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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!
BOONE, Iowa (AP) — Farmers typically attend the annual Farm Progress Show in Boone to look to the future. They want to see the latest equipment, seed, and chemicals, and they want to learn about where the markets are headed. At this year’s three-day show that ended Thursday, plenty of people spoke about the drought, but they noted the last few years have been good. And even during this hot, dry summer, the harvest might not be as bad as it seems. While some individuals will lose money, farmers overall may earn more than last year’s record net income of more than $100 billion. Crop insurance and commodity prices are helping to compensate for lower yields. The USDA estimates farm income of $122.2 billion in 2012, up about 3.7 percent from last year.
Most of the reservable campsites with electricity in Iowa’s state parks have been claimed heading into the last big weekend of the summer recreation season.
Kevin Szcodronski, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources State Parks Bureau, says campers are taking the “first come, first serve” sites as well. “I wouldn’t be surprised if by Thursday afternoon things were really tight…it’s going to be difficult to find a spot if you don’t have it secured already,” Szcodronski said.
Although the drought this summer has hurt Iowa’s ag industry, it’s led a boom in business for state parks. “Park use goes up when it doesn’t rain,” Szcodronski said. “I do know the peak of that hot time, when it was above 100 degrees, the tent campers…they stayed home because it’s pretty tough when it doesn’t get below 80 degrees in a tent.”
Many of the state parks will experience a significance drop off in visitors after this weekend, but other thrive in the fall months. Szcodronski notes the changing colors on trees can draw visitors similar to a major holiday weekend. Fall campers also enjoy fewer bugs and cooler temperatures.
(Radio Iowa)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Fewer Iowans are buying hunting and fishing licenses, but state officials say that doesn’t necessarily mean interest in the sports are waning. Sales of hunting licenses to Iowa residents dropped 13 percent from 2007 to last year, and resident fishing licenses declined about 4 percent during that period. Nationally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates hunting is up 9 percent and fishing has increased 11 percent.
Joe Larscheid, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Bureau, says that the national numbers are based on interviews. He says fishing remains strong in Iowa and license declines could reflect recent flooding. DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins says declining pheasant populations hurt hunting license sales. That decline is blamed on grassland losses and recent harsh winters.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Farmers, crop inspectors and grain elevators in Nebraska, Iowa and other corn-producing states are keeping an eye out for corn contaminated by a poison-producing fungus. They’re watching for signs of aflatoxins. Experts say aflatoxins are chemicals produced by certain mold fungi and that at high levels aflatoxins are poisonous to humans and animals. They tend to show up during hot, dry summers.
Mark Fulmer of the Lincoln Inspection Service said that during the drought year of 2002, there was a high amount of aflatoxin in the state’s corn. Fulmer says of the corn samples his company has tested this summer, most show little or no contamination. But he says some of the corn has tested out at more than four times the federal threshold.
The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting wild temperature swings and periods of storminess this coming winter for much of the Midwest – including Iowa. Almanac editor Peter Geiger says Iowans can expect something slightly more harsh than the rather mild weather of last winter. “It’s not going to be like the coldest winter ever, but I think you’re going to get some decent precipitation, which you need badly,” Geiger said.
The Almanac predicts areas east of Iowa, like Wisconsin and Illinois, will experience colder than normal temps with a varied mix of snow, sleet and rain. People from the Great Lakes to northern New England are being advised to prepare for a very cold and snowy winter. The Farmers’ Almanac has been releasing winter weather predictions for 196 years. Geiger notes the publication is accurate with the forecast about 75 to 80 percent of the time. According to Geiger, the forecast is based – in part – on a “mathematical and astronomical formula” created by Almanac founder David Young in 1818.
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa farmers are hopeful last week’s rain will help the soybean crop as the corn harvest gets under way during the nation’s worst dry spell in a generation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says farmers are still chopping corn for silage and starting to harvest corn for grain and seed. Fifty-three percent of the corn crop is in poor to very poor condition. The USDA says farmers are hoping soybean plants will produce more pods because of the rain, which averaged 1.29 inches last week. It was the wettest week in 10 weeks. Nineteen percent of the soybean crop is turning color, and some leaves are dropping. Soybeans are rated 36 percent poor or very poor, 39 percent in fair condition and 25 percent in good or excellent shape.
The Iowa Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds producers who requested emergency grazing and haying on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres of the deadline dates to remove cattle or hay from the CRP acres. Producers with emergency grazing authorization must remove livestock no later than September 30, 2012. For those producers haying the authorized acreage, all haying must be completed no later than August 31, 2012. Bales must be removed by September 30, 2012.
CRP participants who participated in the emergency grazing and haying must report the number of acres actually hayed or grazed no later than September 30, 2012, and reports are subject to spot check by USDA. In addition, participants must report the tonnage harvested or the number of livestock grazed by September 30. For more information about the deadline dates and required information for emergency grazing and haying of CRP acres contact your local FSA office.
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