa, but no formal request or inquiry has been made for use of the Iowa State Fairgrounds at this time,” Parsons said.
Trump has visited the Iowa State Fair twice. He also held a rally on the fairgrounds in October of 2021 and in 2016 Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Senator Joni Ernst that was held in the livestock pavilion. Trump’s first State Fair visit was in 2015. He flew his helicopter over the fairgrounds, then walked through the throngs of fairgoers on the same day Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were at the fair. In 2023, Trump visited the State Fair on the same day as Republican rival Ron DeSantis. Trump stopped at the Iowa Pork Producers’ grill, walked down the fair’s Grand Concourse and spoke to supporters who’d gathered inside a beer hall.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who oppose a pipeline that would collect carbon from Midwest ethanol plants are cheering a development in South Dakota. South Dakota voters rejected a proposal that would have made it harder for South Dakota Counties to regulate the location of carbon pipelines. Ed Fischbach, a South Dakota farmer, says the results were gratifying. “We won 65 of the 66 counties. We won every county that an ethanol plant exists in even though we were outspent about 50-to-1. I think there’s probably going to be about $3 million so far to our little piddly $220,000 effort,” Fischbach says. “Hopefully at some point in time maybe this company will realize they’re not going to prevail here and move on.”
Summit Carbon Solutions wants to build a pipeline across Iowa and four other states to pump carbon emissions from ethanol plants in the region into underground storage in North Dakota. The Iowa Utility Commission has awarded a permit to Summit so it can seize property from unwilling land owners and build the pipeline, but construction cannot start until Summit gets regulators’ approval in the Dakotas. Brian Jorde is an attorney who represents landowners in South Dakota AND Iowa who have refused to sign contracts to allow the pipeline on their property. Jorde says the South Dakota vote sends a message.
Map of proposed Summit pipeline route through Iowa (Source: Summit Carbon Solutions)
“It’s time for Summit and their sympathizers and their friends and the politicians that they fund to realize you’ve got to respect local control in South Dakota, respect the ordinances and eminent domain cannot be used,” Jorde says. “And if they don’t get that through their head, this pipeline will not be built in South Dakota, ever.”
Carbon Solutions will apply for a permit in South Dakota on November 19th. In a written statement, the company said its focus continues to be on working with landowners and ensuring the long-term viability of ethanol and agriculture in the state. Summit also cites other pipeline projects that it says have successfully navigated South Dakota’s existing regulatory landscape in the past.
SIOUX CITY – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, this (Wednesday) evening, said their Field Office in Spencer was notified by the City of Sioux City of an untreated wastewater discharge due to equipment failure at the Floyd lift station.
The discharge began around 10:15 a.m. on November 6th. Officials sayiIt is estimated nearly two million gallons of untreated wastewater discharged into Bacon Creek Channel, with an unknown amount reaching the Missouri River. Officials say Bacon Creek Channel was dry prior to the incident. The discharge has stopped and the lift station is operational. No dead fish have been observed at this time, and Bacon Creek Channel is now dry.
The Iowa DNR has notified downstream surface water systems with the cities of Council Bluffs, Blair, Nebraska, and Omaha, Nebraska. Any downstream recreational users should take caution and stay out of the river at this time. The Iowa DNR will follow up with the city for further assessment.
To report a release after hours, please call the DNR’s emergency spill line at (515) 725-8694. Quick reporting can help DNR staff identify the cause of an incident. The DNR website has more information about spill reporting requirements.
Oats: $3.05 (same in all counties)
Healthy Cass County logo
(Des Moines, Iowa; Iowa Capital Dispatch) – After a near-record dry September and October, Iowa received some much-needed rain while many farmers finished off their corn and soybean harvests for the season. Corn harvest reached 92% complete in the state, which is two weeks ahead of the average schedule, according to the Iowa crop progress and condition report for Oct. 28 through Nov. 3. Soybean harvest is 98% complete in the state, according to the national report.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the damp and rainy conditions may slow the progress of farmers who still have crops to harvest. “However, it will also provide the added benefits of reducing dust, decreasing fire risk and helping to replenish our dry soils, waterways and pastures,” said Naig in a statement Monday. “For the many farmers who have seeded cover crops or are planning to do so, the rain also provided a much needed boost toward getting them established.”
The rain from the past week, which state climatologist Justin Glisan said was “nearly a month’s worth of rain” at some reporting stations, has also helped to replenish topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions. For the past several weeks, these conditions have been trending downward, with soil moisture becoming increasingly short. This week however, topsoil moisture condition increased from 15% adequate to 39% adequate. Subsoil moisture similarly jumped from just 20% adequate to 31% adequate due to the statewide average precipitation of 2.29 inches. The climatologist report said rainfall was more than four times the normal amount for this reporting period. Temperatures across Iowa were also above typical years, with an average of 53.1 degrees, nearly 8 degrees above normal.
The price of corn in Iowa was lower in September 2024 than previous years. (Graph courtesy of USDA)
The rainfall also lifted burn bans across the state, and now just nine Iowa counties are under a burn ban, according to the State Fire Marshal site. The state also released ag prices, Oct. 31, for the month of September. This report showed corn, on average, was $4.09 per bushel in September, which was 7 cents above the price per bushel in August, but $1.13 below the price of the previous September. Soybeans were similarly $3.10 per bushel below the price in September 2023 and averaged $10 per bushel in September 2024.
Milk prices in Iowa were $5.80 per hundredweight count (cwt) above prices from September 2023, and averaged $25.70 per cwt.
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