(An IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH report) – In southwest Iowa, the fields can be dry, sloped or have rough soil that is poor for growing corn or soybeans and is prone to erosion and runoff. A state-led program is helping farmers, like Bailie Walters, convert those less-than-desirable crop lands into pasture. This helps with soil and nutrient conservation on those acres and it gives farmers more places to graze cattle.

Walters, who farms and raises cattle with her father in Taylor County, has used the state Cattle and Conservation Working Lands Program to convert crop land to pasture and to add fencing and water sources to different parts of the farm to facilitate additional grazing opportunities. Walters said she’s not sure these conservation measures would have happened if it weren’t for the state program, which offers cost-share funding and technical support to producers in select counties.

The program began as a pilot project in 2016, administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and now serves farmers in eight counties: Adams, Carroll, Cherokee, Guthrie, Ida, Page, Taylor, and Woodbury. IDALS recently announced it was extending the program for an additional three years and renewing agreements in Taylor, Page, Carroll, Cherokee, Guthrie and Ida counties. The program will persist in the other counties, but they have a separate grant timeline.

The goal of the project, according to IDALS, is to “convert non-productive land to productive land while also providing water quality benefits to the state of Iowa.” According to a news release from IDALS, the program has facilitated the conversion of more than 16,000 acres of land from less-productive row crops fields to pasture and grazing systems. IDALS also said producers in the program have established more than 195,000 acres of cover crops, which can also be used as pasture for livestock. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the project shows that “conservation does not require taking land out of production.”

“Farmers take their responsibility to be good stewards of the land very seriously because clean water is non-negotiable,” Naig said in the news release. Naig said the project encourages farmers to evaluate their land and “determine what makes sense to farm and what makes sense to hay or graze.” Underperforming or highly erodible acres are areas targeted for conversion. Walters said she has seen the impacts of the program on her family land as areas that were prone to erosion are now stabilized and more fields get seeded with cover crops.

She said seeding a marginal field to pasture was the “best thing” the family could do for that ground, which she said had poor soil and was in a rough and hilly area. The program also allowed them to grade stabilize a ditch at the back of the property and put in a couple of cattle ponds, both of which have made it easier to move the cattle to different paddocks and have reduced the amount of soil that runs off the land.

Walters said her father and grandfather implemented traditional conservation measures, like terraces, but were harder to convince on things like cover crops. Walters, as the younger generation on the farm, said it has been easier to get her family to try out different conservation methods under the program, since it has some funding attached. Ultimately, the program has allowed the Walters’ operation to rotate cattle between different areas on the farm. Walters said this has been especially helpful toward the end of the summer — when the pasture starts to singe, she still has areas to move the cattle.

A total of $15 million has been invested in the program, according to IDALS, and $11.7 million of that has come directly from the state. Funding for the recent extension of the program comes from the state’s Water Quality Initiative. The Water Quality Initiative funds many projects across the state, in addition to the cattle and conservation program. According to a fiscal year 2027 budget recommendation, the initiative received $8.2 million in both 2025 and 2026 from the state’s Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund.

Naig, speaking to lawmakers in a House appropriations subcommittee March 2, said the project could be a model for the federal Farm Bill because it promotes conservation without taking land out of production.  Plus, he said it gives the younger generation on the farm, like Walters, some assistance to add or build up a cattle herd if they want to diversify the family operation. Pallin Turner is another of the more than 1,100 producers in the state who have participated in the project. She runs about 300 head of cow-calf pairs and farms around 1,500 acres in Taylor and Page counties.

Turner said the program has allowed her operation to put cover crops on all of their farmed row crop acres, and even hay some of the rye they use as cover crops. Like Walters, she has also used the program to add fencing and ponds that make it easier to move cattle to different areas. She said there is a lot of pasture in southwest Iowa that was converted to crop land when row crops were more profitable than grazing cattle.

Those sloping or less productive lands are key targets of the program, which also partners with local Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Turner said the funding and implementation of cattle-specific conservation practices come at a time when the “pendulum” in the ag economy is swinging from row crops over to cattle. The U.S. cattle herd is at a historic low, while row crop producers have faced several years of low crop prices and high yields.

Applications for the program, according to IDALS, are considered on a first-come, first served basis. Interested producers can reach out to their USDA service centers for application information in the applicable counties.

(Henry County, IA) – A single vehicle crash involving a car early Saturday morning in southeastern Iowa resulted in the death of the driver. The Iowa State Patrol reports 26-year-old Jaden Eugene Williams, of Eddyville, was driving a 2017 Chevy Malibu northbound on Highway Highway 34/218 on the eastern side of Mount Pleasant, when for reasons unknown, the vehicle left the road to the right and struck an embankment.

The car vaulted into a bridge before coming to rest. The accident happened at around 12:24-a.m., Saturday. Williams died at the scene.

The Patrol was assisted in its investigation by the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, Mount Pleasant Police, EMS, Fire, and the Henry County Medical Examiner’s Office.

(NWS) – Severe storms that blew rapidly through parts of western Iowa and southeastern Nebraska, brought large hail to some locations. The National Weather Service in Valley, NE, said hail ranging in size from a quarter (1″ diameter) to ping pong ball-size hail (1.5″ in diameter) was reported to have fallen one-mile west of Blencoe, in Monona County between 8:40- and 8:45-p.m., Friday. Half-dollar size hail fell near Elliott, in Montgomery County, at around 6:12-p.m., and quarter-size hail fell near Emerson, in Mills County, at around 6:05-p.m.

Pea-to penny-size hail was reported in Dallas and Kossuth Counties in Iowa. Hail the size of quarters to golf ball-size fell in multiple areas in Nebraska, as well.

Through it all, there were no reports of damage or injuries.

(Indianola, IA) — Sheriff’s officials in Warren County, Friday afternoon, reported a woman who had been missing earlier in the week, and whose abandoned vehicle was found in Ringgold County, was found alive and safe. 78-year-old Cheryl Anderson was located in rural Ringgold County, and was being evaluated and treated by medical personnel, Friday.

Anderson, who has Alzheimer’s, went missing on Tuesday after leaving her residence in Cumming. Investigators said her vehicle was found stuck near an intersection in rural Ringgold County Wednesday night, but she was not found at that point. Multiple agencies assisted with the search throughout Thursday and Friday.

Authorities thank everyone who was involved in the search for Cheryl Anderson.

(Radio Iowa) – Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday and it has become a tradition to test your smoke alarms while also turning clocks ahead one hour. Sioux City Fire Lieutenant John Nelson says it’s important to make sure the detectors are working.

“It’s always important to make sure that all of our safety equipment works in our house. And that is a good reminder to check our smoke alarms and making sure that they are current, they’re within the ten-year window,” he says. “If you look on the back of your smoke alarms, you can see almost like a manufactured date. And the manufacturer suggests they have a ten-year lifetime.

Nelson says many new smoke detectors have a sealed battery that you don’t need to change for ten years. He says you should still check them. “Like anything, it doesn’t always mean they’re going to last the full 10 years, and it’s always important to test the functionality of those smoke alarms to make sure that they are still working,” Nelson says. Many smoke detectors also have a carbon monoxide alarm with them.

Nelson says check that detector as well and replace it if it is not working. Also be sure the devices are put in the right place. “People that do have them typically keep them next to their furnaces down in the basement. Unfortunately, when we need them to alert us is at night when we’re sleeping,” Nelson says. “So we always recommend having them outside our sleeping quarters, whether it’s in the hallway or even in the bedrooms themselves.”

Nelson says working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire in half, as you only have about two minutes to escape in most instances.

(Atlantic, IA) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports six arrests took place between Feb. 27th & March 3rd.

Authorities say 45-year-old Matthew Bernard Steffens, of Atlantic, was arrested February 27th on a Sex Offender Registration violation – 1st Offense (failure to update relevant information). Steffens was booked into the Cass County Jail and held.

On March 3rd, Sheriff’s Deputies in Cass County arrested 35-year-old Charles Albert Mace, Jr, of Atlantic, on charges of Sex Offender – Verification Violation/1st Offense, and for two counts of Sex Offender Registration – 1st Offense (failure to update relevant information). Mace was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and later released on bond.

Three people were arrested March 3rd on drug charges in Cass County:

40-year-old Summer Lynn Cole, 37-year-old Shea Michael Young, and 41-year-old Amber Lynn Rhodes, all of Atlantic, were arrested for Gathering Where Controlled Substance Used, and Possession of Controlled Substances. All three were transported to the Cass County Jail, booked-in, and held.

On March 5th, 67-year-old Terry Lee Ranney, of Massena, was arrested on a Cass County Warrant for Civil Contempt of Court. Ranney was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked-in and later released on bond.

(Des Moines, IA) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is accepting public comment on a proposed increase to the price of resident and nonresident hunting, fishing and trapping licenses, tags and fees. If approved, the new prices will go into effect on Dec. 15, for the 2027 recreation year.

The proposed price of a resident hunting and resident fishing license would increase by $1, resident deer license by $1.50, resident trout fee by $0.50, and resident lifetime hunting and lifetime fishing by $2.50. The increase will apply to all licenses and fees.

This is the first license fee increase since 2019.

Comments may be emailed to wildlife@dnr.iowa.gov, given verbally by calling 515-201-3376, or in person at 1 p.m., March 24, at 6200 Park Avenue, Suite 200, in Wildcat Den conference room, in Des Moines. Public comments will be accepted through March 24. The fee increase was approved at the February meeting of the Natural Resource Commission.

(Radio Iowa) – The Ag Committee in the U.S. House has passed an 800-page Farm Bill that would set federal agriculture and food assistance program rules and spending for five years. The 2018 Farm Bill expired in 2023, but congress could not agree on a new version, so it approved extensions — and some program updates were included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” President Trump signed last summer. Democrats say the Farm Bill that’s proposed is flawed because it does not include change U.S. tariff policies or make year-round E-15 sales federal policy.

The House Ag Committee’s Republican chairman says those decisions are outside of the committee’s jurisdiction. Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull who’s been leading negotiations on a separate E-15 bill, says it’s unreasonable for Democrats to demand that those items be included in the Farm Bill. “Here’s the thing: farmers and ranchers, they want our help. They want this bill. They need it because it’s the next step. I would have loved to have done it in 2024. We had bipartisan support in 2024, but it didn’t happen. Then we tried it in 2025 and now it’s 2026,” Feenstra said.

“Are we going to come together and get this done or not?” Feenstra is a member of the House Ag Committee. Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican from Ankeny, is on the panel, too, and he says the Farm Bill that cleared the committee Thursday will provide certainty to the farming community. “But the Farm Bill is only part of the equation for Iowa’s 87,000 family farms and hundreds of thousands of farmers across our country. They need certainty when it comes to things like biofuel policy,” Nunn says. “…We owe it to our farmers, our families and our friends to deliver certainty and stability in the market and that means year-round, nationwide E15.”

Seven Democrats joined Republicans on the committee to advance the Farm Bill, making it eligible for debate in the U.S. House. The proposed Farm Bill includes a provision that has been introduced in the Iowa legislature. It would shield pesticide manufacturers that follow E-P-A labeling guidelines from lawsuits alleging the chemicals cause cancer.

(Radio Iowa) – A sixty-five acre tract of land in southwest Iowa near the Missouri border is being donated to Taylor County, providing a natural space that will be preserved and turned into a public use area for future generations to enjoy. County Conservation Director Zoie Lecy says life-long county resident Jim Gamel is one of the last members of his family who still lives in the area.

“Twenty-seven acres of that has been in his family since 1973, so he’s had this in his family for a long time,” Lecy says. “He just wants to pass down something from his family and let the families of Taylor County and the residents of Taylor County and the surrounding counties have an opportunity to have something that they’ll enjoy and think back on his family legacy for a long time.”

The land is located in the Ross Township and is part of the larger Gamel farm of about 100 acres. Lecy says plans are in the works for what will be called the Gamel Recreation Area. While row crops were grown on the land at one time, Lecy says it has been mostly used for pasture, with some timber that could also present future hunting opportunities.

“In the middle of that property is a pretty decent sized ditch that we would like to utilize into a smaller lake, probably like a 3.5 acre lake,” Lecy says. “We’d also like to bring in camping and there’s an opportunity for hunting and we’ll bring in some trail systems and stuff like that.” Lecy says contractors have begun scoping out the area for the lake and dam development, with seasonal crews expected to come in later this year to tackle tree removal and create more space for trails.

She adds they also hope to have a variety of aquatic life in the lake, including bluegill, bass, catfish, and crappies. Lecy says the project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the county to expand its parks and recreational areas. “A lot of people don’t have the opportunity or the money or the means to be able to donate something like this to the county,” Lecy says. “This opens up a whole new world for conservation as we get to start a park that’s fresh to do what we think would be best for the people of Taylor County and the communities around it.”

She says the gift is very important to Gamel, “to be able to give back to those families and people of this county and community that’s been a part of his whole life.”

CARSON, Iowa – March 6, 2026 – Crews from the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Creston construction office need to close the U.S. 59 bridge over Iowa 92 in Carson on Monday, April 6, until late October, weather permitting, so the bridge can be removed and replaced.

When the bridge and roadway is closed, you will need to follow a marked detour route that uses U.S. 6, Iowa 48, and U.S. 34.