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!
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!
The Cass County Conservation Board invites you to enjoy the 24th biannual Halloween Hike, on Saturday, October 28th, as you follow a trail where your “Unhuggables” will greet you! Starting at 7:00 p.m. small groups will depart from the Camblin Addition of Sunnyside Park every ten minutes. Kids twelve and under are encouraged to arrive early to get their faces painted. The last group will depart at 8:10 p.m. and all hikers are welcome to enjoy free tasty treats and warm drinks after their hike. It is not our intent to scare or frighten anyone, but to educate and entertain people of all ages.
Pre-registration is required for this FREE event, please call 712-769-2372 or email lkanning@casscoia.us to make your reservations. If you leave a message please leave name, phone number, how many is in your group and what time you wish to depart on the hike! We are looking for volunteers for this event as well. This hike is sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board.
(Press Release)
Iowa farmers are moving into their fields to harvest crops. Despite some wet conditions across sections of the state last week, a new report shows Iowa farmers made progress in harvesting corn and soybeans.
The USDA’s survey indicates six-percent of the Iowa corn crop and 16-percent of the soybean crop had been harvested through October 1. The corn harvest is nearly two weeks behind average, while the collection of soybeans is just three days behind average. The USDA rates 60-percent of corn crop in good to excellent condition, while 61-percent of the state’s soybean crop is rated good to excellent.
(Radio Iowa)
A delegation of grain buyers, scientists and government officials from South Korea recently visited several farming operations in Iowa, including the row crop and hog farm of Denny Friest, in Radcliffe. Friest is a fourth generation farmer and says the international visitors got a good look into Iowa agriculture at his family farm near Garden City.
“We were just sharing how our farms work and what our farm is like,” Friest says. “I gave them a general farm tour to show how we grind feed on our farm, utilize corn, soybean meal and dried distilled grains into our rations. We showed them how we do things to encourage them to be buyers of our corn, buyers of our ethanol, buyers of our distilled grains, buyers of our soybeans.”
Friest is a director on the Iowa Corn Growers Association and says the organization focuses on finding global markets for unused commodities. “Twenty-five percent of the corn, 25% of the soybeans, roughly 25% of the hogs, and 25% of the beef that we grow in this country, we have to find another home for because we cannot consume that,” he says. “We work real hard as corn growers to develop markets overseas.” Friest says the delegation of South Koreans was taken aback by Iowa’s agricultural capabilities. “They were suprised at how much independence we have as producers on how we did things,” he says. “We touched on all kinds of things we do to be conservationists and economists. They were surprised about the investment in the machinery and the value of some of the machinery we had to be able to be a farmer, too.”
Other stops included at the Iowa Corn Office in Johnston, a cow and crop farm, the Quad County Processors ethanol plant in Galva and the Golden Grain Energy ethanol plant in Mason City. South Korea is the third largest importer of U.S. corn and distillers dried grains, and also purchased more than 42-million gallons of ethanol in the past year.
(Radio Iowa)
October brings a month-long series of assemblies across Iowa for REAP, or Resource Enhancement and Protection. Tammie Krausman, the REAP coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says they focus on issues like habitat, water quality and preservation of cultural heritage. “REAP is one of the most popular conservation, natural resources and historic development programs in the state,” Krausman says. “One of the reasons it stays so relevant is because every few years, we get out and hold 18 meetings across the state to talk to Iowans about what they really want from those types of programs.”
The assemblies cover a wide range of topics centered on outdoor recreation, soil and water enhancement, historical resources, land management and more. “We get together in a room, we give a brief history of REAP so everyone is on the same page, and then we open it up for questions,” Krausman says. “We talk about all of the local things that have happened with REAP in that area. We ask people what they really want to see with these programs in the future.”
Also at the meetings, delegates are elected to attend the REAP Congress. It will be held on January 6th in the House chambers of the Iowa State Capitol. “All of the delegates who were elected at the individual REAP assemblies come together and we really hard-core debate REAP policy, natural resources policy, conservation, outdoor recreation,” Krausman says. “Then, we make those recommendations to the governor, to the general assembly and to the Natural Resources Commission.”
The assembly meetings run about 90 minutes. The first of the 18 assemblies is planned for Wednesday in Spencer, with another on Thursday in Lehigh. Other meetings will be held this month in: Ventura, Chariton, Maquoketa, Shenandoah, Iowa City, Burlington, Oskaloosa, Marshalltown, Calmar, Carroll, Afton, Neola, Waterloo, Correctionville, West Des Moines and Muscatine. See the complete schedule at: www.iowareap.com
(Radio Iowa)
Several thousand hunters will take to the woods with a bow looking to bring home a deer in the next several weeks. D-N-R wildlife biologist Jim Coffey says the bow season has become more and more popular because of what it offers to hunters. “Probably the most unique thing about archery season is the hunting experience itself and the fact that a lot of people will hunt individually. It’s not quite as social as the shotgun season with the party system. And this gives people a chance to get that one-on-one relationship with nature,” Coffey says.
The season opened Sunday (Oct 1) and some 62-thousand hunters are expected to take part. He says on a slow deer day, there’s still plenty to see. “If there’s not deer then you are observing the squirrels and you’re observing the woodpeckers and all of the other parts of nature. It’s just a very solace type of feeling that connects you back to nature,” according to Coffey. ” A lot of bowhunters are hunting from tree stands, and that puts you right up there in intimately in the habitat itself.”
The deer movement is a little different this time of year too, as they are still in their summer pattern, moving from their bedding areas to food sources. “We’re still fairly green,but we’re turning into an early fall mixture. The leaves will be falling, we’re looking at corn be coming out which changes the habitat evaluation — so it just makes for a different experience,” Coffey says. “A lot of times the deer hunter’s going to be looking at the bedding areas and feeding areas and not so much worried about the ruts or the physical activity of the deer that are based the deer social behaviors, they are looking at the actual day-to-day movement of deer.”
Using a bow takes hunters back to the very early days of hunting. Though Coffey says the modern bows used today are the top of the line in technology. “And that’s good, but ultimately you still have to have good woodsmanship skills — you still have got to understand your weapon — just because it’s an expensive or a better weapon doesn’t mean that you know how to operate it,” Coffey says. “You’ve got to be practicing, you’ve got to understand your abilities and distance and judging. You need to practice from shooting from that elevated position because your angles change, which means it’s not the same as shooting at a target in the back yard.”
Coffey says practicing is important to avoid accidents with your bow and he says you need to check all of your equipment to be sure you are safe. “The number one hunting-related accident in Iowa is falling from a bow stand,” Coffey says. “So checking out those bolts and screws and straps on those stands…those are the most important critical things you can do.” He says the great experience of the hunt can be ruined because a piece of equipment wasn’t checked and failed. “Going into the woods and coming out of the woods is the greatest thing you can do — not harvesting a deer,” he says.
Coffey says you should at least get a chance to see a deer. He says deer numbers are about what they were last year and he expects the total harvest from ALL the seasons should be around 100-thousand deer. Bow hunters took nearly 13-thousand of those deer last year. The archery season will close on December 1st for the shotgun seasons, then reopens on December 18th until closing on January 10th.
(Radio Iowa)
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A stagnant farm economy and its ripple effects on other industries are creating budget problems for Nebraska and Iowa, both of which posted the nation’s weakest income growth in a recent federal report.
Key lawmakers from both states say they’re concerned the agricultural downturn will persist, ripping through other sectors and putting additional strain on their budgets.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis says declining farm income was the leading cause of the slowdown in many states, including Iowa and Nebraska. The bureau reports that incomes in both states increased just 0.1 percent in the last quarter, the lowest growth nationwide.
Officials say the sluggishness also hurt agricultural manufacturing, lending, land-rental income and other industries tied to farming.
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