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Denny Heflin reports. …

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More than a hundred crop scouts are visiting corn and soybean fields across Iowa and six other states this week. As part of the annual Pro Farmer Crop Tour, the scouts are collecting samples to gauge the potential of the Midwestern corn and soybean crops. Pioneer agronomist Chris Woerner says the rain showers that moved through the region this month were very beneficial for the soybean crop.

“Anything that’s 3-2 maturity, 3-4 maturity up, these late rains are going to make pretty good beans,” he says. “We’ve got another three weeks to go yet. We could use another rain or two in the meantime. That’s really going to help us cool down and the rains we’ve had are really helping the bean crop this year.” As he tours the corn and soybean fields, Woerner says most of the crops are maturing at a good rate and harvest this fall will likely be on schedule.

“For some of the areas that went through that five or six weeks of dry weather, some of that dryland corn might be ready to go a little bit ahead of norm, but for the most part, I’d say we’re going to be right on pace for a normal harvest.” The tour began Monday with scouts in South Dakota and Nebraska. They moved into Indiana and Illinois on Tuesday and reached Iowa on Wednesday.

Learn more at http://www.agweb.com/pro_farmer_midwest_crop_tour.aspx

(Radio Iowa)

LEWIS, Iowa — Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is hosting a manure management and runoff control demonstration on Friday, Aug. 26, from 1-3 p.m. at the ISU Armstrong Research Farm located near Lewis, Iowa. The purpose of this demonstration is to review low-cost options for managing runoff water and manure from small to medium size beef and dairy feedlot operations.

“Small and medium size open feedlots can potentially discharge significant amounts of nutrients to streams,” said Shawn Shouse, ISU Extension field agricultural engineer. “The nutrients can cause water quality problems in streams and present a loss of valuable fertilizer nutrients for the farm.”

Recent compliance enforcement from both Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put the focus on runoff from small to medium size feedlots. Iowa State has partnered with EPA, DNR and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association to look at feedlot control systems that will reduce runoff from feedlots and is more economically feasible to install for smaller feedlots.

This demonstration will look at a vegetated treatment area and pumping effluent into cropland as a possible low-cost handling option for feedlot runoff. According to Kris Kohl, ISU Extension field agricultural engineer, “Pumping effluent onto cropland is not a common practice in Iowa, but by doing so we can reduce the potential for nutrients to reach the stream and the effluent can provide nutrients and water to a growing crop.”

In addition to the manure control options, the field day will also include information on manure production and nutrient content of feedlot manure, how to sample manure for nutrient analysis, stockpiling regulations and an update on rules for medium size operations as well as review of other types of manure control practices.

The ISU Armstrong Research Farm is located at 53020 Hitchcock Ave., Lewis, Iowa, 11 miles east of Oakland or 11 miles west of Atlantic on Hwy 6, then half mile south on 525th Street (M53) and half mile east on Hitchcock Avenue.

Farm operators in southwest Iowa who have sustained major forage and/or crop production, and/or physical losses due to flooding, may be eligible for an emergency loan. Iowa USDA Executive Director John Whitaker says applications for assistance should be completed at the Cass/Pottawattamie County Farm Service Agency (FSA) office, in Atlantic.

Whitaker says the FSA may make Emergency Loans to eligible family farmers, which will enable them to return to their normal operations, if they sustained qualifying losses resulting from natural disaster. Applicants must be unable to obtain credit from other, usual sources, in order to qualify for FSA Farm Loan Program assistance. Most of the disaster loans can be for up to seven-years, however, if the loan is secured only on crops, it must be repaid when the next year’s crop income is received.

The deadline for final applications is April 23^rd, 2012. For more information, call the Cass/Pott County FSA office, at 712-243-1377.

Barbara Determan, President, 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees; Patti Blum; Chuck Morris, Director, 4-H Youth Development

The Shelby County Extension Service reports a Harlan woman was recently inducted into the 2011 Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame. Patti Blum received the honor during a ceremony at the 4-H Exhibits Building at the Iowa State Fair on Sunday, August 21st.

Eighty-eight Iowa counties participated this year and selected 121 inductees for their outstanding service and dedication to 4-H. Inductees or their surviving family members were presented a certificate by the Iowa 4-H Foundation as they were introduced on stage.

Patti has been involved in 4-H for over 30 years.　 She served Shelby County as the 4-H Program Assistant for 13 years, working with countless leaders, volunteers and 4-H members during this time to keep the 4-H program strong. She supports 4-H at the state level as well, and was superintendent of the Issues class at the Iowa State Fair for many years. Blum has also served on the Iowa 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees and headed up the fundraising committee on the Board. Officials say her love of working with youth really comes through in judging, and she continues to be a 4-H judge for communications and static exhibits at many county and state fairs to help youth realize their potential with her positive guidance.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Seed maker Syngenta is suing a grain elevator operator that has banned the company’s biotech corn. Bunge North America, which operates grain elevators across North America, including one in Council Bluffs, recently posted notices that it would not accept corn planted with Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera seed. In the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, St. Louis-based Bunge said the seed has not been approved for export to China.

“We are surprised and disappointed that Syngenta has taken an action which could put at risk a major export market for U.S. corn producers,” St. Louis-based Bunge said in a statement Tuesday. Minnesota-based Syngenta claims Bunge violated federal and state laws and that the seed has been approved for shipment to other international markets, including Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Korea.

Syngenta spokesman Chuck Lee said only 1 percent of the nation’s corn crop will be exported to China this year. Bunge said it will accept Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera seed once it is approved by China.

“Until this approval occurs, we must protect the integrity of our export supply chain by not accepting Agrisure Viptera and other varieties that do not have major export market approval,” the company said in its statement. “Our obligation to our farmers is to provide access to the global marketplace and the price benefits of that access. Syngenta’s decision to commercialize Agrisure Viptera should not foreclose our ability to sell to a major market – China,” the company said.

China is currently the seventh largest importer of U.S. corn, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cass County: Corn $7.09, Beans $13.25

Adair County: Corn $7.06, Beans $13.28

Adams County: Corn $7.06, Beans $13.24

Audubon County: Corn $7.08, Beans $13.27

East Pottawattamie County: Corn $7.12, Beans $13.25

Guthrie County: Corn $7.11, Beans $13.29

Montgomery County: Corn $7.11, Beans $13.27

Shelby County: Corn $7.12, Beans $13.25

Oats $2.91 (always the same in all counties)

City leaders in Council Bluffs are open to the possibility of having an indoor and outdoor firing range within the community, but they’re approaching the matter with safety foremost on their minds. The Council Bluffs City Council on Monday unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance, that would have a licensed engineer or architect determine the safety of indoor and outdoor firing ranges.

Currently, the issue is the city’s responsibility, City Attorney Richard Wade, who was contacted by another attorney, whose client is considering building an indoor firing range, said he believes the city doesn’t have the necessary expertise necessary to determine how safe such facilities should be.

Under the proposed, new ordinance, before any firing range can open, the owner or operator must submit plans that have been signed by a licensed engineer or architect certifying that the structure or outdoor site has been designed and built in a manner that permits the safe discharge of firearms. There are no specifics in the ordinance on how an indoor firing range is to be built.

CARTER LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Heavy rainfall has forced the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to close Carter Lake in southwest Iowa to all boaters.

The DNR says in a news release on Monday the heavy rainfalls from storms that moved across the area Sunday night has led the agency to close all boat ramps on Carter Lake until the water level has dropped enough so that docks and the shoreline are protected.

The DNR also says all boat ramps on Carter Lake in Omaha, Neb., are closed.