(Atlantic, Iowa) –  Cass County businesses and organizations are coming together to address hunger and improve nutrition by growing food. This spring, through a Growing Together grant from Iowa State Extension, Cass County Master Gardeners and Grow Another Row provided free food plants to people visiting food pantries and Grow Another Row stands. When the Atlantic Hy-Vee Lawn and Garden Center closed for the season in July, the store donated additional food plants and herbs to the project. The Atlantic Lions Club also received a grant this spring from the Cass County Community Foundation to expand and enhance the community garden at Mollett Park in Atlantic, adding garden space and installing edible landscape plants.

Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh says, “Combined, these efforts are creating more access to fresh, local produce in yards, gardens and produce stands across the county.”
Cass County was one of 36 communities awarded Growing Together grant funding. Grow Another Row and the Cass County Master Gardeners applied for this grant last winter. The funding is being used to maintain a community donation garden, coordinate produce donations through Grow Another Row, and provide nutrition education to food pantry clients and others in the county. This spring, seeing additional need for space and resources to grow food, the Atlantic Lions Club applied for and received a Cass County Community Foundation grant to expand and enhance the community garden at Mollett Park in Atlantic. Fruit trees we installed, with plans to install berry bushes and educational signage soon, laying the groundwork for a community edible landscape space. Additional raised garden beds were also added, along with rainwater collection units and educational signage which will enhance the garden space that is used for both private and donation gardening.

Where did these ideas come from? Food pantries across the county have seen increased patronage over the past three years. For example, the number of households served by the Atlantic Food Pantry has grown four times over the past four years. Each week the pantry currently provides supplemental food to an average of 68 households (150 people) or about 10 percent
of the people living in poverty in Cass County. Food insecurity is a reality. Additionally, fruits and vegetables are important sources of nutrition, and many people prefer to eat fresh produce and enjoy growing their own food. Last year, the Cass County COVID-19 Mobile Food For All program surveyed participants and found a majority were either interested in growing their own food or already doing so. Common barriers to food growing for some individuals and families includes a lack of lawn space for gardening or physical limitations. Using that information, Grow Another Row partnered with area food pantries to distribute free food plants last summer, including many “patio” tomatoes and other plants that grow well in containers. The plants were well-received.

Working together, Grow Another Row, Cass County Master Gardeners, the Atlantic Lions Club, and Cass County Extension are also partnering to provide educational programming on produce gardening, including garden tours, planting demonstrations, and opportunities to assist with garden maintenance and harvesting, to food pantry clients and others in the county. Grow Another Row is a program of the Healthy Cass County coalition that provides free, fresh local produce across the county through a network of produce sharing sites managed by volunteers. Produce donated to the program is also shared through all four Cass County food pantries. Grow Another Row is always looking for volunteers to grow, harvest, bag, and transport produce across the county. Individuals and groups—such as service organizations, churches, or workplaces—are welcome to join the effort! All residents of Cass County are invited to participate in the Grow Another Row program and “take what you need; share what you can”!

For more information on Grow Another Row, and to sign up for the program’s email newsletter or volunteer, visit https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/content/grow-another-row-cass-county or contact Cass County Extension Director Kate Olson or Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at 712-243-1132. For information on food available at Grow Another Row stands, as well as information on Cass County food pantries, farmers markets, and other local food initiatives, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council on Facebook
@CassCountyLocalFood.

Jim Field visits with Ryan Hawkins about his future now that he has completed play for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

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(Ottumwa, Iowa) – Officials with John Deere say they are moving more of their manufacturing operations out of Iowa. The company says over the next 18 months, it will shift its current production at its Ottumwa facility to Monterrey, Mexico, and revitalize the location for the future. The company announced a similar move at its Waterloo plant last month. Company officials could not specify how many employees at the Ottumwa plant will be affected by the move.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says the last quarantine associated with a bird flu outbreak at a commercial flock has been lifted.  “This is good news,” Naig says. “It’s a milestone day.” Quarantines were issued to bar poultry and eggs from being shipped from 15 commercial sites where avian influenza had been confirmed. The last restriction — on a turkey operation in Bremer County — has been lifted after it met all cleaning, disinfection and testing testing requirements. Naig says it doesn’t mean the risk is gone.

“But what is does do is allow all of those affected sites to get back into normal production,” Naig says, “and it also allows us, with the response, to start to now look back and say: ‘What went well and what are some lessons we need to apply to a future response?'” Iowa’s first case of bird flu was confirmed in February in a backyard flock of chickens and ducks in Council Bluffs. That site and three others where Iowans were raising birds in their backyards that were sickened with bird flu are to remain empty for the rest of the summer.

“You really can’t clean those kind of sites,” Naig says, “but you can go in and disinfection and test commercial sites and that’s why this is an important day and we make a distinction between a commercial site and a backyard flock.” Two commercial facilities each had five million birds that were killed to prevent the virus from spreading. A total of 13-point-three million birds were euthanized in Iowa due to this year’s outbreak.

“And that represented 40% or so of the total number of birds that were impacted nationwide,” Naig says. The 2015 bird flu outbreak impacted 77 commercial poultry and egg laying sites in Iowa — compared to 15 this year. Naig says it does not appear there was farm-to-farm movement of the virus due to better biosecurity measures. “Our producers have learned a lot about how to keep the virus out their buildings and off of their farms and really track the movement of people and equipment,” Naig says. “…I think the second component of that was just a more effective, faster response on the part of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and the USDA. Those two things together made this a different outbreak.”

The executive director of the North Central Poultry Association says the lifting of the final quarantine is cause to celebrate the collective efforts from all involved. Avian influenza is highly contagious and while wild birds carry the virus without appearing to be ill, it is nearly always fatal to domesticated birds.

• 2 loaves (1 lb. each) frozen bread dough or 24 frozen unbaked white dinner rolls, thawed
• 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• herb-seasoned olive oil, optional

Divide dough into 24 pieces.  In a small bowl, combine the onion, butter, garlic, parsley and salt.  Dip each piece of dough into butter mixture; place in a 10″ fluted tube pan coated with cooking spray.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm with olive oil, if desired.

Jim Field visits with Freese-Notis Meteorologist Dan Hicks about our hot and dry conditions.

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w/Kate Olson.

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Here are some of the results from shows at the 2022 Adams County Fair!

The 2022 Adams County Tall Corn Contest was sponsored by POET, Corning and judged by Tim Christensen, ISU Extension and Outreach Farm Management Specialist. The results were:

• 1st Place – Justyce Bradley, 114.25” (growing success: rabbit manure)
• 2nd Place – Braxston Bradley, 110.5” (growing success: rabbit manure)
• 3rd Place – Tyler James, 108.25” (growing success: undetermined)
• 4th Place – Margaret Haley, 57” (growing success: mom and dad)
• 5th Place – Sebastian Haley, 55” (growing success: water)
• Swine Results
• Static Results
• Sheep Results
• SESS 2022 Results
• Poultry Results
• Horse – Performance
• Goat Results
• Dairy
• Communications
• Clover Kids Showcase Participation
• Beef
• Awardrobe Results
• Alpaca Results
• 2022 Adams Co Horse Halter Results

(Radio Iowa) – The latest Iowa crop and weather report from the U-S-D-A suggests drought conditions will expand in northwest Iowa this week. The U.S. Drought Monitor’s measurements last Tuesday indicated parts of Plymouth, Cherokee and Woodbury Counties were in extreme drought and much of northwest Iowa were classified as in severe or moderate drought. The state climatologist says while there were heavy rains in northeast Iowa last week, the remainder of the state was drier than normal and the rainfall deficit is approaching an inch in many areas.

Weekly rainfall was just a hundredth of an inch at several reporting stations in northwest and southwest Iowa. The U-S-D-A rates 81 percent of Iowa’s corn crop in good or excellent condition, while just over three quarters of Iowa soybeans have a condition rating of good or excellent.

Jim Field visits with John Paul about the Western Iowa Mutual Insurance Golf Benefit that raised money for local fire departments.

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