DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — An earthworm native to east Asia has been confirmed in Dubuque and Muscatine counties in eastern Iowa. The Iowa Agriculture Department says they’re usually called jumping worms because of their vigorous wriggling when disturbed. They’re also referred to as crazy worms or Alabama jumpers. They can grow up to 8 inches long and are found closer to the soil surface than other earthworms and found amid leaf litter.

The department says leaf litter protects open areas of land. When the worms consume the litter and soil, the land is subject to compaction, increased water runoff and erosion. The department recommends against moving compost, mulch and/or topsoil from potentially infested areas and against moving plants from the infested counties.

w/Denny Heflin.

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(Radio Iowa) — It’s been a challenging growing season for farmers in many parts of Iowa, for a variety of reasons. In north-central Iowa, crops were planted late due to snow and persistent heavy rains this summer caused ponding and drowned-out spots in many fields. But Brent Renner, who’s farms near Klemme, says much of the corn that survived is looking good. “I’ve been through some stuff that at least appears to still have 240-bushel potential,” Renner says. “But there are very few, if any, fields in my immediate area that are going to have overall farm averages at that level.”

Kent Klingbeil, an agronomist with Ames-based Landus Coop, says his biggest concern is nitrogen stress in corn. “I’ve been out in some fields and there are a lot of leaves firing up on the bottom with nitrogen deficiencies,” Klingbeil said. “It will be interesting to see if we can mineralize enough nitrogen to keep filling those ears or if we’re going to run a little short.”

Renner, who’s a custom sprayer, says weed control has also been a challenge. He says herbicide spraying programs have been “turned upside down” by the spring they had in north-central Iowa. Many farmers in central and southern Iowa have crops that were damaged in the tornado outbreak one week ago. Other farmers, in south-central and southeast Iowa, are having problems with drought. But statewide, this week’s USDA report rated 79-percent of Iowa’s corn crop in good-to-excellent condition and 76-percent of the state’s soybean crop in the good-to-excellent category.

(Radio Iowa) — A new report estimates more than one-million acres of soybeans across the region have been accidentally damaged by the use of dicamba herbicide despite strict usage rules. Iowa State University Extension weed specialist and Agronomy Professor Bob Hartzler says the big increase in pesticide misuse cases indicates a stewardship problem. Hartzler says he’s talked to several farmers, including one who admits he made a critical error. “He damaged several hundred acres and he admits he sprayed when the wind speeds were less than three miles an hour,” Hartzler says. “That’s a stewardship problem. The label clearly states not to apply under those conditions.”

State officials have received 121 complaints of herbicide drift this year, compared to 82 statewide in early July of 2017.  “With the acres we have here in Iowa, sometimes applicators get behind and they feel pressured to apply products under less-than-ideal conditions,” Hartzler says. “With other herbicides, you can get away with that, with dicamba, you can’t.” Hartzler says you can only do so much with education. “The company worked hard last winter trying to get everybody trained,” he says. “I’m convinced that volatility is still an issue and all of the education in the world is not going to prevent problems with that.”

Hartzler says he’s not convinced further regulation is the answer, either. “It’s already difficult to find appropriate times to apply the product,” he says. “If you further restrict application windows, it greatly reduces the value of the herbicide.”  Hartzler says it’s a difficult situation and producers need to do a better job of selecting fields where the product is applied. He says more attention also needs to be made to strictly follow the label. Arkansas and Missouri banned the sale and use of dicamba last year following multiple complaints of crop damage due to drift.

w/Kate Olson.

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The Cass County Fair opens today (Wednesday), here in Atlantic, with a light schedule: From 9-a.m. until 2:30-p.m., there is 4H Static Exhibit Judging; 9-a.m. until Noon is the Clover Kids Showcase entry; The Food Sale takes place at the Community Center beginning at 10-a.m., and Fairgrounds set-up is this evening, beginning at 6.  There’s lots more going on tomorrow through the end of the Fair next Tuesday, at the Cass County Fairgrounds. Some highlights tomorrow night include: The “Little Miss and Mister” contest, at 7; King and Queen contest at 7:30; Senior Recognition at 8-p.m., and a movie in the Outdoor Show Ring, beginning at 8:45-p.m., Thursday.

For more on the Cass County Fair Schedule, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/cass, or look for The Cass County Fair (IA) on Facebook.

(Radio Iowa) — The near-trillion-dollar Farm Bill is headed to a conference committee where differences between the House and Senate versions will be ironed out. Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman  says he’s encouraged the new five-year piece of legislation will pass before the current Farm Bill expires at the end of September.  “We are still hopeful that we can see some signs that serious compromises need to be made in order to move a good product ahead,” Lehman says. “It’s a good sign but we know there’s quite a bit yet to be done to get us to where we need to be in the end.”

Lehman says members of the conference committee have plenty of work ahead. House Republicans proposed sweeping changes to the food stamp program or SNAP, including a work requirement. Senators didn’t include any major changes in food stamps in the 956-billion dollar Farm Bill. “The window is getting tight to get the work done and that is certainly the issue that we anticipate is going to be front and center between the two versions,” Lehman says, “but I’ve got to tell you, there’s a lot of other issues that are so important that the two versions are very different.”

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley added an amendment to the Farm Bill which aims to close the loophole he says enables Wall Street bankers to get federal farm dollars, even if they’ve never had dirt under their fingernails. Grassley says, “Allowing these types of nonfarmers to milk the farm safety net for millions of dollars in subsidies each year is ridiculous.” Lehman hopes members of the conference committee will include Grassley’s proposal in the final package. “It’s so important to direct our dollars in the right way to family-sized operations as much as possible,” Lehman says. “We’ve got a limited pool of money that we can work with in the farm bill and we’ve always felt that we haven’t dedicated the resources we need to in order to help farmers.”

He adds he’s hopeful Grassley’s proposal will “win the day.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Many farmers remain critical of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the damage done to commodity prices and markets but were appreciative Tuesday that he offered to provide some cash to help offset their losses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $12 billion three-part plan that would borrow money from the U.S. Treasury to pay producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy, and hogs.

The USDA also will buy the surplus of commodities that would otherwise have been exported and distribute them to food banks and other nutrition programs. That will cover fruits, nuts, rice, legumes, beef, pork and milk. The third prong of the plan is to help farm groups develop new export markets.

The money comes from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a USDA agency founded in 1933. It has authority to borrow up to $30 billion from the Treasury at any one time to “stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices.” Farmers said they would rather have Trump settle the trade disputes with China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union and get free trade flowing again.

“A Band-Aid doesn’t cure an illness, but it might make it temporarily better,” said Dave Struthers who grows corn, soybeans and hay on a 1,100-acre Iowa farm near Collins, about 30 miles northeast of Des Moines. He also sells about 6,000 pigs a year.
Reaction from trade partners to Trump’s tariff policies have pushed soybean prices about 18 percent lower and corn and pork prices down 15 percent from the time Trump began discussing tariffs this spring.

China is the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans and one of the largest importers of U.S. pork. U.S. farmers are expected to grow 14.2 billion bushels of corn this year and 4.3 billion bushels of soybeans, down some from last year but still huge crops. There were 73.5 million pigs on farms as of June 1, the highest number on that date since records began in 1964.

Some farmers were more skeptical of the administration’s actions, believing the midterm elections in November had more to do with the announcement than concern for farmers. Some farmers expressed concern that few details have been released. The USDA said it planned to roll out some of those details around Labor Day and the program would begin to make payouts after the fall harvest.

(Radio Iowa) — The Trump Administration is announcing direct payments to farmers who’ve taken a financial hit due to international trade disputes. The U-S-D-A also plans to buy dairy products, pork and other commodities like fruits and nuts for distribution to food banks. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue spoke with reporters this (Tuesday) afternoon by telephone.

“This, obviously, is a short-term solution that will give President Trump time to work on a long-term trade policy and deal to benefit agriculture as well all sectors of the American economy,” Perdue said. Perdue said up to 12 billion dollars is available for the effort and it does NOT require congressional approval. Rob Johannson is the chief economist in the U-S-D-A.

“This program is intended to off-set the trade damage that we’ve seen facing our farmers in a number of commodities,” Johanssen said. Direct payments will be made to dairy and pork producers as well as farmers who grow soybeans, sorghum, wheat and cotton. Greg Ibach is the U-S-D-A undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs.

“What this will do is provide some hope to farmers and ranchers that the president and the secretary do have their back,” Ibach said. U-S-D-A officials say more details about this plan, including how farmers are to be paid, will be released in the coming days.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican, says farmers need a long-term trade strategy, not a short term fix. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley calls the proposal “encouraging for the short-term,” but Grassley says farmers ultimately want access to markets rather than “government hand-outs.” Several other Republicans in the U.S. Senate have issued sharper critiques.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul says this is “welfare for farmers.” Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse says Trump’s tariffs have cut the legs out from under farmers and these federal payments amount to “golden crutches.” Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson says farmers want trade, not aid and he suggested the Trump Administration was steering the country’s free market economy toward a “Soviet-style” system where “commissars” decide how to sprinkle out benefits.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration readied a plan Tuesday to send billions in emergency aid to farmers who have been caught in the crossfire of President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other U.S. trading partners. The Agriculture Department was expected to announce the proposal that would include direct assistance and other temporary relief for farmers, according to two people briefed on the plan, who were not authorized to speak on the record. The plan comes as President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Kansas City in the heart of the nation’s farm country.

Trump declared earlier Tuesday that “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.
The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s high-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork, affecting Midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign. Trump has threatened to place tariffs on up to $500 billion in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe’s biggest economies.

Before departing for Kansas City, Trump tweeted that U.S. trade partners need to either negotiate a “fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that.” The president has engaged in hard-line trading negotiations with China, Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate trade agreements he says have undermined the nation’s manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades.
The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. trading partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion. During a Monday event at the White House featuring American-made goods, Trump displayed a green hat that read, “Make Our Farmers Great Again.”

“We’re stopping the barriers to other countries. They send them in and take advantage of us,” Trump said. “This is the way it’s going to go — make our farmers great again.” The president is meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president’s tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.