From County extension to conservation to grain prices, we provide lots of information every day on KJAN. Here is some of that information on the web too! We hope you find it useful.
From County extension to conservation to grain prices, we provide lots of information every day on KJAN. Here is some of that information on the web too! We hope you find it useful.
The Missouri River Recovery Program is launching a new interactive online tool designed to provide insight to the river’s natural environment and efforts being made to preserve it. Steve Fischer, the program’s senior manager, says the tool is called the Missouri River Basin Explorer. It lets computer users explore the waterway’s different regions, from the Rocky Mountain foothills, along Iowa’s western border to the lowlands of Missouri. “You can take a look at each one of those different regions on the river,” Fischer says. “You can click on different tabs on the website and it’ll show links based on whatever topic you might have selected. It’s helping to show folks how things are interacting together.”
He says the tool was developed with plenty of input from stakeholders all along the Missouri River Basin. Fischer says the tool can help the public to better understand what takes place on the river. “As we engage with the stakeholders in a variety of different venues up and down the river, for example our Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee, our 70-member stakeholder group that we work with,” he says. “It’s a tool for them to go back and share with their constituents as well as for us to share with other basin stakeholders.”
The river serves many interests, including: agriculture, commerce, energy, natural resources, navigation, recreation and water supply. Overuse of the river, the group claims, has led to problems with the ecosystem — 51 of 67 native fish species now rare, uncommon or decreasing; reproduction has largely ceased for cottonwoods, historically the dominant floodplain tree; and aquatic insects, a key link in the food chain, have been reduced by 70-percent. The group says three-million acres of natural river habitat have been altered. Learn more at the website: www.MoRiverRecovery.org
(Radio Iowa)
Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say Green Valley State Park near Creston, will be closed to the general public Nov. 17-18, for the ninth annual special park deer hunt. The hunt will allow 25 hunters to harvest up to 50 antlerless deer using only muzzleloaders. Hunters have already registered and will receive two antlerless tags each redeemable only during the special hunt at the designated areas and specified dates. Additional DNR staff will be on hand to patrol the park boundaries. Green Valley will re-open to the public on Nov. 19.
Alan Carr, park ranger for Green Valley State Park says “The hunt helps keep the deer population in the park under control. Hunters must attend a special safety meeting before the hunt where we explain the reason for the hunt, discuss the rules and show them the park boundaries. We hope to harvest as close to 50 female deer as we can and do it in a safe and efficient manner.” Carr said the hunt has been a great deer management tool for state parks.
“People want to see deer when they come to park, but we need to maintain a balance in the deer herd,” Carr said. “Research shows that if you stop these hunts completely, the deer population tends to go back up rather quickly so the hunt will probably remain an annual event. The depredation biologist sets number of deer targeted for removal each year that is based on the population survey.”
The average harvest for the two day hunt has been just over 40 deer each year.
The Fire Danger Index in Shelby County will remain in the “Moderate” category through this Thursday, November 8th. Emergency Management officials say sunshine and drying conditions expected for the balance of this week will create a moderate risk of grassland and field fires, when opening burning is conducted.
A report from the U-S Department of Agriculture says Iowa had nearly 61-million dollars in sales from organic farms in 2001. Iowa Ag Secretary, Bill Northey, says organic farms add to the diversification of the farm economy. “We have about 467 organic farms in Iowa, that 60-million dollars of sales not only helps those farms, but also helps anybody that is maybe buying those products. Maybe they are buying corn and also raising some cattle and processing the meet from organic production,” Northey says. The state certifies one-third to one-half of the organic farms, with the rest being certified privately.
“People generally have to pay a premium to buy organic products, and so to do that they want to know that animals are taken care of in a certain way, that they are fed organic crops, or if they are buying organic grain, the they are produced without fertilizer or without herbicides,” Northey says. “So they want to make sure that the folks are getting a premium for their products really are raising them the way the buyers want to have them raised.” Northey says organic farms increased steadily the last 10 years, but have leveled off recently due in part to the economy, as people had less income to spend on the products.
“But the other piece is that the producers used to be producing organics in a very low-price commodity market. so, we maybe had two-dollar corn and then and extra two or three dollars for organics on top of that,” Northey explains. “So now we have seven-dollar corn and maybe an extra four or five or more dollars on top of that. So it’s still worth a premium, but the commodity market values are enough better that some of those folks who were looking for a premium have decided to stay in the commodity markets.” Organics are a small part of the 25 to 30-BILLION dollars of agriculture production in Iowa, but he says it has a place.
“There’s lot of reasons why folks buy organics. Some people believe that there is a difference, and some studies have said that there isn’t,” Northey says. “Some believe that they like the way things are produced. And some just believe that they are more boutique products and they are premium products, and therefore because they are priced higher that they must be better. I think we operate in a great economic system that offers choices by consumers and that means they can pay extra for organics if they believe that it is worth the extra value.”
Sales of organic crops in Iowa accounted for 29-point-six-million dollars, livestock and poultry sales accounted for six-point-three million dollars, and livestock and poultry products accounted for 24-point-eight million dollars. Sales of organic vegetables were just over one million dollars, organic fruit sales were 23-thosuand-849-dollars, and sales of organic berries were 30-thousand-777 dollars.
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says farmers who chose to pay more to insure their crops at harvest prices will receive $7.50 per bushel for corn. That should be welcome news for corn farmers in Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska, the nation’s three largest corn producers, respectively. The Des Moines Register also reports that the harvest price payout for soybeans will be $15.39 per bushel.
Farmers who elected to be covered by the less expensive non-harvest price coverage will receive the $5.68 per bushel for corn and $12.55 per bushel for soybeans. Those prices were set in March at the time of insurance sign-up. USDA figures show crop-loss insurance payments through Oct. 29 totaled $3.5 billion nationally, including $1.63 billion for corn and $247.6 million for soybeans.
A national consumer advocacy group released a report Friday that claims Iowa’s shift to large-scale hog production has hurt the state’s rural economy. Wenona Hauter, executive director of San Francisco-based Food and Water Watch, says consolidation in the pork packing industry has forced thousands of small-to-medium size hog producers out of the business. “Over the past three decades, the number of hogs sold in Iowa has doubled, but the value of those hogs has actually declined,” Hauter said. “The number of hog farms dropped more than 80-percent and hog prices have plunged.”
The report claims the fewer, but larger processing plants have also resulted in a decline in wages for the plants’ workers. Hauter, in a conference call with reporters, said the prevailing wisdom has been that hog production and processing has become more efficient – which provides more economic punch to hog producers and cheaper food to consumers. But, the report found otherwise. “The Consumer Price Index for pork has risen by almost 80-percent during the period we studied, while the real hog prices and the real packing plant wages have dropped,” Hauter said. “The decline in the value of hogs and wages have had a ripple effect through the entire economy as farmers and workers have less to spend at main street businesses.”
The study analyzed county-level economic, agricultural and demographic data in five-year intervals from 1982 to 2007. “Meat packer funded studies just look at the total economic output of the consolidated hog industry, but they ignore the damage to rural economies from the decline in the number of independent farms,” Hauter said. “Medium size farms are more likely to buy farm supplies locally and are the foundation of rural economies.” Larry Ginter, a former hog farmer in Marshall County and a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, also took part in the conference call. He said the four biggest packers in Iowa slaughter nine out of 10 hogs, so “independent farmers cannot get a fair price with that kind of stranglehold on the market.”
(Radio Iowa)
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