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Atlantic FFA members attend Iowa Youth Institute

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 30th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Submitted by Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller) – On Monday, April 27th, Atlantic FFA members Malena Woodward and Bryan York participated in the 9th annual Iowa Youth Institute (IYI) hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation.  Woodward and York were part of the 264 students and 110 teachers from 93 Iowa high schools. This virtual, day-long event was the first of its kind for the IYI supported by over 90 experts from across Iowa.

Bryan York

Malena Woodward

Each year, the World Food Prize Youth Institutes convene high school students, teachers and experts to explore and solve local, national and global hunger and food security issues. In order to be a part of the Iowa Youth Institute, students research and write a paper on a global challenge related to hunger and food insecurity. Currently, 25 states, the Netherlands and Honduras host Youth Institutes, where students can be selected to serve as delegates at the Global Youth Institute as part of October’s Borlaug International Dialogue.

Woodward’s paper was on the devastating natural disasters that Puerto Rico has endured in the past few years.  Woodward said, “I had fun researching and learning more information about Puerto Rico. After their two natural disasters in the last two years I feel it is important to educate the local population to become self-sufficient in growing and producing their own food.”

York’s paper focused on the ongoing conflict in Somalia and how this affects the food insecurity problem. “ I addressed the problem of the Government, the Piracy problem, and the ongoing conflict with Ethiopia over the Ogaden Plateau.  If we can fix these problems, Somalia can focus on getting food and medicine back to their people.”  York stated, “It seems many of these problems are stemming from the root of a bad government. The government of some countries have disconnected themselves from their people and have instead focused on what is best for them.”

The day began with remarks from Madeline Goebel Director, Community Outreach for the Iowa Youth Institute and Wendy Wintersteen, President of Iowa State University.  The keynote address was provided by Matt Carstens, CEO of Landus Cooperative.  Once the opening session was complete Woodward and York began Roundtable Discussions.  Students presented their research in a roundtable fashion to ISU faculty and industry professionals by using Zoom Meetings. Students were also supportive of their peers and asked questions to provide a diverse array of perspectives to the discussion. During the afternoon session students and teachers participated in virtual Immersion Discussions with World Food Prize Partners.

At the end of the day, Woodward and York were declared Bourlag Scholars and awarded a $500 scholarship to Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  Both Woodward and York are going to be Juniors next year and have the opportunity to participate again. When talking about her experiences Woodward said, “I really enjoyed the presentation.  I thought it was interesting hearing the ideas of other students and experts trying to solve world hunger as well as hearing their input and giving me more ideas about my topic.”

This one-day event is offered at no cost to teachers or students. More details are available at www.worldfoodprize.org/iowayouth.

Iowans test their green thumbs as orders grow 4X for seeds, plants

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 30th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — If online orders for seeds and plants are any indication, there will likely be many more backyard gardens around the state this year. Since mid-March, interest in garden seeds and plants has quadrupled at the Midwest headquarters of Earl May in Shenandoah. Spokeswoman Deanna Anderson says online orders came in at an astonishing pace. “It was an interesting time for us,” Anderson says. “It was kind of fun, back to the catalog days for us. We really liked that and we love sharing our knowledge with our customers and hope that they continue throughout the next several years.”

Anderson says onion sets and seed potatoes flew off the shelves. Now that the weather is more springlike, she says tomato plants are growing more popular.  “As we’re getting into this warmer weather, especially this last ten days of really nice weather and it looks like we’re going to have great weather for the next few days, you can definitely see that itch for people to get out,” Anderson says. “They’re wanting to put stuff into their yard and their garden so they can do stuff with their kids.”

She says many customers say they‘re planting a garden for the first time or haven’t had one for several years. Earl May has 29 garden centers the Midwest including Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas.

Tyson is now offering double bonuses to factory workers, truckers

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 30th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — A giant food processing company that was recently forced to shut down its  plants in Columbus Junction, Perry and Waterloo due to coronavirus outbreaks now plans to double employee bonuses. Tyson Foods, Inc., announced in a press release Wednesday that the company will be paying an extra $120 million in bonuses to frontline workers and truckers. Earlier this month, Tyson said the amount would be $60 million. Under the program, 116,000 Tyson workers are eligible to receive two $500 payments – one in May and one in July.

According the press release, Tyson Foods is also increasing short-term disability benefits through the end of June for team members who are unable to work due to illness. The company says its also increasing employee screening and implementing other safety measures designed to protect production workers from the virus.

Healthy Cass County Recognizes Another Successful Food Rescue

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 30th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh reports earlier this spring, a local trucking company, Sindt Transportation, was delivering frozen chicken to a customer when the driver realized he had accidentally been given one too many pallets of frozen chicken. The meat supplier told the trucking company to just go ahead and donate the chicken. But, getting rid of a pallet of frozen chicken is no small task when the pallet is 1400 pounds—700 boxes of 20 pounds of chicken. And, the refrigerated truck trailer was needed for business the next day.

Healthy Cass County logo

According to Hoegh, “This is one of those times when it is just so much fun to see how people in Cass County jump into action.” The trucking company made contact with the Lord’s Cupboard, a food pantry in Griswold, who then called Hoegh to see if anyone else could take chicken. Soon enough, Cumberland Care and Share, a food pantry in Cumberland, and the Anita Food Pantry, were on their way to Lyman to pick up chicken. Carol Seddon, a member of the Atlantic Kiwanis, drove down to get chicken to share with families who have children in Head Start.

Hoegh said “That chicken was gone in a matter of hours. It was fantastic. Huge thanks to Dan Mueller and Sindt Transportation for the chicken and to the people across the county who dropped what they were doing to make sure good food didn’t go to waste.”

Healthy Cass County is a community-focused network to promote the health and well-being of Cass County residents. Follow Healthy Cass County on Facebook @HealthyCassCounty. Reach out to Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at bhoegh@iastate.edu or 712-249-5870 more information.

Tyson plans weekend closure for beef plant near Sioux City

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 30th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Tyson will temporarily shut down its Dakota City beef facility near Sioux City this weekend. A statement from the company says the facility will pause operations starting Friday through Monday, May 4th to complete a deep cleaning of the entire plant. The company says it has has been working closely with the local health department and is in the process of screening plant team members for COVID-19 with assistance from the Nebraska National Guard.

The Dakota City facility is one of the largest beef processing plant in the country and employs a workforce of 4,300. It’s the largest employer in the Sioux City metro. The plant normally produces enough beef in one day to feed 18 million people, but with increased absenteeism over the last few weeks the company has had to scale back production. Tyson says employees will continue to be paid through the temporary closure.

Tyson had previously idled its pork plants in Waterloo and Perry and plants in Indiana and Washington for similar reasons.

Cass County Extension Report 4-29-2020

Ag/Outdoor, Podcasts

April 29th, 2020 by Jim Field

w/Kate Olson.

Play

Grow Another Row, Cass County (Week 2 update)

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 29th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

“Grow Another Row, Cass County!” is a campaign to encourage residents to grow more food to share in 2020. The campaign is launching to address food challenges created by COVID-19, as more people are finding themselves needing a little extra help keeping food on the table. Did you get some plants in the ground last week? Need a little help getting started? We hear you.
Need seeds? The Griswold Library will donate seeds to area gardeners this year. Just call the Griswold Library at (712) 778-4130, and talk to Lisa about what she has available. Lisa will then set the seeds out for you to pick up on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. This is open to any grower in Cass County.

Caring for plants in the spring: Although, this IS the time to plant cool season crops, it can also be a difficult time with cool nights dipping into the low 30’s and small animals looking for a treat. What can we do to keep those young crops ‘safe’? Here are some ideas.

1. Milk jugs with the bottom cut out can be placed over fresh transplants to help keep the chill off on cold nights and give a nice greenhouse effect during the day. As an added bonus, the jugs also protect the transplants from rabbits and small rodents looking for a snack. Pro tip: instead of cutting the bottom completely off the jug, cut just 3 sides and bend the flap that you have created to the side – place a rock or clod of dirt on the flap to keep milk jug from blowing away.

2. Baby powder or cornstarch is a great way to deter bugs, rabbits, and other small creatures from devouring your tiny seedlings. Just sprinkle some on at planting and remember to reapply after each rain. Be careful to not ‘poof’ the baby powder or cornstarch into your face. Can we call that a pro tip?
For more information, please contact: Brigham Hoegh, Wellness Coordinator Cass County ISU Extension 712-249-5870

3. Mulch. Weeds are not only a nuisance but can hurt garden yields. One fast, easy remedy is to mulch your plants. Mulch between rows and around plants. Whole sheets of newspapers may be used. Most are printed with organic ink. Layer 2 or 3 sheets, water them down so they stick together and to the soil surface, then weigh them down with a little soil to prevent them from blowing away in the wind. The extra work now saves time and energy later.

For more gardening tips and to sign up to participate in Grow Another Row visit https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/content/grow-another-row-cass-county.

Trump to sign order keeping meat processing plants open

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 28th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday meant to stave off a shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on American supermarket shelves because of the coronavirus. The order will use the Defense Production Act to classify meat processing as a critical industry to ensure that production plants stay open.

The order comes after industry leaders warned that consumers could see meat shortages in a matter of days after workers at major facilities tested positive for the virus. A senior White House official outlined the order on condition of anonymity to discuss it before its release.

Corn planting moves ahead quickly in last week

Ag/Outdoor

April 28th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers were able to get a lot done with dry weather last week. The U-S-D-A report shows corn planting went from two percent to 39 percent planted in the last week as farmers used five days of good weather to get into the fields. The report says it was mid-June before Iowa farmers had five days suitable for fieldwork in the soggy 2019 planting season. The soybean planting also got underway — with nine percent of the beans now in the ground. That’s ten days ahead of last year and one week ahead of the five-year average.

Meat destined for destruction diverted to the needy in ‘Pass the Pork’ promotion

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 28th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers face the prospect of euthanizing hogs that cannot be sent to packing plants that are closed because scores of workers have tested positive for Covid-19. Michelle Book, C-E-O of the Food Bank of Iowa, says there’s a way to save some of the meat that would otherwise be destroyed.  “We are working with the Iowa Pork Producers on a project called ‘Pass the Pork,'” she says, “…to get pork moved along to the food banks across the state of Iowa.”

On May 1st, Iowa farmers may begin donating their ready-for-market hogs. Local meat lockers are extending their hours of operation to process the animals. The Iowa Food Bank Association is accepting donations to cover the costs of processing, storing and delivering the pork to food banks and food pantries. Iowa State University ag economist Chad Hart says the temporary pork plant closures have created a real pinch point.

“We’ve got good supplies on one end. We’ve got good demand on the other, but you have to pass through the processing plants,” Hart says. “And with roughly we figure 30% of our processing capacity sort of off-line right now, that is creating a problem where we have too many hogs for too little processing capacity.” Hart and Book made their comments during this weekend’s “Iowa Press” program on Iowa P-B-S.