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!
Iowa farmers who are looking ahead to the spring planting season are carefully watching the demise of the La Nina weather pattern to see what may come next. Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub — based in Ames, says it’s almost over. “The La Nina right now is on life support,” Todey says. “We’ll have to see if we can call this a full-fledged La Nina or not. It did reach La Nina category but maybe not for a long enough period of time to be called a full-fledged La Nina.”
Surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are fluctuating and may have an impact across North America. Cooling temperatures the last few months created a La Nina effect, but now that may be vanishing. Todey says the climate experts don’t agree yet on what may happen next. “There’s a small chance we’ll get back to El Nino by summertime, but it seems unlikely at this point,” Todey says. “Now, we’re looking at shorter-term types of things. What’s our soil moisture looking like? Do we see any kind of big ridges that would set in for any kind of reason.”
While some parts of the region haven’t seen as much snow as usual this winter, he predicts most of the Northern Plains should see an early thaw. “It looks like most of the big-time cold is going to stay away for a while, it’s going to stay well up into Canada and that’s a good thing,” Todey says. “We actually may start to see some melting of snow in some of the areas. It should be warm enough to do that. The heavier snowpack areas, we probably won’t do too much eating into that for a while.”
He says his office should have a better idea about potential spring weather in the next month or so.
(Radio Iowa)
Three lawmakers with a unique combination of names led an effort in the Iowa House to recognize the “economic importance” of Iowa’s pork industry. The Iowa House passed the resolution to coincide with the annual Iowa Pork Congress, which wrapped up Thursday. Representatives Joel Fry of Osceola, Tom Moore of Griswold and Rob Bacon of Slater read the resolution aloud, then the house speaker summed things up: “House Resolution 3: Fry, Moore, Bacon. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed say no.”
There were no naysayers, but a few pun-lovers took note. Perhaps house members named “Best” and “Salmon” and “Fisher” who could collaborate on a statement in the future.
(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)
Iowa is losing about one-thousand of its historic barns every year and a new film aims to inspire people to preserve some of the barns that still stand. Quad Cities-based filmmakers Kelly Rundle and his wife, Tammy, have created “The Barn Raisers,” which will premiere this weekend in Davenport. “We’re taking a look at vintage Midwestern barns through the lens of architecture,” Rundle says. “What does the way the barn was built tell us about when it was built and who built it, what its purpose was and we’re also trying to get at who those builders were and they’re a little bit of a mystery in most cases.”
Besides being very practical and useful for the farmer, Rundle says barns are “magnificent and important structures” that hold the stories of America’s past. “I think part of what led us to this particular story is my own experience growing up exploring my grandfather’s dairy barn in Wisconsin,” Rundle says. “As we traveled over the last three or four years to make the film, I was able to revisit a lot of those things I remembered as a child.”
The 57-minute movie will debut on Saturday at the Putnam Museum. “In addition to the premiere on the Putnam giant screen in Davenport, we expect there will be other showings in the region and the film will also air on PBS stations throughout the Midwest,” Rundle says, “so, we’re looking forward to sharing this film with everybody.”
Rundle says he hopes this movie will be used by barn preservation organizations around the country to further their efforts. “‘The Barn Raisers’ is a companion to our Emmy-nominated film, ‘Country School: One Room, One Nation,’ and in that film we focused on country schools in Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas,” Rundle says. “We turned to those states for this particular project and then added also Michigan and Ohio.”
The Rundles run Fourth Wall Films. Dates for the movie’s airing on Iowa Public T-V have not yet been announced.
(Radio Iowa)
The president of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says he’s “very disappointed” with President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of talks on the Trans Pacific Partnership. John Weber of Dysart says the pork industry worked hard to make sure T-P-P would be good for pork producers. However, “All is not lost,” according to Weber. “We haven’t lost anything we currently have. We lost opportunity,” Weber says. “We are optimistic that we can work with this new administration in developing…perhaps bilateral agreements or some other combination of those Asia Pacific countries and regions. Believe me, we’re going to be involved in that and hopefully gain market access for pork.”
The bigger concern right now, Weber says, is the renegotiation of NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement. “That is going to have to be a smooth and gentle process, if they’re going to massage the trade with both Canada and Mexico, or agriculture could be in big trouble in a hurry,” Weber says.
While the trade issues are concerning, Weber says, NPPC is looking forward to the regulatory relief promised by the new administration.
(Reporting by Ken Anderson, Brownfield Ag News via Radio Iowa)
Elsewhere across Iowa…
Officials with the Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) invite women who own or manage farmland in Taylor County and surrounding counties, to participate in a free discussion focused on the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program). The meeting begins 8:30-a.m. Feb. 14th in Lenox with registration, coffee and resource sharing at the Lenox Community Center (210 E. Dallas St.). It includes lunch, and an afternoon field trip to view CRP plantings and other stewardship practices. The meeting concludes with a dessert and wrap-up session by 3-p.m.
Women landowners who attend the meeting will learn to improve and protect their soils and water, through the use of targeted CRP practices. Special maps will be used to show how protecting your soil can be profitable. You’ll also learn how local agency staff can help you understand the CRP program and application process.
Reserve your place now by calling Erin Ogle at 712-523-2118, or by email at Erin.Ogle@ia.nacdnet.net. Reservations are needed by 4-p.m. Feb. 10th. For more information, visit www.womencaringfortheland.org, or call Carol at 641-430-2540.
You’re invited to join Iowa State University Extension & Outreach Field Agronomist, Aaron Saeugling, and Iowa State University Farm Coordinator for Southwest Iowa, Jim Rogers, for a one-hour presentation covering the newest farm trials conducted across the state. The Ag Input Meeting for Montgomery County will be held on Friday, February 10th from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm at the Extension office in Red Oak.
Do you have crop input questions for 2017? Do you wonder what research Iowa State University is doing in southwest Iowa? Do you value independent research results? Would you like to see demonstrations conducted on farm fields? ISU’s Saeugling and Rogers will also answer participants’ questions about crop input in the upcoming growing season.
Ag Input Meetings will be conducted all across southwest Iowa this winter. There will be one held at the Montgomery County Extension Office located at 400 Bridge Street, Suite 2 on Friday, February 10, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Complementary cookies and coffee will be served. There is no fee to attend and pre-registration is not required. For more information contact Montgomery County Extension at 712-623-2592.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach connects the needs of Iowans with Iowa State University research and resources.We provide education and partnerships designed to solve today’s problems, prepare for the future and help Iowans make informed decisions.
The Montgomery County office is located at 400 Bridge Street in Red Oak. You can contact us at 712.623.2592 or through our website at www.extension.iastate.edu/montgomery or “like” Montgomery County-IA Extension on Facebook.
(Press Release)
Some Iowans are worried about the impact on the state’s billions of dollars in exports after President Trump signed an order Monday to pull out of talks on the Trans Pacific Partnership. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says trade is vital to several Iowa industries, chiefly agriculture, manufacturing and services. “You’re playing with fire when you talk against trade agreements that maybe could be better for the United States,” Grassley says. “I wouldn’t make any judgments that Trump’s wrong for trying to get a better deal for America. If he can do that, I’ll support that.”
Iowa exported more than 13-billion dollars in products during 2015 and Grassley fears Trump’s action could hurt the Hawkeye State’s options for overseas trade. “Particularly with Japan, I think it will,” Grassley says, “but if he follows it up quickly with some sort of bilateral negotiation with just Japan, particularly to help agriculture, it would fill that vacuum.”
Iowa sent one-point-one billion dollars in exports to Japan in 2015. The T-P-P involves the U-S and 11 other countries, including Canada, Mexico, Peru, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. As promised during the campaign, Trump signed an executive order which pulls the U-S out of future negotiations on the proposed partnership. “It may sound like I’d just be blaming Trump maybe hurting Iowa,” Grassley says, “but let me tell you, TPP would’ve had a very difficult time in the Congress getting a majority vote even if Obama was president.”
Grassley says people will appreciate that the new president is trying to get a better deal for American products. “Who can argue with that, but we don’t know yet, but he’s going down that road,” Grassley says. “We’ll just have to wait and see. I hope he’s successful. In the meantime, I hope he doesn’t hurt American agriculture in the process.”
Many agriculture commodity groups, including the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, supported the T-P-P as a way to stimulate trade.
Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst said she was “Disappointed in [Monday’s] executive action to withdraw the United States from TPP. With one in five jobs in Iowa dependent on trade, access to new markets is critical to our state’s economy. However, we must not let this stop our country from pursuing increased trade opportunities for our exporters. With the growing demand for our agricultural products across the world, it is imperative that we ensure a level playing field for American farmers and manufacturers to have a fair opportunity to compete in these markets. Under this new administration, I will continue to advocate for ways to work together toward a stronger trade agenda on behalf of Iowans.”
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Tuesday) announced that Kirk, Kent and Kevin Swanson from Montgomery County have been named the winners of the Gary Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award. Northey will present the award to the family on Thursday, January 26th. The ceremony will be held at the Coalition to Support Iowa Farmer’s booth (1923) at the Iowa Pork Congress, which is held at Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.
Northey said “The Swanson family does things right in how they care for their animals, protect the environment and serve their neighbors and community. It is great to be able to recognize a deserving family like this in front of their peers during Iowa Pork Congress. Iowa is fortunate to have outstanding livestock farmers like the Swanson family all across the state and I encourage anyone to consider nominating a livestock farmer in your community for this distinguished award.”
Kirk, Kent and Kevin own 4 K Farms, which is a farrow-to-finish hog business with 20 boar studs and also sell semen to other hog farmers. The family was nominated for the award by their neighbor Dennis Carlson. In his nomination Carlson highlighted the family’s care for the environment and also their active involvement in the community. The Swanson family has planted a wind break and also uses cover crops, buffer strips and terraces to prevent erosion and protect water quality.
They are also active in the community including regularly hosting tours of their farm. The family has helped many young 4-H students get started showing pigs by providing starter pigs and hosting a workshop to help them care for their animals. Kirk is also the Montgomery County Fair Swine Superintendent and also regularly judge’s swine shows.
The Wergin Good Farm Neighbor award, made possible through the financial support of the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers, recognizes Iowa livestock farmers who take pride in doing things right. This includes caring for the environment and their livestock and being good neighbors. It is named in memory of Gary Wergin, a long-time WHO Radio farm broadcaster who helped create the award.
Anyone interested in nominating their neighbor for the award should write a letter or e-mail explaining why their neighbor should receive this designation. Applications may be submitted to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Attn: Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award, Henry A. Wallace Building, Des Moines, IA 50319 or emailed to Communications@iowaAgriculture.gov.
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