Time is running out for Iowa farmers to return their 2017 Census of Agriculture forms. The USDA conducts the survey every five years and the results help shape federal and state policy. Iowa’s deputy secretary of agriculture, Mike Naig, is urging farmers and landowners to fill out the entire survey and take it seriously. “The more information that we can provide the USDA, the better their dataset will be. The fewer people who respond, the more assumptions the USDA has to make,” Naig says.

Business, universities, and local and national farm groups also use the Census of Agriculture data to make various funding and program decisions. Eligible Iowans should have received their surveys and responding, either on paper or online, is required by law. Naig says he looks forward to seeing what’s changing in Iowa farm country.

“We are very interested in seeing any trends that are developing or continuing in terms of land use, no-till, conservation practices, cover crops, those types of things that emerge from that dataset are very interesting to us,” Naig says.

The Census of Ag, conducted every five years, will also show changes in the age of Iowa’s farmers, and how many women and veterans are farming in the state. The responses are due February 5.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

Former Iowa Governor and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is wrapping up his first year as president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Vilsack says uncertainty about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement is not good for agriculture and he’s hoping to see more trade progress from the Trump administration in 2018. “Certainly, for the dairy industry, we’ve seen a substantial expansion of dairy sales in Mexico – our number one market,” Vilsack says. “We’d like to see more opportunity to sell in Canada. We think this negotiation has the chance of opening up that market.”

The U.S., Mexico and Canada are scheduled to return to the bargaining table for a fifth time to renegotiate NAFTA late this month (January). Vilsack says pulling out of NAFTA, which the president has threatened to do, would be devastating for the ag economy. “There’s a tendency to talk about trade as if every industry in the country is either plus or minus. The reality is some industries benefit from trade and some industries have been hurt,” Vilsack said. “Clearly, these negotiations need to make sure that we preserve, for the industries that are doing well, the benefits of trade and that would certainly include agriculture.”

President Trump, shortly after he took office, withdrew the U.S. from the Trans Pacific Partnership. Vilsack says that’s created “opportunities for competitors” and challenges for the dairy industry. “We have to have more people representing U.S. dairy in many of the Asian countries that were party to the TPP agreement, as well as in China and taking full advantage of our relationship in Japan and South Korea,” Vilsack said. “But, we need more people, we need more partnerships, and we need more focus and more passion. And over the course of the next year or so, I think you’re going to see the organization that I’m part of try to be part of that effort to move exports forward.”

The 67-year-old Vilsack became president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council in February of 2017 after serving eight years as the leader of the USDA.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is temporarily easing some regulations on propane delivery as cold weather drives demand up.

Reynolds signed a proclamation Friday to suspend some restrictions on the hours crews and drivers can work delivering propane. A release from the governor’s office says extreme weather conditions have contributed to low supplies of propane.

The proclamation expires Wednesday.

New research documents a decline in U.S. farmland over the past 30 years. John Piotti, president of American Farmland Trust, says his organization collected data in partnership with the USDA and the Conservation Science Partnership. And Piotti says farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate.

“Since 1982, 41 million acres — that averages out to about 100 acres every hour,” Piotti says. According to Piotti, this data will help leaders in the ag industry make needed changes to keep farmland in production. Farmers should also be able to improve their bottom line by using state-by-state data that will be released in January.

“It will help farmers make smarter decisions about the future,” Piotti says. “We’re not only going to look at what has happened, so you know for instance as a farmer, if you were in the wave of development that might push you out of farming.” Piotti says the data also dives into the future of agriculture, in light of climate change.

“We’ll have a better sense on how a piece of farm land will fare if precipitation changes or if a number of degree growing days changes,” Piotti says.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Amie Sites, Brownfield Ag News)

With temperatures predicted to dip well below zero, the Iowa DNR has decided to cancel First Day Hikes at 27 state parks scheduled for New Year’s Day. Todd Coffelt, State Parks Bureau Chief, said Friday “While it’s a great disappointment to us to cancel this event, the safety of park visitors comes first. We know that frost bite can set in fairly quickly at those cold temperatures, so we are using caution in making this decision.”

First Day Hikes are part of a national initiative to encourage people to spend time outdoors. Last year in Iowa, more than 1,200 people participated in hikes across the state. Coffelt said “We definitely will plan on hosting hikes again next year, and anyone can visit state parks during the winter and enjoy the beautiful scenery that’s unique to this time of year.”

First Day Hikes were scheduled to take place at the following parks in western and southwest Iowa:

• Lewis and Clark State Park
• Prairie Rose State Park
• Springbrook State Park
• Green Valley State Park
• Lake Anita State Park
• Viking Lake State Park
• Waubonsie State Park
• Wilson Island State Recreation Area

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The owners of a Sioux City bee and honey operation fear vandals may have cost the couple their business. Justin and Tori Engelhardt own Wild Hill Honey, and they found the damage Thursday morning when they went to dust snow off their 50 hives in a grove on their west Sioux City property. Justin Engelhardt says all the hives were knocked over, killing at least 500,000 bees. The vandal or vandals smashed any equipment they could reach but didn’t steal anything. He estimated the damage at $50,000 to $60,000.

He says “this probably sunk us,” because insurers don’t offer beehive coverage. No arrests have been reported.

w/Beth Kujala.

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Egg prices are expected to increase in the coming months as other countries want to increase the number they import from the U.S. The heightened demand for U.S. eggs overseas comes as the Dutch egg supply was contaminated by misuse of an insecticide and Europe, Africa and East Asia deal with bird flu outbreaks. Iowa State University professor Hongwei Xin directs the Egg Industry Center. “These AI (Avian Influeza) outbreaks in other countries, it’s very unfortunate for them, but it does benefit our industry somewhat,” Xin says.

Iowa is, by far, the top egg producing state in the nation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts a dozen eggs will cost about 30 cents more at the start of 2018 compared to the first quarter of 2017. Xin says another factor in the price spike is Americans are eating more eggs. “We are at about 274 eggs per capita, per year. This is the highest of the past 38 years and it is, actually, anticipated to continue to increase into 2018,” Xin says.

According to Xin, the growing demand is prompting producers to add hens to their flocks. That will eventually mean more eggs — lowering the price. Xin adds that egg prices are seasonal and usually reach their peak during the winter holidays and again around Easter.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is making changes in the paddlefish season in western Iowa to try and increase interest. Fisheries biologist, Ryan Hupfeld, says the ability to catch paddlefish on the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers in western Iowa returned in 2015 after nearly 30 years of being banned to protect the species. He says they’re now adjusting some things after the initial interest fell off. “We’ve seen the popularity and number of tags sold decrease in the recent years, and there’s always extras to go around,” Hupfeld says. “We also sent out a survey card that anglers return and it kind of guided our efforts to making some changes to the season this year to make it more popular.”

One of the changes now splits the purchase of tags into two periods, and allows you to buy two tags if there are tags remaining after the first period. The timing of the season has also been tweaked. “We are starting it much earlier — we are starting it on February fourth and it ends on April 30th. Also, due to the anglers’ comments, we are allowing the harvest of rough fish including Asian carp during the paddlefish snagging season,” Hupfeld says.  The previous seasons had started in March. Hupfeld says they knew they had to do something after seeing the fish numbers. He says there are more than 300 fish taken in 2015 and it has dropped down to 100 in the last two years.

Hupfeld says moving the season date back adjusts to the river conditions, which may’ve played a role in the drop in harvest. “On the river systems where there is not a dam and they congregate, a lot of times in the colder time periods when water temperatures are cool they are in these deep overwintering holes where you might be able to target them before they migrate up north in the spring,” Hupfeld says.

Hupfeld says they’ve tried to adapt the season based on what they heard from anglers, and says it’s key for anyone buying a paddlefish tag this year to return the survey card. “All these suggestions that we’ve gotten in the last couple of years have kind of guided our efforts in hopefully making the season more successful for anglers,” according to Hupfeld. “This year if you do purchase a tag, please keep note of your catch and effort and return those cards whether you harvest a fish or not. We appreciate any input provided and take that in consideration in moving forward with the season and hopefully make it more successful for everybody.”

You still have until January 7th to buy a 2018 paddlefish license for the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers. For more information on the season, go to the D-N-R’s website at: www.iowadnr.gov.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ethanol plants in Iowa have produced a record amount of the gasoline additive this year, narrowly topping last year’s record. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group, says Iowa’s 43 ethanol plants turned out 4.2 billion gallons of ethanol this year surpassing the 4.1 billion gallons produced in 2016.

The association’s executive director, Monte Shaw said in a statement Thursday that the record is largely due to several plant expansions, increased demand of exports and rising sales of higher blends of fuel like E15, which is 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline. Shaw says the industry will continue to push in 2018 to get more gas stations to install E15 pumps.

Iowa, the nation’s top corn grower, also leads the nation in corn-based ethanol production.