(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson and Congressman Randy Feenstra say they are working to help producers hit by the bird flu. Hinson, a Republican from Marion says it was the topic of a recent meeting. “Our Ag F-D-A Appropriations Committee had experts from U-S-D-A, APHIS, and animal research A-R-S, to really talk about what we need to be doing to combat avian influenza. This is about protecting those farmers and ranchers from losing their flocks and herds,” she says. Hinson says one topic was using prevention measures. “They’ve got a pilot program that’s designed to help with stopping the critters that get into these facilities that help spread, helping to deter the wild bird blocks that otherwise might bring that disease close to these, these barns and facilities,” Hinson says. They also discussed helping producers with their losses.

“On the indemnity side, we also had a great discussion about the math that they’re using and the system that they’re using to calculate what that indemnity looks like,” she says. Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull says he recently talk with the new U-S Ag Secretary about the issue. “We just lost 21 million birds over the last several months right here in western Iowa. So we’re looking at vaccines and solutions to try to mitigate this issue. We just heard that. You know, bird flu is now in rats and mice, so we’ve got to figure out a solution to this epidemic,” Feenstra says. Feenstra says he also learned some frozen U-S-D-A funds have been released. “There’s 20 million of grants that got released as of the 20th of February. So I’m so excited that happened,” Feenstra says. “We had a lot of discussions with the administration, and this is what happens. We have a new administration, and some things get hooked up, but I tell you what, we got this resolved.”

Feenstra spoke at an event in Sioux City and Hinson made her comments on her weekly conference call with reporters.

(Radio Iowa) – The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will let a higher blend of ethanol be sold this summer in Iowa and seven other Midwestern states. The sale of fuel with a 15 percent blend of ethanol has been prohibited nationwide in the summer due to concerns it could worsen smog levels. Bills have been introduced in congress to make the year-round sale of E-15 a permanent federal policy.

E-P-A Administrator Lee Zeldin says in the absence of congressional action, the agency is considering emergency waivers. He announced late Friday that E-15 may be sold in the Midwest this summer. Iowa elected officials, farm groups and the ethanol industry praised the decision.

(Iowa News Service) – An agriculture program in Iowa is helping new and up and coming farmers learn from more experienced ones – and its organizers have uncovered another outcome they weren’t expecting. Steve Riggins and his wife moved to their Cambridge, Iowa, farm ten years ago. It’s been in the family since 1855, but hadn’t been worked in decades.

Riggins turned to Practical Farmers of Iowa’s “Labor for Learning” program, which recruits farmers who’ve been around a while to teach those, like Riggins, where to start. “They taught me everything from cutting hay, raking hay, working on machinery, moving cows, working in the dairy,” said Riggins. ‘They taught me a million different things I never would have had a chance to learn. And it was 10 times better than going through YouTube.”

The program teaches beginning farmers practical, hands-on skills and helps them understand ag management practices and financial strategies. It also gives those more experienced farmers some extra hands on their land. Research shows roughly 10% of the nation’s farmland will transition to the next generation in just five years.

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Martha McFarland, farmland viability coordinator with Practical Farmers of Iowa, said while the Labor for Learning program is good for teaching the next generation, organizers were surprised to discover that the more experienced farmers are also potentially recruiting people they will pass their farm on to – as rural America undergoes a huge generational shift in land ownership.

“It’s really awkward to have a match between a retiring farmer and someone who might come in and take over the land and just say ‘OK, now take over,'” said McFarland. “There has to be some kind of an interim getting to know you period. And so, to be able to help retiring farmers find that, in that context, is really helpful.”

She said the more experienced farmers go through a training program with PFI before they take on the new ones.