A southwest Iowa cattle producer has been selected as the Region 3 winner of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s program that highlights exceptional work done by cattle producers to protect and enhance the environment. Officials with the NCBA report Nichols Farms, LTD., of Bridgewater, was announced as the Region 3 winner in the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver on Thursday (July 31st). The family farm operation is managed by Dave Nichols, Phyllis Nichols and Lillian Nichols, and covers Adair, Adams and Cass counties.

Nichols Farms of Bridgewater, owned by (from left) Dave and Phyllis Nichols and Lillian Nichols.

Nichols Farms, an internationally known seedstock producer and a cow-calf operation, will compete for the national ESAP title with six other regional winners. The national winner will be announced during the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in San Antonio, TX, in February 2015.

The area where the Nichols both own and rent land is known as Iowa’s Hungry Canyons area, which is identified with deep cut gullies and stream trenching. Over 70% of the farmland managed by the Nichols (some owned, some rented) has been designated as highly erodible. While it’s typical for the area to have row crops grown on nearly 70% of the land, Nichols Farms has 46% of the farmland in row crops, and 54% in grassland and pasture production.

The NCBA says the work by cattlemen and women to protect their natural resources helps to improve the environmental sustainability of the beef industry. Those efforts also help this year’s regional winners improve the land for future cattle producers, a goal shared by each of these operations.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Friday) encouraged Iowans to take advantage of fresh fruits and vegetables available at the more than 220 farmers markets in Iowa as part of National Farmers Market Week, which runs from Aug. 3 to 9.

“We continue to see growing demand for fresh locally grown produce and farmers markets are a great place to find healthy and delicious Iowa grown fruits, vegetables, meats and other products,” Northey said. “National Farmers Market Week, and every week, is a great time to visit your local farmers market to support the vendors who are there and enjoy some of the great food grown in this state.”

As part of National Farmers Market Week, Northey highlighted the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs. These programs provide eligible low-income seniors as well as women and children in Iowa with checks that can be redeemed for fresh, locally grown produce at authorized farmers markets and farm stands from June 1 through October 31, 2014.

Northey also encouraged Iowans to take advantage of the free Iowa Farmers Market app for smartphones that can help Iowans locate the farmers markets in their area. The app allows users to find the farmers market closest to them by using GPS location services or to search for specific farmers markets by city or zip code. Once they have located a market, the user can view the hours of the market, browse a list of vendors and see a phone number and email address of the market manager. App users can also leave reviews of the market and vendors and upload their photos to share with others.

The app is free to download and is available through Apple’s App store and Google Play by searching “Iowa Farmers Markets.”  The app was developed for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship using funds from the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

An Atlantic man was arrested Thursday on an assault charge. The A-PD says 55-year old Jeffrey Pross was booked into the Cass County Jail for the alleged incident involving 22-year old Cody Christensen at 2800 E. 7th Street. Christensen suffered minor injuries during the altercation, which was reported at around 5-p.m., Thursday.

Pross was released from the jail after posting bond.

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County report  a Mills County man was arrested Thursday night following a traffic stop. 35-year old Jeremy Potts, of Glenwood, was pulled over at around 9:15-p.m.  Upon further investigation, deputies determined Potts was allegedly under the influence of alcohol. He was taken into custody on a charge of OWI/2nd offense, and brought to the Adams County Jail, where his bond was set at $2,000.

LARCHWOOD, Iowa (AP) – Two girls who went missing after going out to pick corn in a northwest Iowa field have been found safe. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office says the girls were ages 3 and 6. They went to pick corn on Thursday afternoon and got lost in a field.

Sioux City television station KTIV says several law enforcement agencies and a helicopter joined the search. A passer-by spotted the girls about 2 1/2 hours after they were reported missing. They’ve been reunited with their parents.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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After a rainy June and a cool July, Iowa’s starting August almost entirely drought-free. A new report from the National Drought Mitigation Center finds only parts of three counties in far southwest Iowa are still in the very lowest level of drought. Center climatologist Brian Fuchs says all of those heavy downpours in June were a big benefit to Iowa, though they came at a cost. “Not only did we get the rain across the state but associated with that was the severe weather with a lot of wind, a lot of hail, even some tornadoes,” Fuchs says.

Iowa Drought map

“The recovery was influenced by these storms which also brought another form of destruction. Yeah, we put a dent in the drought but we had some suffering in other areas as well.” Governor Branstad is asking President Obama to declare 22 more Iowa counties federal disaster areas from damage sustained in storms from June 26th through July 7th. Thirty-five counties statewide have already been designated federal disaster areas for earlier storms, flooding and tornadoes. While 96 of Iowa’s 99 counties are now drought-free, the latest national picture shows drought is still very much a problem for wide sections of the country.

Fuchs says, “There has been some improvement but much of that improvement has been in the Midwest and Central Plains, the area from Nebraska and Kansas and Iowa and Missouri and Illinois where we have had the abundance of moisture but in that same period, we have seen that drought developing and expanding out in the western U.S.” Drought still plagues a large portion of the country, especially the southwestern and western United States, from California and Nevada to Texas and Oklahoma.

Fuchs says, “A little over a third of the country still is seeing some drought and a little over 10% of the country is seeing extreme drought right now.” The latest survey shows parts of three southwest Iowa counties are “abnormally dry,” the lowest category on the drought monitor: Pottawattamie, Mills and Fremont.

The Atlantic Fire Department responded to a reported residential fire Thursday, at around 8:40-p.m. Crews were called to 1307 1/2 Locust Street, and when they arrived, determined  a mattress in one of the apartments at that location, was on fire. They quickly extinguished the flames, pulled the mattress outside and began to ventilate the house. Medivac Ambulance also responded to the scene, but there were no injuries reported.

Not long after crews left the scene at around 9:06-p.m., they were called back, because the smoldering mattress rekindled, and began to start the dry grass on fire. The fire trucks were back in station by around 9:20-p.m.

Picture of the burned mattress courtesy Loretta Haskins.

According to Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees, the fire began with a carelessly discarded cigarette. A woman who was sleeping in the apartment was awoken by a neighbor and was able to escape. Damage to the apartment was described as minimal.

State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says the month of July was unusually cool. “Not all the numbers are in yet, but it looks like it will probably finish up the fifth coolest July on record in Iowa and that’s among the last 142 years of data,” Hillaker says. “So fifth out of 142 is obviously pretty unusual.” In Atlantic, the Average High for the month was 78, which was eight-degrees cooler than normal. Average temperatures in July have been about four-and-a-half degrees cooler than normal.

“Which isn’t really a lot, I’d guess you’d say when you first look at it, but during the summer months we just typically don’t really have that much variability from year to year as far as summer temperatures go, so that’s pretty unusual,” Hillaker says. “Oddly enough, though, 2009 ranks as our coolest July on record, so you only have to go back five years to find a cooler one than this one.” The Average Low in Atlantic in July, was 59, which was 4 degrees below normal. Hillaker says so far, the summer of 2014 has been a “rather mild” one.

“There’s still quite a number of places over in northern and eastern Iowa that have yet to reach 90 degrees this year,” Hillaker says. “Still plenty of time for that to happen, but it hasn’t occurred yet in places like Burlington and Cedar Rapids, Mason City, Dubuque and probably a number of other places as well.” After a fairly wet June, rainfall has been sporadic and Hillaker says it’s been relatively dry for the past three to four weeks.

“Crops, for the most part, are progressing pretty well as far as seasonality, not really behind in development, so not any big negatives, I guess, on the cooler temperatures,” Hillaker says. “…We’d just like to see some more rainfall than what we’ve been getting.” In Atlantic, we received just over three-quarters of an inch of rain in July (.77”), which was slightly more than 3.9-inches below normal. Far northern Iowa is “quite a bit dry” according to Hillaker, who says the statewide average for rainfall is more than an inch below what’s normal for July.

(Radio Iowa)