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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
AMES, IOWA – Quality beef begins with quality care. The Beef Checkoff Program wants to recognize beef producers, marketers, and educators who diligently care for and properly handle cattle to provide consumers with safe and wholesome beef. Applications for Iowa’s 2018 Iowa Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Awards are now being accepted.
BQA is a national program for beef cattle production that assures the highest standards of animal care and treatment. It was developed with guidance from leading animal health and well-being experts and outlines essential elements for cattle care. More than 90 percent of all U.S. beef is raised under the BQA program. (1)
The Iowa BQA program will recognize an outstanding cow/calf and feedyard beef producer, dairy producer, beef marketer, and/or educator/s who best demonstrate BQA practices, including sound animal husbandry practices. Nominees should be BQA certified and work to continually improve BQA on their operations while operating sustainable cattle businesses. The desire to encourage fellow producers to implement BQA and communicate what the industry is doing to ensure quality cattle care is a plus. The award is open to all segments of the industry – commercial cow-calf, seedstock, backgrounders, feedyards, dairy operations, auction markets operators/managers, veterinarians, and other educators.
“Beef Quality Assurance is becoming increasingly necessary to access markets in addition to being the right thing to do,” said Day Loy, Director, Iowa Beef Center. “The BQA awards program recognizes those that are going above and beyond the basic guidelines that help assure a safe, wholesome beef supply that is well cared for in the production process and enhancing our industry’s reputation.”
Completed entries are due by Friday, November 2, 2018. The Iowa BQA Award winners will be selected by a committee of fellow cattle producers, veterinarians, pharmaceutical representatives, and others who have a vested interest in the future of the beef industry. Nominations can be submitted by any organization, group or individual on behalf of an Iowa beef producer or marketer. Individuals and families may not nominate themselves; however, the nominees are encouraged to be involved in the application process. Winners will be recognized during the Iowa Cattle Industry Leadership Summit and Annual Meeting held at the Prairie Meadows Event Center in Altoona, IA on December 6-7, 2018.
For further information on these awards or to download the application, please visit www.iabeef.org/resources/producer-resources/iowa-beef-quality-assurance-program
(1) https://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/Media/BIWFD/Docs/beef-csr-report-2017-final.pdf
(Radio Iowa) — New studies find farming remains one of the world’s most dangerous professions. Iowa State University Extension agricultural engineer,Chuck Schwab, is reminding Iowans in the industry to slow down and take breaks. “Agriculture, the industry as a whole, had roughly 2.2 deaths per 100,000 workers, which makes it the highest industry in the United States for the death rate,” Schwab says. That surpasses mining, construction, manufacturing and transportation. He says one reason for agriculture being so high with injuries and deaths is because it involves so many people from a wide age demographic. Schwab says, “We see a lot of the older farmers being hurt and again, when you’re talking about a uniqueness to this industry, agriculture doesn’t have that cap where when you get to 65, you stop farming.”
While older farmers may have many decades of experience, he says some of the tasks of farming become much more difficult and dangerous, the older you get. “What happens with older farmers, you tend to have different reactions times, you have balance issues, hearing issues, sight,” Schwab says. “All these senses play a role in how you make good, safe decisions and how to avoid injuries.” The same is true with younger generations, he says. The best thing a farmer of any age can do, according to Schwab, is take a break from the action and have a moment of rest. “The more your body is working and focused on a task without that break, you have a tendency to maybe not see some of the things that you would normally see,” Schwab says. “Or you put yourself at risk. You need to be hydrated. You need to have energy for your body.”
Besides helping your body recover, taking a break can also give your brain a rest from thinking about the chores at hand and you can come back to the job thinking more clearly.
The Iowa DNR, and Friends of Lake Anita are holding a “Volunteer Day” at Lake Anita State Park- Primitive Campground this Saturday, September 22nd 7AM-9AM. Iowa state parks invite you to join statewide Volunteer Day on September 22nd. More than 40 parks need volunteers to help paint buildings, repair tables, trim branches, plant trees, pick up litter and more! All ages are welcome, along with varying levels of experience. Join the Cass County Conservation Board for a morning of Park Cleanup around Lake Anita.
The Cass County Conservation Board, Iowa DNR, and Friends of Lake Anita are also holding a “Dutch Oven Cooking- Breakfast Program.” The public program will be held at the Primitive Campground at Lake Anita State Park in Anita, on September 22nd from 9-a.m. until Noon. During the FREE program, you can learn how to make two breakfast dishes in a dutch oven. You’re asked to bring your own place setting for samples. Free will donation for supplies will be accepted. You DO NOT have to be a registered camper to attend the program.
(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says negotiations on the next Farm Bill have “taken a turn” in the wrong direction. Ernst is the only Iowan on the committee of House and Senate members assigned to come up with a new five-year Farm Bill by the end of the month. “I don’t think we’re close and, unfortunately, it’s just taken a turn over the last week or so,” Ernst said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “I was very optimistic. I’m going to remain optimistic, but it’s starting to wane right now. We could be looking at a one-year extension.”
That means the current Farm Bill provisions would be extended through 2019, giving congress 12 more months to negotiate. “Which I don’t want to see,” Ernst said. “I want to see the Farm Bill done.” The main sticking point is whether to enforce new work requirements for Americans who receive government nutrition assistance — commonly referred to as “food stamps.”
The proposal was included in the version of the Farm Bill that cleared the U.S. House, but not the one that passed the Senate. Ernst says conference committee members have worked through other points of friction. If the debate over work requirements for nutrition assistance continues into 2019, it could occur in a reorganized committee with new members and, perhaps, under Democratic rather than Republican control.
“Let’s get it done now,” Ernst said. “That’s what I keep pushing the chairman to do.”
Ernst spoke with Radio Iowa in the U.S. Capitol, near the Senate floor.
(Radio Iowa) — A newly formed company is planning to do business in a northwest Iowa Tyson Foods plant that was shut down in 2014. Bill Anderson, executive director for Cherokee Area Economic Development, says the Iowa Food Group has acquired the facility. The announcement falls on homecoming week for Cherokee Schools.
“Four years ago, during homecoming week, Tyson closed their doors for the last time. Now, here we sit four years later, during homecoming week, and the plant will be reopening,” Anderson said. Iowa Food Group plans to start operations in January with 100 workers.
“They will purchase boxed beef and cut that beef into steaks, fajita meat, and things like that. They’ll repackage it and resell it to (grocery stores) and restaurants,” Anderson said. “So, it’s value-added agriculture, I guess you would say. It may be processed by somebody else, as far as being harvested, then they will take it and further process it.”
Iowa Food Group owners hope to eventually employ up to 500 people at the plant. Around 450 people lost their jobs in 2014 when Tyson closed the Cherokee plant in 2014. According to Anderson, more positive economic news is on the way. A local business will break ground on a $2 million expansion project on September 28.
“Foundation Analytical Laboratory, which is here now, will be breaking ground on a new facility. So, it’s another tremendous announcement. We’ve had a great couple of weeks,” Anderson said. Cherokee has a population of roughly 6,000.
(Radio Iowa) – Officials with Green Plains Renewable Energy are rejecting a Reuters report this week claiming the company is shutting down a pair of Iowa ethanol plants in Kossuth and Dickinson counties. Jim Stark is Vice President of Media Relations for Green Plains. “We are not closing any ethanol plants,” Stark says. The Reuters report on Monday cited unidentified sources that two plants, in Lakota and Superior, would be closed due to low ethanol demand. Stark says production in Superior is on hold, but the plant’s 46 workers are still there.
“We flex our production capacity up and down depending on market conditions and right now market conditions are not favorable,” Stark says. The Lakota plant is still producing ethanol, according to Stark. Green Plains CEO Todd Becker says ethanol futures prices have dropped to a 13-year low. Becker places part of the blame on RFS waivers granted to oil refineries – cutting ethanol demand.
“Without a doubt, there was demand destruction from the refinery waivers,” Becker said. Becker also cited the trade dispute with China and a lack of federal action on allowing year-round use of E15 for the decline in ethanol demand. Green Plains owns 17 ethanol plants with a production capacity of about 1.5 billion gallons. The Omaha-based company ranks among the top five ethanol producers in the United States.
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