(Radio Iowa) – The U-S-D-A crop report shows four percent of corn was planted last week as farmers slowly got into the fields. Some farmers attended I-S-U Extension’s “Planter University” earlier this year where field agronomist Meaghan Anderson says they learned how to best use their equipment. “Talk about more of the theory behind some of the technology and differences between them as well as really in-depth into the maintenance aspects that are going to be across all colors of planting equipment,” Anderson says. She says planter technology has advanced along with tractors through the years — leading to changes in things like speed across a field.

“Typically it wasn’t unusual for people to be planting anywhere from maybe three and a half to five or so miles per hour in the past and now there’s technology that allows people to plant more in the maybe eight to 10 are slightly faster miles per hour,” she says. Anderson says issues with the planter can cost farmers money when it comes to harvest time.”There’s certainly some changes and how we need to make sure we’re maintaining them and paying attention to changes in those planters as the season goes on to make sure that that seed gets planted where it needs to be when it needs to be,” Anderson says. She says having the planter ready to go at the start is only part of planting success.

“But in addition to that, being able to make appropriate adjustments on the fly, as farmers move perhaps across fields, as they move from one week to the next during the early part of the growing season when we know that rainfall can be variable and soil differences and residue differences can make such a change in how the seed actually enters the ground,” Anderson says. The Planter University team moves across the state in February so they can offer hand’s-on training in preparation for planting. This is the third year for the program.

(Radio Iowa) – Work is progressing on crafting the new Farm Bill, and Iowa’s Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says he’s hopeful the legislation that’s so important to the heartland will be finalized soon. “We’ve got the text ready to go, but before we can release the text, we have to know the tax score, what it’s going to cost,” Feenstra says. “The Congressional Budget Office has got to create that score because we’ve got to know, how do we pay for this? That’s what we’re waiting for.”

The Farm Bill is typically updated every five years, but a new version didn’t materialize last year, and Congress passed a one-year extension which will last through this fall.  “We’ve been dragging this thing out, but we’re really hoping that by May we can get it out of committee, and then mid-June, get it off the floor of the U.S. House, and then it’s up to the Senate,” Feenstra says. “I know our producers, just talking to them around all of my 36 counties, this is a really big deal.”

Feenstra says there’s a lot of concern over the crop insurance element of the Farm Bill. “With our low commodity prices right now, with soybeans below $12, and corn around $4.30, everybody’s worried because insurance is that safety net,” Feenstra says. “The input costs of putting that crop in, you’ve got to cover yourself and that’s the big, big issue.” He says there’s also a great deal of concern about the export market and finding new free trade agreement areas in which to grow.

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican, says it’s time for congress to pass the Expanding Agricultural Exports Act she’s co-sponsoring with an independent senator from Maine and a Minnesota senator who’s a Democrat. The bill would double federal funding for marketing campaigns that promote the sale of U-S agricultural products in foreign countries.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting at $30.5 billion agricultural trade deficit for Fiscal Year 2024,” Ernst said. “That’s why I’m leading the Expanding Agricultural Exports Act to strengthen the Market Access Program and Foreign Marketing Development program, helping build strong commodity markets overseas and new export opportunities for Iowa farmers.”

Ernst says the Biden Administration should do more to promote the sale of U-S agricultural goods. Ernst’s comments come as Japan’s Prime Minister wraps up a state visit to the United States. “Japan understands the quality and care that comes with Iowa pork,” Ernst says. “They’re our third largest export destination and second leading export market for pork products.”

Mexico is the top export destination for Iowa pork

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa D-N-R spokesman Peter Hildreth says the annual walleye collection was successful. “The goal is to collect enough fish to hatch 154-point-eight million walleye fry that will supply Iowa lakes and fish hatcheries,” Hildreth says. He says the eggs are removed from the walleyes and the fish are returned to the lake where they were caught to make room for the next night’s catch.”Our broodstock lakes have excellent wildlife populations and the timings have been perfect the staff have all the wildlife they need to fill the jars to get one-thousand-738 quarts of eggs,” he says.

Hildreth says they worked on several different lakes. “Spent five nights at Storm Lake, four nights at Rathbun, two and a half nights on Spirit Lake and two nights on Clear Lake. And in those short nights of efforts, like I said they collected all the wildlife they need to meet our goals,” Hildreth says.

The fish will be stocked into Iowa’s lakes after growing to the proper size at the fish hatcheries.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Warm soil temperatures and favorable weather have allowed farmers across Iowa to start planting corn and soybeans this week, according to several field agronomists. Wednesday was the earliest planting date for corn to be eligible for federal crop insurance replanting payments, which cover farmers if their young crops are damaged and need to be replaced. The earliest planting date for soybeans was also Wednesday for the southern three tiers of Iowa counties, and it’s April 15 for the rest of the state.

Most of the state’s topsoil has a temperature of at least 50 degrees, according to Iowa State University data. That temperature is a key threshold for seed germination. Soil temps are predicted to rise into the 60s in the coming days before retreating into the 40s by the end of next week. Air temperatures are expected to peak in the 80s in most of Iowa this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy rainfall in wide areas of the state in March helped alleviate drought conditions that have persisted for more than three years. Still, available soil moisture is far behind what it has been in recent years.

About 51% of the state’s topsoil and 36% of its subsoil have adequate or surplus moisture, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Monday. At this time last year, those figures were 78% and 66%. The depleted subsoil is most worrisome for the field agronomists. About two-thirds of the state is suffering from some measure of drought, according to a Thursday report by the U.S. Drought Monitor. That affected area has declined for weeks and was aided again last week by heavy rainfall in southeast Iowa, which delayed planting in that area.

Those rains have alleviated some of the concerns about available water for livestock along the state’s southern border.

DES MOINES – Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources report, the City of Atlantic was recently honored with the 2023 Tree City USA Award at the 33rd Annual Community Forestry Awards Luncheon in Ankeny. The award was presented by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources April 4th at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny. 

State Forester Jeff Goerndt says “The Tree City USA award is a symbol for communities who have made a commitment to the management of public trees. Your community has provided an outstanding example for other Iowa communities by enhancing our forest resources and demonstrating the great value of trees in providing multiple benefits for future generations.”

In the photo (from left to right): State Forester Jeff Goerndt, Atlantic Trees Forever representative Dolly Bergmann; and Kayla Lyon, Director of the Department of Natural Resources.

Atlantic was one of 74 Iowa communities to qualify for Tree City USA status. To receive the award, a city must, at a minimum, have either a city forester or an active city tree board; have a tree ordinance; spend at least $2 per capita annually for its community forestry program; and have a tree planting and maintenance plan. 

(Radio Iowa) – The Midwest is seeing a rise in cases of Lyme disease and other health problems associated with ticks, and experts say the trouble is, millions of the tiny insects are now surviving our warmer winters. Megan Meller, an infection preventionist at Gundersen Health System, says now that spring is here, Iowans should start doing tick checks on a regular basis. “Tick season essentially now is moving year-round. I think we previously would think that we would have started looking for ticks once the weather turned warmer in April and May, when we’re spending more time outside,” Meller says, “but this year, we were seeing warm weather back in really from December through January and currently, and even those brief cold spells didn’t kill the ticks.”

The experts say there are more than a dozen species of ticks in Iowa, the three most common are deer ticks, dog ticks and lone star ticks. Meller says some are easier to spot than others. “If we’re lucky, they’re large and we can find them right away but some of them are really tiny, the size of a dot at the end of a sentence, and if you overlook those, they can also cause an infection,” Meller says. “It’s really important to not just do a thorough tick check on yourself and on your pets and children, but to also take additional preventative measures.” Those measures include wearing long pants and long sleeves.

“Wearing bug spray when you’re outside that repels ticks. It’s closing up your sock line. That’s an easy way for ticks to get up, too. It’s wearing long socks over your pants,” she says. “It’s just being really mindful that as we spend more and more time outside, there are also hidden dangers lurking out there.” Along with the rise in tick-borne diseases in the region, there’s a silver lining to the story.

“We’re seeing a greater push for vaccine development to prevent Lyme disease. So right now, there is a vaccine in Stage-3 clinical trials that has some promising results, so we’re keeping an eye on that,” Meller says. “Hopefully, at some point in the near future, there’ll be a vaccine that helps prevent Lyme disease, so we don’t have to keep worrying about this potential added fear in the woods.”

There’s another tick to be watchful for, especially if you raise cattle or horses in Iowa. The Asian longhorned tick has been found in at least 19 states, including Missouri, but it’s not yet been spotted here. Gundersen Health System has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Sierra Club Iowa is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the large fertilizer spill on the East Nishnabotna River that killed thousands of fish. Chapter Director Pam Mackey-Taylor says they sent a letter with the request. “We’re asking that the Environmental Protection Agency which is federal government agency pick up the investigation of what happened and initiate criminal and serious civil charges related to the spill,” she says. Mackey-Taylor says if the issue only goes through the state civil process there would be a maximum 10-thousand dollar penalty and the cost of the dead fish.

“It’s a little bit of a long drawn out process. We feel that this is serious enough given that it’s 60 mile stretch of the river. It’s in two states, massive amount of fertilizer,” Macky-Taylor says. “And we think that it needs to be stepped up and gone through the civil as well as the criminal courts to get resolution.” The D-N- R reports more than 749-thousand fish were killed from the fertilizer spill at the NEW Cooperative near Red Oak in Montgomery County March 11th. The spill killed nearly all the fish in an almost 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna River into Missouri. “They said that this is one of the largest kills of fish in Iowa. There are a few spills that are larger, but no we haven’t heard of anything this large for some time,” she says. She says the company should be held responsible.

New Cooperative spill

“Obviously, there was nobody around doing any kind of surveillance or survey, or monitoring of what was happening. No monitors on the equipment to notify what spills are happening. No guards. And so this is just a flagrant violation that just needs to be fixed. And it’s more than just a simple little accident,” Mackey-Taylor says. She says Missouri wildlife officials believe some 40-thousand fish were killed in their state.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor will soon have an opportunity to put her signature on a bill that requires egg substitutes as well as plant-based or lab-grown meat sold in Iowa to be clearly labeled. Republican Senator Dawn Driscoll of Williamsburg says it started out in the Senate as a meat integrity bill, but now the proposed penalties for misleading labels would apply to products that resemble eggs, too.

“We gave a great bill to the House,” Driscoll said, “and now they have famously applied their special seasoning to this bill.” Driscoll is promising that next year she’ll help address some of the concerns raised about that addition, but 13 Senate Democrats voted against the bill. Senator Janet Petersen of Des Moines says once the governor signs the bill — public schools, the state universities and community colleges will not be able to buy egg substitutes for the food served in lunch rooms and cafeterias.

“It’s more government interference with our schools,” Petersen says. Liquid egg substitutes can be chepaer if prices for eggs climb due to supply chain issues — and experts say about two percent of children are allergic to eggs. If the bill becomes law, Iowans who receive government food assistance could be barred from buying egg substitutes — if the U-S-D-A approves a waiver for the state.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board (CCCB) will hold a Wildflower Walk in a little over two-weeks. The event takes place April 27th, beginning at 9-a.m., at the Pellett Memorial Woods, north of town. There is no cost to partake in the event.

The CCCB invites you to walk through the early spring wildflowers with their naturalist. You’ll learn the names, uses and history of the Wildflowers.

The Pellett Memorial Woods is located just outside of Atlantic (63066 Troublesome Creek Rd), ½ mile north and ¾ mile east of the KJAN radio station.