Perry, Iowa – Iowa 3rd District Representative Cindy Axne, today (Friday) highlighted two businesses in Iowa’s Third District that this week received nearly $3.3-million in loan guarantees and grants from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Kerns Farms Corporations in Taylor County received $167,019 to assist with market expansion and pork processing fees for specialty retail cuts and ground products, and another $40,504 grant to help process specialty retail cuts and ground products of Mangalitsa pork. The Kerns Farms Corporation is a leading producer of heritage breed Mangalitsa pigs in the United States and project funds will be used for market expansion.

This investment reflects Rep. Axne’s recent efforts to support small- and medium-sized meat producers and to improve market transparency in order to create more competition, fairness in the industry, and a more reliable supply chain.

T.C. And B. Corporate Wearables Inc. in Dallas County received $3,090,000 to help assist the customized apparel business in overcoming lost revenues created by closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding will help TC & B, which employs 35 people in Perry, supplement working capital to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus by guaranteeing loans for rural businesses and agricultural producers. This loan guarantee comes from the CARES Act, COVID-19 relief legislation that Rep. Axne helped pass in March 2020.

More information about the more the grants and loans distributed by the USDA to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of lives for millions of Americans who are living in rural America can be found by clicking here.

SPIRIT LAKE – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is reminding snowmobilers operating on the Iowa Great Lakes to use caution as ice conditions change throughout the winter.  Freezing, thawing, and refreezing creates ice heaves, berms, and frozen drifts, and heavy snowmobile use has created ruts and rough ice. Snowfall and drifting snow can hide these obstructions.

Officers with the DNR said there were a number of incidents over the past week where snowmobilers have collided with these obstructions. Snowmobilers should always use safe operating practices. Operate at reduced speeds to avoid colliding with hard to see obstacles.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill designed to increase the availability AND sales of gasoline with a 15 percent ethanol blend has cleared the Iowa House. Governor Kim Reynolds proposed an IOWA Renewable Fuels Standard a year ago, but it stalled. House Speaker Pat Grassley spoke with reporters right after the revamped bill passed on an 82-to-10 vote.

“It’s very important for us here in Iowa to show the support for the renewable fuels industry and I think the House has done that today with a very strong, bipartisan vote,” Grassley says. “…We would love to see this get to the governor’s desk to send a very strong message to the federal government.” Uncertainty about the federal Renewable Fuels Standard spurred development of this state plan. Republican Representative Lee Hein of Monticello says much of Iowa’s corn crop is destined for ethanol.

“Moving biofuels forward and standing up to let the rest of the country that this is a good product and a good thing is huge for the Iowa ag economy,” Hein says. If the bill becomes law, stations installing new underground storage tanks after January 1st of next year would be required to sell E-15. The requirement to sell E-15 would go into effect for ALL stations in 2026. The bill does include mandatory waivers for small gas station owners who show they cannot afford the equipment upgrades required for higher ethanol blends. Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, says the waivers are key.

“It does both expand the ethanol market here in Iowa,” Wolfe says, “but it also does protect small town, smaller fuel retailers.” This was the first bill to be debated in the full House this year and House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst emphasizes it passed by a wide, bipartisan margin. “This is an issue that’s too important to us to let politics get in the way,” Konfrst says.

The bill also calls for tank upgrades to spur sales of B-20 — biodiesel with a higher percentage of a soybean-based additive. Marinas with just one fuel tank are exempt from the proposed requirements. The bill now goes to the Senate.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with Elite Octane announced on their web page, today (Wednesday) that an expansion of the company’s corn receiving and storage capacity in Atlantic, is under construction, with a completion date in 2022. The Company says it is making a significant investment as it plans to be a preferred destination for southwest Iowa corn farmers for years to come.

The company says the following changes are forthcoming with the expansion project:

• Increasing Storage Capacity going 4-million to 8-million bushels.
• Increase Receiving Capacity from 60,000 to 90,0000 bushels per hour.
  

  Additional storage graphic (from the Elite Octane website)

• Having two truck probes with three inbound lanes.
• and having two inbound scales.

Elite Octane says  “The American farmer continues to raise the standard in production agriculture while preparing for the future. Much like the farmer, Elite Octane is committed to raising the standard of what should be expected for speed and capacity. We’re here to grow with you.”

(Ames, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, Tuesday, said Robbins Land & Cattle, of Scranton, is among one of six regional honorees of the Environmental Stewardship Award Program, organized by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). Justin and Lacie Robbins, owners of Robbins Land & Cattle, LLC, received Region III honors at the 2022 Cattle Industry Convention, in Houston, TX.

The Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) annually recognizes the outstanding stewardship practices and conservation achievements of U.S. cattle producers. Regional winners are commended for their commitment to protecting the environment and improving fish and wildlife habitats while operating profitable cattle operations. Robbins Land & Cattle, LLC received the Region III ESAP award for the following efforts:

The ICA says Robbins Land & Cattle, LLC, which runs along the North Raccoon River, is committed to improving the land and natural resources. For nearly two decades, Justin Robbins has dedicated a lot of time and energy to enhancing his farming operation. From rebuilding and implementing farm ponds on pasture ground to establishing cover crops on a large portion of his row crop acres, Justin strives to “leave the land better today” than how he found it yesterday.

Photo credit goes to the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association for Robbins Land & Cattle.JPG and Baxter Communications for ESAP2021-R3-IA_0679.

For instance, Justin Robbins first incorporated cover crops in 2013. He primarily seeded cover crops on harvested corn acres, but now works to establish cover crops on at least 50 percent of his farming operation. “Building soil health is the long game,” Justin says. Cover crops benefit soil structures in generating nitrogen, reducing erosion, supporting earthworms, and suppressing weeds. Additionally, cover crops provide another forage source. In utilizing cover crops and other corn residue, Justin has slashed feed costs, which can quickly add up when feeding 200 registered Angus cows.

In 2020, Robbins Land & Cattle, LLC started to sell their naturally raised, homegrown beef through an online store. The couple saw the value-added opportunity as a way to share their story of environmental stewardship with their community and local customers. One year after opening their online store, Robbins Land & Cattle, LLC saw tremendous growth, doubling its sales despite a global health pandemic.

Robbins Land & Cattle will now compete for national honors. The national ESAP recipient will be announced in late July.

(Radio Iowa) – Three state agencies have started to review plans for how the State of Iowa would respond to a significant drought. Iowa Department of Natural Resources director Kayla Lyon says her agency issued weekly reports on drinking water supplies last year as extreme drought hit some areas of the state. “We were really close to having a real problem,” Lyon says, “and it was pretty dire in some parts of the state.”

Despite heavy rains in the fall, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows more than half a million Iowans live in an area where drought conditions persist. The state’s current drought response outlines were developed in the 1980s according to Lyon. “So our staff are working together with some of the same players to modernize our state drought plan,” Lyon says.

A D-N-R spokesperson says the plan will likely look at how water users in the public and private sectors are prepared for drought conditions and how the state would respond if water supplies are endangered by a long-term drought. It’s expected to take a year for the D-N-R, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Homeland Security Emergency Management to produce an updated drought plan.

(Radio Iowa) – New details show a Cedar Rapids man rescued from a grain bin last week was lucky to get out — and the first fireman on the scene was working his last full day on the job. Darrell Benish, of Cedar Rapids, was rescued by members of the Cedar Rapids and Swisher Fire departments. Benish tells K-C-R-G T-V he was trying to push the auger in with his foot, and it slipped.

“The suction sucked me in there, and in the meantime, nobody saw what was happening,” Benish explains. Benish was stuck for about two hours with freezing grain covering his body up to his shoulders. Firefighters attempted to insert a barrier to keep more corn from completely covering him. He says he couldn’t breathe. “Because even when they took the corn out — it was still kind of rolling down all the time. It was probably the most pain I’ve ever had in my life,” Benish says.

Cedar Rapids fire captain Brian Hall was the first on the scene, and tells K-C-R-G T-V they were lucky. “To have a situation like this where we can make a rescue and the person survives, very rare,” Hall says. First responders cut four holes in the side of the bin to release as much corn as possible. Hall says Benish’s position in the bin was a factor in the corn trapping him. “He was probably six feet inside the door,” Hall says, “which also I think accounted for some of the crushing factors. He was not in the center and everything coming at him from all directions.”

It was Hall’s first-grain bin rescue in his 33-year career — and also his last full shift — before he retired Sunday. He says the rescue made him think about his work in those years. “Kind of reflected back to a lot of those type of scenarios where we’ve truly made a difference in people’s lives,” Hall says. “Not just in his life, but his family’s lives and all of us.” Hall says his retirement plan at this point is to not have a retirement plan.

(Radio Iowa) – The season for one of the most unusual fish in Iowa waters opens Tuesday on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers. The D-N-R’s Chris Larson says the paddlefish season was reinstated in 2014. “It started off with a bang when we first opened it up and then it has kind of settled down to about 300 licenses sold per year,” he says. “The folks who are getting our from the survey results we get back –they are about 25 to 35 percent successful depending on the year.”

Paddlefish have a long snout which gives them their unusual appearance. “They almost look like they belong in the ocean with that big snout sticking out there. There’s really no other freshwater species in the United States that looks like that. They’ve been around for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years,” Larson says. Larson is the Western Iowa and Missouri River Regional Fisheries Supervisor and says the weather could impact the start of the season. “I think the biggest thing is ice floes. when it gets really cold like this, there are some pretty big chunks of ice that come floating down the river. And obviously, you are not going to want to be out in a John boat or any kind of boat when those big chunks of ice come floating through,” Larson says.

Paddlefish-DNR photo

Paddlefish feed on plankton, so you have to catch them by snagging them on the bottom of the river.  “Behind the wing dikes, that rock structure that sticks our to deflect the river away from the bank, right behind those you’ll find anywhere from 30 to 500 feet deep holes — and in the wintertime, that’s where those fish are hanging out,” he explains. He says you need to follow the regulations when fishing. He says there is a size limit — and any paddlefish between 35 and 45 inches have to be released to protect the brood females to keep the population in the river.

The paddlefish season was started back up after studies showed their populations were doing well, and Larson says the signs continue to be good.”From everything we’ve seen they’re a pretty stable population,” according to Larson. “They travel from Gavins Point Dam (South Dakota) dam all the way down –we’ve had a number of our Iowa tagged fish captured down in the Tennessee part of the Mississippi River. They travel hundreds and hundreds of miles and fish that they tag we find up here and fish we tag they find down there. So, they are a pretty mobile population.” He says if you do catch a paddlefish with numbered band tag in the lower jaw you should call the phone number on the tag and report the tag number, date of capture, capture location, and eye-to-fork length.

For more information about Iowa’s special paddlefish season regulations, visit the D-N-R website at www.iowadnr.gov/paddlefish.

Checks mail the last week of January to farmers and ranchers in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming

(News Release) OMAHA, NEBRASKA – January 27, 2022 – Farm Credit Services of America (FCSAmerica) is returning more than $296.5 million of its 2021 net income to farmers and ranchers in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Cash-back dividend checks were mailed January 27, 2022, and will be in the hands of the customer-owners shortly. For 18 consecutive years, the financial cooperative has shared its success in the form of cash-back dividends. Since 2004, FCSAmerica has returned more than $2.6 billion to eligible customer-owners.

This year’s cash-back dividend is equal to 100 basis points – or a return of 1% of a customer’s eligible daily 2021 balance with FCSAmerica. In Iowa, this equates to a 2021 payout of $114.5 million. This puts the total net income returned to Iowa farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses in the past 18 years at $1 billion.

The share of the 2021 cash-back dividend going to Nebraska customer-owners is $98.2 for an 18-year total of $792.8 million. South Dakota and Wyoming customer-owners have been mailed $54.39 million and $5.8 million, respectively, in 2021 cash-back dividends. Since 2004, FCSAmerica has returned a total of $505 million to South Dakota and $61.3 million to Wyoming.

“FCSAmerica strives every day to add value to our customer-owners’ operations through expertise, products and services,” said Mark Jensen, president and CEO of FCSAmerica. “Our patronage program is one more way we add value. We are sharing our success in a way that directly benefits our customer-owners, their operations, families and communities.”

The Board of Directors for FCSAmerica also has approved a cash-back dividend to be paid from the cooperative’s 2022 net earnings, the amount of which will be determined in December.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Agricultural producers and landowners can sign up soon for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a cornerstone conservation program offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a key tool in the Biden-Harris Administration effort to address climate change and achieve other natural resource benefits. The General CRP signup will run from Jan. 31 to March 11, and the Grassland CRP signup will run from April 4 to May 13.

“We highly encourage farmers, ranchers and private landowners to consider the enrollment options available through CRP,” said Iowa Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Director Matt Russell. “Last year, we rolled out a better, bolder program, and we highly encourage you to consider its higher payment rates and other incentives. CRP is another way that we’re putting producers and landowners at the center of climate-smart solutions that generate revenue and benefit our planet.”

Producers and landowners enrolled 4.6 million acres into CRP signups in 2021, including 2.5 million acres in the largest Grassland CRP signup in history. There are currently 22.1 million acres enrolled, and FSA is aiming to reach the 25.5-million-acre cap statutorily set for fiscal year 2022.

CRP Signups: General CRP helps producers and landowners establish long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees, to control soil erosion, improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat on cropland.  Meanwhile, Grassland CRP is a working lands program, helping landowners and operators protect grassland, including rangeland and pastureland and certain other lands, while maintaining the areas as working grazing lands. Protecting grasslands contributes positively to the economy of many regions, provides biodiversity of plant and animal populations and provides important carbon sequestration benefits to deliver lasting climate outcomes.

Alongside these programs, producers and landowners can enroll acres in Continuous CRP under the ongoing sign up, which includes projects available through the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE).

Climate Benefits: Last year, FSA enacted a Climate-Smart Practice Incentive for CRP General and Continuous signups, to better target CRP on addressing climate change. This incentive aims to increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CRP’s climate-smart practices include establishment of trees and permanent grasses, development of wildlife habitat and wetland restoration. The Climate-Smart Practice Incentive is annual, and the amount is based on the benefits of each practice type.

Additionally, in order to better target the program toward climate outcomes, USDA invested $10 million last year in the CRP Monitoring, Assessment and Evaluation (MAE) program to measure and monitor the soil carbon and climate resilience impacts of conservation practices over the life of new CRP contracts. This will enable the agency to further refine the program and practices to provide producers tools for increased climate resilience.

More Information on CRP : Landowners and producers interested in CRP should contact their local USDA Service Center to learn more or to apply for the program — for General CRP before the March 11 deadline, and for Grassland CRP before the May 13 deadline. Service Center staff continue to work with agricultural producers via phone, email, and other digital tools. Due to the pandemic, some USDA Service Centers are open to limited visitors. Additionally, fact sheets and other resources are available at fsa.usda.gov/crp.