Atlantic Trees Forever spokesperson Dolly Bergmann said today (Wednesday), that Spring tree vouchers are now available from the Atlantic Trees Forever. Tree vouchers are a great way to help individuals with the cost of purchasing a tree to plant. The vouchers are worth $30 off the price of a tree, and can be obtained at Pymosa Farms, north of Atlantic.

Bergmann advised that there are a limited number of vouchers available and said officials at Pymosa Farms could help you determine what kind of tree would do best for your location. The business is located at 50979 Buck Creek Road, Atlantic. Bergmann suggests you contact owner Tim Reavis at 402-659-1213 before driving to the farm to make sure someone is available to help you since he and his employees may be out planting trees.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Food Group which took over the former Tyson meat plant in Cherokee has temporarily paused production. The company says it is going to recapitalize for its next stage. There was no mention as to how long the plant would be shut down. Iowa Food Group had announced in September of 2018 that they would acquire the meat plant and process beef, pork, poultry, and lamb. At that time, Iowa Food Group indicated they would employ at least 100 people at the start of operations.

The Iowa Farm Bureau is offering free informational meetings to help Iowans navigate their options in the new 2018 Farm Bill. Farmers should attend to gain a better understanding of the programs and the risk management they offer over the next 5 years. The meetings are about 1 hour in length and copies of the visuals are provided.

Topics will include: Higher Marketing Loan Rates, Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) improvements, ARC or PLC Election Flexibility, Base Yield Updating,

The meeting in Griswold begins 10-a.m. Thursday, April 11th at the Griswold Community Center, 601 2nd Street, Griswold, and at 2-p.m. Thursday (4/11) at the Glenn Miller Birthplace Museum, 122 West Clark Street, in Clarinda.

Space is limited, so register today for more information on this program.  Pre-registrations are encouraged at https://tinyurl.com/18farmbill to help organizers plan for the workshop; registrations will also be taken at the door as space allows.

DES MOINES – The City of Atlantic was recently honored with the 2018 Tree City USA Award at the 29th Annual Community Forestry Awards Luncheon in Des Moines. The award was presented by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources April 3rd at the Sheraton in West Des Moines. 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 .“The City of Atlantic 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.”

Jeff Goerndt, State Forester, Bruce Trautman, Acting Director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Bryant Rasmussen, Interim Atlantic Parks and Recreation Director and Roger Herring . (Photo courtesy Dolly Bergmann)

Atlantic was one of 80 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) — Some Iowa farmers won’t have any crops to harvest this fall as they won’t be able to plant anything this spring due to the flood-soaked soil. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub, based in Ames, says some areas of the state are still underwater and the farmland in those areas has been inundated. “Things will probably be delayed for sure in those locations,” Todey says. “There probably will be some areas that will not be able to be planted this year, period. Delayed planting is an issue over the whole region because we have soil moisture, we have wet soils over the whole region, so any additional rainfall is going to be problematic.”

Many fields are littered with debris left by the flooding, including trees, metal fuel tanks, pieces of structures, and all sorts of trash, but it’s the smaller stuff that will be harder to remove. “The areas that are heavily inundated, the soils there will be degraded because of depositing of sand,” Todey says. “Silt is not so bad because that’s a bit better, but the additional deposits of sand will degrade the soils and cause some problems.”

Millennia ago, giant glaciers helped to form the land now known as Iowa, but this spring, we saw a much smaller, much faster example. “We had large movement of large blocks of ice so there’s a lot of damage done to things like bridges because of the ice,” Todey says, “and then other structural areas and other loss of soil because of large movements of ice over the regions.”

Todey says all of that is beyond the damages to roads, bridges and culverts that will take time to repair. Spring flood damage in Iowa is estimated to exceed two-billion dollars.

• KJAN, Atlantic  .12″
• Anita  .02″
• Avoca  .25″
• Manning  .02″
• Kirkman  .03″
• Carroll  .06″
• Denison  .02″
• Creston  .07″

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says she is working with fellow Republican Senator Chuck Grassley to address one specific issue facing farmers hit hard by flooding. “One of the major concerns I am hearing from farmers across the state is the stored grain that has gone to ruin,” Ernst explains.  She says their proposal is to give farmers some compensation for that damaged grain. Ernst says they are moving forward on an amendment that would cover stored grain in the U-S-D-A disaster coverage. She says right now the coverage is only for crops that have been planted and are flooded.

Ernst says she is also working on some tax help for Iowa and Nebraskans in the counties declared major federal disaster areas. Ernst says some of the benefits include waiving penalties so people could withdraw from their I-R-A, and providing incentives for employers to keep employees on the payroll during tough times. Ernst talked about the issues during her weekly conference call with reporters.

The Shelby County Board of Supervisors Chair and County Engineer Brandon Burmeister have re-activated a 10-ton secondary granular road embargo. This means all granular surfaced roads within Shelby County are embargoed to 10-ton vehicles/loads until further notice. Shelby County Engineer Brandon Burmeister says the uncharacteristicly wet weather pattern has prompted the embargo.

(Radio Iowa) — Congresswoman Cindy Axne has introduced a bill that would make a federal tax credit for cellulosic or “advanced” biofuels permanent. “It was a $1.01 per gallon tax credit for producers that expired (at the end of 2017),” Axne said. “I am re-establishing that tax credit so that our farmers can be supported, we can create more jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, represents Iowa’s third congressional district. She says reviving the tax credit will support more innovation in developing so-called “advanced biofuels” made from things like corn stalks and husks. “Really using that waste of plant material, and animal waste as well, to create energy from it,” Axne said. The biofuel industry has been hit by E-P-A waivers that have reduced the amount of biofuel production required under the Renewable Fuels Standard and Axne says this tax credit would help advanced biofuels producers recover. “Anything that helps our farmers and our ag community, as we all know in Iowa, helps all of us in this country,” Axne said. “I’m hoping that we’ll be able to get this through. I’m feeling pretty good about it.”

Republican Chuck Grassley is sponsoring a bill in the U.S. Senate that would extend the 39 federal tax credits, including this per gallon tax credit for advanced biofuel producers.