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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
CRESTON, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources say that at around 5-p.m. on April 28th, a bystander called 911 after noticing a capsized raft with a family of four on Green Valley Lake, near Creston. All four members of the family were wearing Personal Flotation Devices, also known as life jackets, but were struggling outside of the buoys of the beach area. At the time, strong winds gusting to over 35mph, cold water temperatures and inexperience made for an exhausting effort by the family.
The two adults and two children were able to swim to shore. Rescue personnel from the Creston’s Greater Regional Medical Center, the Union County Sheriff’s Office, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources met the family at the shore and provided immediate medical attention. All four family members’ lives were saved in part to their personal flotation devices.
The Iowa DNR stresses the importance of wearing PFD’s, no matter the circumstances and no matter the skill of the person. Iowa law requires all children 13 years or younger to wear an approved PFD while in a vessel on Iowa waters, unless below deck in an enclosed cabin, or on a commercial vessel with 25 or more people. All vessels, including kayaks and canoes, operating on Iowa waterways are required by law to have the same number of approved PFDs on board as passengers present. Jason Hyde, DNR Park Ranger, said “Just as we saw in this incident, the simple act of wearing a Personal Flotation Device could absolutely save your life and the lives of your friends and family members. The appearance or inconvenience are no excuse for risking your life.”
DNR conservation officers and other law enforcement are present on the waterways throughout the state monitoring, educating and enforcing these laws on a regular basis during the spring, summer and fall months.
(Radio Iowa) — Farmers made some record progress putting crops in the ground last week. Warm, dry weather allowed the wheels to roll on tractors and planters and farmers now have forty-six percent of the beans in the ground. That compares to nine percent of the soybeans planted one week before — and it marks the most soybeans farmers had planted by May 3rd since records began in 1974. Bean planting is now one full month ahead of schedule. Thirty-nine-percent of the expected corn planting got done last week — and it is the first time since 201 that three-quarters of the corn crop was in the ground by May 3rd.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota pork processing plant took its first steps toward reopening after a virus outbreak among workers that was one of the worst in the nation. Smithfield Foods shuttered its Sioux Falls plant for over two weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak that infected over 800 employees. Two departments opened Monday at the plant. Meat processing plants across the country are cautiously reopening after President Donald Trump’s executive order last week classified them as critical infrastructure. Workers, farmers and meat-eaters alike are watching to see if new safety measures will be enough to prevent the types of outbreaks that have torn through the workforce of many plants.
(Radio Iowa) — This spring planting season in Iowa started out much like last year, cold and wet, but conditions have improved significantly in recent weeks. Angie Rieck-Hinz, a field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, monitors crop conditions in north central Iowa. “It’s such a turnaround from the last couple of springs,” she says. “People are still a little bit in shock about how good planting conditions have been over the course of the last two weeks and how much progress we’ve made planting corn and beans. People are in great shape.”
Rieck-Hinz says farmers were prepared to move quickly this spring — and they’re doing just that. “If conditions are good, say we plant about 13-million acres of corn in Iowa, we can knock out about 1.1- to 1.2-million acres planted statewide on a daily basis,” she says. “Our soil temperatures have stayed pretty steady in the low- to mid-50s, but the big thing that’s helped us is, it’s really kind of dried out.” Rieck-Hinz says the spring weather is much more cooperative this year, but she still recommends growers who planted early check on the progress. “There were people planting corn around April 1st and around April 8th, it was still pretty cool back then and it was kind of wet back then,” she says. “I would go out as soon as that corn starts poking through the ground, and some of it has, do some stand counts and make sure your stand’s where you want it.”
When the new weekly crop report comes out, Rieck-Hinz says she expects to hear nearly all of the corn is in the ground and most of the soybeans.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As the coronavirus pandemic continues to force the closure of meatpacking plants across the country, hog farmers have had to respond quickly to a rapidly growing backlog of animals in their barns by killing and disposing of pigs. Many large-scale hog farmers have little choice once barns reach full capacity. Officials estimate about 700,000 pigs across the nation can’t be processed each week and will be euthanized if plants don’t resume operations.
To help farmers, the USDA has set up a center that can supply the tools needed to euthanize hogs. That includes captive bolt guns and cartridges that can be shot into the heads of larger animals as well as chutes, trailers and personal protective equipment.
(Radio Iowa) – The first weekend in May usually brings many thousands of campers to Iowa’s state parks but this year, with all state campgrounds closed by the pandemic, Iowans again need to change up their routine. Todd Coffelt, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Parks Bureau, suggests instead of camping out this weekend, hold a camp-in.”We are encouraging everybody to take the time to set the tent up in the back yard, use an RV, use a trailer and send a picture in,” Coffelt says. “We want to see folks still taking advantage of the nice weather, spending time together. That’s one of our big things as part of Camping Kickoff Weekend is we’re really promoting the camp-in.”
2020 is the centennial year for Iowa’s state parks. The website, Iowa D-N-R-dot-gov, has all sorts of videos, plans for outdoor adventures like a nature scavenger hunt, and coloring pages of an owl, deer, camping scenes and more. “Because we can’t get everybody to the parks for the celebration, we want to be sure they can take advantage at home,” Coffelt says. “Use some of those worksheets for the scavenger hunt, the bingo, and those pictures, again, help us make those memories and that’s what will keep bringing people back to the park.”
While most state parks remain open, all state park campgrounds are closed due to COVID-19. They’d ordinarily be filled with 20- to 30-thousand campers this weekend. “We have about 4,800 campsites across the state. There’s an average of four to six people per site, so campgrounds really become small cities,” Coffelt says. “People know what they’re doing. They get out of the winter doldrums and they’re able to bring out their excitement and all their gear, especially when we have the nice sunny weather they’re forecasting this weekend.”
If you visit a state park this weekend, he says to take the “Find Peace, Pick Up a Piece” challenge. Bring a trash bag and gloves to help pick up litter, then dispose of it at home in the spirit of “carry in, carry out,” since so many spring clean-up events were cancelled.
Post family photos to social media or to the DNR’s Facebook page with the hashtags: #IowaDNR #IowaStateParks or #IowaStateParks100.
(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.
(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.
(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.
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