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!
The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission is recommending that the general operating budget for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for NEXT year be the same as THIS year’s budget. That recommendation now goes to Governor Reynolds and she’ll submit her proposed budget to legislators in January. D-N-R director Chuck Gipp expects the hiring freeze in his agency will stay in place. He’s been shifting staff around to deal with vacancies and retirements in the state park system.
“A perfect example was a park in southwest Iowa,” Gipp says. “It was a two-person park. One of those people transferred up to Prairie Rose State Park, where there was a vacancy. That person left at Waubonsie said: “I don’t want to be a one person park,’ so he retired — so we are currently operating that park with a temporary transfer.”
Waubonsie State Park is near Hamburg in the southwest corner of Iowa. It has seven miles of hiking trails and eight miles of trails for horseback riders, plus a small, seven-acre lake. The Environmental Protection Commission is recommending a one-million dollar increase in state spending on state park INFRASTRUCTURE. However, that money would come from the separate “Environment First” fund where state gambling taxes are deposited.
(Radio Iowa)
State regulators have unanimously rejected a petition seeking tougher environmental standards for livestock confinements. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement sought the changes. Members of the group voiced their anger after the Environmental Protection Commission’s vote. Regulators determined they lacked the authority to adjust the so-called “master matrix.” Those are the rules that govern where livestock confinements may be built.
Commission member Joe Riding of Altoona — a former legislator — says the law establishing those standards was passed 15 years ago and it’s time for the legislature to revisit the issue. “Bringing the stakeholders together,” Riding says. “I don’t care how messy it might be.” Commissioner Barbara Hovland of Mason City says it’s up to legislators to review the law.
“I am a firm believer that they created it and they need to start discussing it,” Hovland said. A lengthy period of public comment came before the commission’s eight-to-zero vote. Farm groups like the Pork Producers argued the proposed changes would create a moratorium on new construction of livestock confinements. Farm Bureau member Brianne Streck of Moville says she and her husband “work hard to raise livestock the right way.”
“The supporters of this petition would like to make you think that I am the face of evil,” Streck said. “…Changing the master matrix to give others the ability to pick and choose where and how we can raise livestock would be detrimental to young farmers like me and, more importantly, the rural communities that live and thrive on us.” Backers of the petition argued Iowa is making little progress in cleaning up polluted waterways and it’s time for tougher rules on livestock manure. John Lichty of West Des Moines is a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
“Why is there even a question? Why is it farmers first, the rest of us go to hell — excuse my language,” he said. “I’m not against farmers, but…it’s all about profit. Money first, the heck with the rest of us. That’s all I’ve got. This is disgusting.” In 2002, the Iowa legislature passed statewide standards for livestock confinements, including the required distance between a confinement and a neighbor’s house.
A state construction permit is required for confinements of a certain size. The Des Moines Register recently reported the Department of Natural Resources reviewed images from satellites and found five-thousand previously unknown confinements in Iowa. About 13-hundred of them were large enough to require some form of state oversight.
(Radio Iowa)
(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation Monday allowing the transportation of overweight loads of corn, soybeans, haw, straw, silage and stover. The proclamation will expire Nov. 17, 2017. Gov. Reynolds said she is “Pleased to sign this proclamation allowing Iowa farmers to move their crops in an effective and efficient manner.Farmers are a critical component of our state’s economy, and this proclamation ensures they’re able to transport their crops ahead of deteriorating weather conditions.”
The proclamation allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage and stover to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit, but only for the duration of this proclamation. The action is intended to allow loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (5) (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.
The Iowa Department of Transportation is directed to monitor the operation of this proclamation to ensure the public’s safety and facilitate the movement of the trucks involved in our state’s harvest.
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is cautiously optimistic that China’s ethanol goals will positively impact producers in the U.S. The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission and energy administration recently announced a plan to extend the use of biofuels throughout the country by 2020. RFA president Bob Dinneen calls the move a step in the right direction, but says some important questions need to be answered.
“Right now, all they’ve really done is said that there’s a plan in place that would allow the use of higher level blends. But, they have not yet removed their barriers to U.S. ethanol that could help them meet such a lofty target,” Dinneen says.
He projects Chinese ethanol demand could exceed four billion gallons. Dinneen says China – the world’s third largest ethanol producer behind the U.S. and Brazil – can’t achieve that objective alone.
“And yet, they’ve got a huge tariff in place that really makes U.S. ethanol impossible to get into the country. So, we hope to work with them, and we certainly hope that they will work with us to open up free and fair trade on ethanol, as well as distillers feed,” Dinneen said.
Iowa is the top ethanol producing state in the U.S. Dinneen points out having former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as Ambassador to China should prove beneficial, given his longtime support of renewable fuels.
(Radio Iowa w/thanks to Mark Dorenkamp, Brownfield Ag News)
MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (AP) – Monarch butterflies will be the focus of a workshop at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near the Iowa-Nebraska border. The workshop will be held at the refuge on Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. After learning about the butterflies, participants will help catch and tag the butterflies.
The refuge is located north of Omaha, Nebraska, along on U.S. Highway 30 near Missouri Valley, Iowa. An entrance permit is required for all vehicles. Participants must register ahead of time by calling (712) 388-4800. More details about the refuge are available online at www.fws.gov/refuge/Desoto .
A hearing is scheduled for this (Monday) morning on a request by environmental advocates to toughen the state’s rules on the placement of large-scale livestock lots. Members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement say the Department of Natural Resources is urging the Environmental Protection Commission to deny the petition. I-C-C-I organizer Erica Blair says the D-N-R is flat-out rejecting their request.
“They essentially have cherry-picked certain things in the petition and are using those items to justify denying it outright, which is not something that they necessarily need to do,” Blair says. “They could still take up the petition, they have that option. They can propose alternatives if they don’t agree with everything, but instead, they’ve just decided to kick the can down the road.”
The E-P-C will make the final decision on the so-called “master matrix” rules which govern the siting of livestock operations. Blair says, “The Department of Natural Resources has made a recommendation to the EPC and so they are going to be the ones that ultimately take a vote whether or not to move forward with our petition to strengthen the master matrix.”
Many of the state’s residents want these rules tightened, according to Blair, and I-C-C-I members will be weighing in at the E-P-C hearing. “They need to take up this petition,” Blair says. “We really can’t afford to wait any longer with strengthening the master matrix. This is something that thousands of Iowans are calling for. The EPC really needs to stand with the people of Iowa, not the industry.”
The E-P-C meets this morning at the Iowa state capitol starting at 10 a.m.
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa farmland values have increased this year, reversing several years of declines, but industry experts say the change likely isn’t a signal that the agricultural economy is improving. Steve Bruere is president of Peoples Co., a farm management and brokerage firm. He tells The Des Moines Register that a lack of farms on the market has driven up the value.
The Realtors Land Institute’s Iowa chapter says farmland values climbed nearly 3 percent to almost $6,700 an acre for the year ending in September. Farm prices dropped in 2011 after a drought increased corn and soybean prices. Iowa agricultural income has dropped nearly 70 percent since 2013, bringing in $2.6 billion last year.
Bruere says if a downturn in the farm economy continues, farm sales may increase and values would be reduced.
A new report shows the drought zone in Iowa has greatly expanded. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 70 percent of Iowa is abnormally dry or in some form of drought. A week ago, the report indicated about half of Iowa in those conditions. The area of extreme drought has expanded as well. All or parts of seven counties in south central and southeast Iowa are now in extreme drought.
Rain is falling in western Iowa this morning. More than three inches of rain falls, on average, in Iowa during the month of September. So far this month, there are significant sections of the state that have had NO rain.
(Radio Iowa)
The Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources reports Iowa resident deer hunters who are interested in additional doe tags can now purchase them. If you have already purchased one doe tag, the cost of each additional doe tag is reduced to $13.00. The DNR says while thousands of doe tags are still available across the state, you’re encouraged to purchase as soon as possible to ensure you get the tags you want; eight of the 63 counties offering doe tags are sold out, and an additional 18 counties have less than 500.
You can check current quotas here: https://jc.activeoutdoorsolutions.com/iowadnr/app/locFindPage.do?licnYear=2017&lottery=5&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
or read more about Iowa deer hunting, here: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Hunting/Deer-Hunting?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS