(Radio Iowa) – A report shows Iowa made significant strides in advancing renewable energy over the last two decades with wind and solar rising to 64-percent of Iowa’s electricity generation last year. Steve Guyer, the main author of the report for the Iowa Environmental Council, says the state’s utilities need to speed up efforts to transition away from coal to reach national and international targets to help stave off climate change.

Guyer says Iowa relied predominately on coal back in the year 2000, but wind generation started to really pick up around 2008.

Guyer says the reduction in coal production over the last two decades reflects another important trend.

Radio Iowa file photo

Guyer says to reduce emissions further, utilities need to shut down the state’s remaining coal plants. MidAmerican Energy, Iowa’s largest utility, says it plans to do that and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by investing more in wind and solar, as well as nuclear. Des Moines-based MidAmerican jointly owns six coal plants in the state, and says it has more wind generation capacity than any other regulated utility in the nation.

(Audubon, Iowa) – Iowa Fire Marshal Dan Wood today (Tuesday), approved a requested Burn Ban for Audubon County, effective immediately, and until further notice. The Ban on open Burning was requested by Tyler Thygesen, representing each fire department district in the county. It was instituted in light of the dry conditions, and whereby open burning would constitute a danger to life or property, and will be in-place until that threat has diminished to an acceptable level.

Violation of the burn ban is a simple misdemeanor, according to the Code of Iowa.

For  more information: https://dps.iowa.gov/divisions-iowa-department-public-safety/iowa-state-fire-marshal-division/state-fire-marshal-division-general-information#burn-ban-information

[Glenwood] – Due to the continued high temperatures, existing dry fuels, limited moisture, and renewed drought conditions, an open burn ban will go into effect Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at 8:00am, for all areas and jurisdictions within Mills County. The ban prohibits all open and controlled burning in Mills County, including all incorporated city limits within the county.

Citizens are reminded to not throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles and to discontinue burning yard waste, piled tree debris, grass/agriculture ground and set asides or other items during this ban. Small recreational campfires are permitted only if they’re conducted in a fireplace of brick, metal, or heavy one-inch wire mesh, however extreme caution should be taken. Any campfire not in an outdoor fireplace is prohibited.

Violation of the open burn ban can subject a person to criminal charges as well as civil liabilities for any damage, losses or injuries resulting from the fire.

The open burn ban will remain in effect until the dangerous fire conditions are no longer present.

For more information contact the State Fire Marshal’s Office at (515) 725-6145 or go to www.dps.state.ia.us. You can also contact Mills County Emergency Management at (712) 527-3643.

(State Newss) – Iowa farmers have harvested 27% of soybean crops in the state after yet another, hot and dry week caused pasture conditions to decline and topsoil and subsoil moisture levels to slip. Precipitation totals for the state were less than 20% of normal totals for this time of year, which State Climatologist Justin Glisan said made this one of the driest Septembers in 152 years.

Corn crops along Interstate 35 in southern Iowa on Sept. 28, 2024. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

The National Weather Service forecasted no precipitation in Iowa over the next week, and above average temperatures. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in his weekly press release, that “Although suitable for harvest, these warm and dry conditions, paired with low humidity and gusty winds, also produce an environment that can lead to field fires. I encourage everyone to be prepared, have a plan, and keep safety top of mind as you are in the field, on the road and around the farm.”

Monday evening, firefighters from around Cass and Audubon Counties responded to a break-out of grass and field fires in the northern part of the Cass County. The fires erupted about one-mile south of Interstate 80, near the intersection of Olive Street and Boston Road, at around 5:45-p.m.  Separate grass/field fires occurred along Interstate 80 eastbound between mile markers 59 and 60. Crews from Atlantic, Marne, Wiota, Anita and Exira were among the many crews battling the flames. The last crews reported the Olive Street fire was out at around 8-p.m.  It’s not clear how those fires started.

The crop progress and condition report for the week of Sept. 30 through Oct. 6, said some producers have started hauling water to cattle as the majority of pastureland now rates fair or worse condition.  Corn harvest reached 11% this week, up from 5% last week. All but 3% of corn acreage has reached the dent stage or beyond, and 95% of soybeans have colored or begun dropping leaves. Both crops rated 77% good or excellent.

(Information for this report was obtained from the Iowa Capital Dispatch and KJAN News Director Ric Hanson)

(Radio Iowa) – Rainfall in the spring and early summer briefly relieved drought in the Corn Belt but it also contributed to elevated nitrate concentrations in many of the region’s waterways. During dry years, nitrates from soil microbes and farm fertilizers can accumulate in fields until it rains and a lot of it flushes into rivers, lakes and sources of drinking water. America’s Watershed Initiative executive director Kim Lutz works across 31 states.

Steve Kalkhoff is a hydrologist with the U-S Geological Survey, which collects a lot of this data.

Lutz says this pollution is a problem for habitats in and around affected waterways… and it’s hurting industries like fishing and tourism. It’s also costing communities a lot of money to treat drinking water. But Lutz says new federal funding and conservation practices like cover crops can help.

(Radio Iowa) – Congress has failed for a second year to pass a new Farm Bill. The one-year extension of the legislation expired yesterday (Monday) and the temporary spending package congress approved last week to keep the government operating through December 20th did not include even a temporary continuation of Farm Bill policies. Congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican who represents Iowa’s third district, had hoped the U.S. House would vote on a version of the Farm Bill that won bipartisan approval in the House Ag Committee four months ago.

Congress is now on recess through November 12th. Nunn says even if the House had taken action, the Senate Ag Committee hasn’t developed its version of the five-year Farm Bill.

Nunn acknowledges congress won’t revisit Farm Bill negotiations until after the election.

Lanon Baccam is the Democrat who’s running against Nunn in this year’s election. Congressman Randy Feenstra, the Republican who represents Iowa’s fourth district, is also a member of the House Ag Committee. Feenstra says it’s been nearly 130 days since that committee passed its version of the Farm Bill. Feenstra says given low commodity prices and declining farm income, congress needs to approve a new Farm Bill to deliver certainty and relief for Iowa agriculture. Ryan Melton, the Democrat who’s running against Feenstra, says Feenstra is serving in the least productive U.S. House in modern history and the Farm Bill is long overdue.

Today:  Sunny with a high near 70. North wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight:  Mostly clear with a low around 42.

Wednesday:  Sunny with a high near 80. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Thursday:  Sunny with a high near 81

Friday:  Sunny with a high near 76.

Saturday:  Sunny with a high near 85. Breezy.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds spent about a third of the month of September on a trade mission in India. Reynolds says the groundwork for her meetings was laid decades ago by the Iowa native who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his research that improved wheat and rice yields.

Borlaug took a wheat variety he’d developed to India in the mid-1960s and increased wheat production there by 60 percent.*

Reynolds met with India’s Secretary of Agriculture as well as the country’s Minister for Food Processing and Minister of Commerce. Iowa Corn Growers President Stu Swanson says a memorandum of agreement was signed to promote discussions between Iowa’s and India’s feed sectors.

An Iowa-based start-up company called “Power Pollen” also signed a letter of agreement with an India company called V-R-N Seed that does business in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Power Pollen, which is based in Ames, has developed a process for collecting pollen, storing it and then applying it to fields to increase production of rice, wheat and corn seeds.

(Radio Iowa) – An analysis from the group Food & Water Watch says Iowa is the top-ranking state for producing manure from livestock feeding operations at 109 billion pounds annually. Amanda Starbuck is the nonprofit organization’s research director.

Starbuck says there is a difference between the two types of waste.

While manure can add nutrients and organic matter to farm fields, Starbuck says the sheer amount of waste is too much for the land to handle.

Food & Water Watch used the latest data from the U-S Census of Ag and the E-P-A’s definition of medium-sized concentrated animal feeding operations to develop state rankings and create interactive maps. The 20-year trends across the U-S show fewer farms but larger livestock operations.

The massive hurricane that blew into Florida and the southern U-S won’t be felt directly in Iowa, but it will have an indirect impact. Iowa D-N-R hydrologist Tim Hall says the forecast shows the weather system will keep things dry here.

Hall says the impact could keep rain away for up to seven days. The storm could have a positive impact as it brings rain to southeast Ohio.

The Mississippi River carries barges full of Iowa grain and the lower Mississippi River water levels have been down due to drought in the Ohio River valley.

Hall says we won’t get the rain, but can be glad it is going to fall somewhere that will benefit Iowa farmers.

The Iowa D-O-T keeps track of barge traffic on the Mississippi and has recently said barges would have to carry less grain with lower water levels, and that can increase grain transportation costs.