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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
Movie in the Park-
(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board is holding a “Movie in the Park” Campground Program. Staff will show the FREE movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The public program will be held at the Campground Shelter at Cold Springs Park in Lewis, IA on Friday August 30th 2024 at 9:00 pm.
In the movie, Coriolanus Snow mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute during the 10th Hunger Games. Come out for a great movie under the stars! Bring a blanket or chair, snacks, Dress for the weather, we may reschedule at a later date if it rains, and You DO NOT have to be a registered camper to attend the program!
“Mysterious Monarchs” Programs
The Cass County Conservation Board is holding “Mysterious Monarchs” Programs. The public programs will be held:
FREE! Discover the Monarch Butterflies before their journey south! Conservation staff will tag monarchs and show you how! If you would like a home tagging kit you must attend and pre-register for the Kit. Call 712-769-2372 to pre-register for your kit. You DO NOT have to be a registered camper to attend the program!
(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board will be holding “Stand Up Paddleboard” (SUP) demonstrations later this month. The public demonstrations will be held August 31st at 9-a.m. and 10:30-a.m., at Cold Springs Park- Beach, near Lewis. There is no charge to attend.
Officials say SUP is the fastest growing sport in the paddling community not only across the country, but in land-locked areas like Iowa, as well. It’s fun, healthy as a total body work-out, and offers a unique perspective when it comes to being on the water.
After a quick demonstration, you’ll have a chance to try out the boards for yourself. If you do not bring a life jacket one will be provided to you. Children must be 16 years or older. Paddlers must weigh LESS than 250 LBS.
Paddle Boarding
All events are at the Cold Springs Park- Beach
August 31st
9AM- 5 Spots
10:30am- 5 Spots
Kayaks will be available for checkout at the same time. There are four, sit-in kayaks available. Paddlers must weigh LESS than 250 LBS. There are also four, sit-on-top kayaks. Paddler must weigh LESS than 395 LBS. If you do not bring a life jacket one will be provided to you.
9AM- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.
10:30AM- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.
September 7th
1:00pm- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.
2:30pm- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.
You MUST register online to get your spot! https://www.mycountyparks.com/County/Cass/Park/Cold-Springs-Park.aspx
Programs will be cancelled if there is unsafe weather conditions on the Lake.
(Radio Iowa) – A few hundred Iowans are being recognized at the Iowa State Fair today (Thursday) as the owners of farms that have been in the same family for at least 100 years. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig will be handing out the certificates beginning at 9-a.m. “Truly my favorite day of the year which is the day that we recognize our Century and Heritage Farm award winners,” Naig says. “This year we’re going to recognize 439 families.”
A Heritage Farm has been in the same family for at least 150 years, a Century Farm for 100 years. Today’s (Thursday’s) ceremony will be held in the first building on the fairgrounds that was made of brick. It opened 122 years ago for cattle and horse shows — and Naig imagines some of the founders of Iowa’s Century farms have been in that building. “I cannot think of a better place or time to do that than in the historic Livestock Pavilion here at the great Iowa State Fair,” Naig says. “It’s just so fitting for that.”
More than two-thousand Iowa farms have been owned by the same family for at least 150 years. There are more than 21-thousand Century Farms on the state’s registry — including the farm near Cylinder where Naig grew up.
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is planning to reintroduce paddlefish into the Iowa Great Lakes. D-N-R Fisheries Biologist Mike Hawkins says paddlefish are native to the area. “We have good historical record of these fish being caught within the lakes region,” Hawkins says. “Unfortunately…around 1919 the last paddlefish was seen here and we think that their numbers dwindled shortly after the dams were put on the Little Sioux River, which prevented some of the fish migration upstream.”
Paddlefish eat microscopic plants and animals called plankton. They thrive in slow-moving, deep freshwater and Hawkins says paddlefish could grow quite large in the Iowa Great Lakes. “Around 1916 there was a report in the Spirit Lake Beacon of a 180 pound paddlefish being caught and then two weeks later in the Beacon it was reported a 210 pound fish was caught,” Hawkins says. “If those records are true, those would have been the largest paddlefish ever caught in the world.”
Paddlefish look a bit like a shark with a gray body and a blade-like snout. “Paddlefish just have a really cool structure on their head, which is what they get their name from — this long paddle…and they don’t have any scales,” Hawkins says. “They have a smooth skin to them.” The head of a paddlefish is covered with pores that can detect electrical signals in the water and Hawkins says that’s how they find the plankton they feed on.
Paddlefish catch(DNR-photo)
The D-N-R has acquired paddlefish from Missouri and they’re being raised at the state fish hatchery at Lake Rathbun. About 19-hundred will be stocked in the Iowa Great Lakes in the next month or so. “We know that not all of them are going to make it to adulthood. They are about 10 to 12 inches in size, so we hope a bunch of them do,” Hawkins says. “Then we’ll do the biology thing and start figure out what kind of a maintenance stocking would be necessary to sustain a small population in the lakes.”
While Paddlefish have been absent from Iowa’s largest natural lakes for over a century, the D-N-R says Paddlefish can be caught in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers that form the west and east borders of Iowa AND near the points where the Des Moines, Iowa and Skunk Rivers drain into the Mississippi.
(Iowa News Service) – Results of a poll by the Save the Children Action Network show that voters of all backgrounds are struggling with the cost of living and want the government to do more to address these needs. Iowa mirrors the national numbers. The poll shows a large, bipartisan majority of voters want help affording food and grocery prices, and child-care costs. Tiffany Welch, with the Save the Children Action Network’s Iowa chapter says these issues are especially crucial in rural parts of the state, and that overall in Iowa, food banks and assistance programs are seeing record-breaking numbers of people in need.
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Save the Children executive director Christy Gleason says the group is calling on lawmakers to expand SNAP benefits and other policies that affect kids in the Farm Bill, and says the survey shows that voters are making their decisions based on those issues, even during a time of intense polarization.
The latest Farm Bill, which has already been extended for a year, remains stalled in Congress.
(Radio Iowa; UPDATED) – While we’re in the season of state fair corndogs and cotton candy, soon enough, the wicked winds of winter will blow into Iowa, and the new edition of the Farmers’ Almanac isn’t boding well for the seasons to come. Almanac editor Sandi Duncan says their forecast for what lies ahead is under the headline “Wet Winter Whirlwind,” and it predicts Iowa and the rest of the Great Plains states will be facing lower-than-normal temperatures.
“We do see a lot of cold, not freezing cold, it’s going to be overall cold,” Duncan says. “We do see a stormy start to winter in December. January doesn’t look too bad, but then the snow and the wetness and the whirlwind really comes in February in your neck of the woods, with some major storms coming at the beginning as well as the end of the month of February.” Since 1818, the almanac has been using a proprietary formula to forecast the weather, based on historical and celestial factors. In addition to the cold, Duncan says they’re calling for an Iowa winter with average snowfall.
“The whirlwind comes from the idea that looking at both December and February, we do see some back-to-back storms with both snow, rain, sleet, you know, the fun stuff,” Duncan says, “but definitely some snow in February, but nothing too major. Overall, it doesn’t look too bad as far as precipitation goes, but you just expect some snowy days.” The almanac contains 16 months of weather forecasts, including for the Summer of 2025. In recent months, Iowa has emerged from a four-year drought, and the almanac predicts the heat will be back on a year from now. 
“We do see scorching temperatures with average rainfall, so hopefully, you won’t have to go into some type of drought, especially with the kind of wet seasons before that,” Duncan says. “It looks like average rainfall for next summer and hopefully you won’t get back into any type of drought conditions, since you guys need a little break, for sure.” Iowa’s had a rough spring and summer, with widespread flooding in many areas that followed severe storms, along with a record 130 tornadoes. Some point to climate change as the root cause, and Duncan says you’d have to be blind to say the climate isn’t changing.
“Definitely there’s something going on and things are changing, so we are trying to adapt to the ever-changing environment that we all live in,” Duncan says. “I would say that, unfortunately, this change that’s going on is bringing some more extreme weather, so we’re trying to adjust as we can and try to give people an idea of what may come so they can be prepared.” The Lewiston, Maine-based almanac boasts a forecast accuracy rate of 80% to 85%. The prognosticating formula was developed more than two centuries ago, based on factors including sunspot activity, planet positions, and the effect the Moon has on the Earth. Besides long-term weather predictions, the Farmers’ Almanac also contains a wealth of information on gardening, cooking, home remedies, folklore, managing your household, living in harmony with nature, and more.
Des Moines, IA – Butter sculptor extraordinaire, Sarah Pratt, on Monday bestowed State Auditor Rob Sand with the honor of naming the 2024 Iowa State Fair Butter Cow. Without hesitation, Sand paid homage to his cow-naming predecessor, Brogan Malcolm who grew up in Truro, Iowa. “Brogan named the butter cow for 10 years and her story can inspire all of us,” said Sand. “So, it makes perfect sense that this year’s butter cow be named after her.”
Malcolm, born without sight, made a tradition of attending the Iowa State Fair with her grandfather, who at the time, called Pratt with a special request. “He called and asked if there was a way that Brogan could have a hands-on experience with the butter cow,” said Pratt, who immediately agreed to allow her into the refrigerated unit housing the butter cow and her companions. “Being a special education teacher, I wanted her to feel the sculpture, to smell the butter, and it became a tradition that was just so lovely.”
Sand and Pratt with Butter Cow
Brogan with Butter Cow
Malcolm, now 20 years old, says she distinctly remembers the smell of the butter, which is recycled year after year. “It smelled old,” said Malcolm jokingly. The decade-long, Iowa State Fair pastime solidified the bond between Malcolm, Pratt, and Pratt’s two daughters who have helped sculpt the 600-pound butter bovine on and off since their mother took over the job in 2006.
Malcolm currently interns at a daycare center where she reads to children from books written in Braille, and will soon graduate from Des Moines Public Schools’ Secondary Transition Employment Program (STEP). “Brogan teaches us an important lesson,” said Sand. “What some might view as a disability, is really just a different way of experiencing the world.”
(Radio Iowa) – A long-anticipated connection between two of Iowa’s most popular bike trails opens this weekend. The trail extension from Woodward to Perry creates a nearly-continuous 120-mile paved loop for bikers, runners and walkers on the Raccoon River Valley Trail and the High Trestle Trail. Andrea Boulton is the trails and community conservation director for the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, one partner behind the nine-mile project that’s been years in the making.
“There’s so much excitement to see this project finally come to fruition,” Boulton says. The new segment links two iconic and nationally-recognized trails, and makes the network a destination for Iowans and out-of-state visitors. To mark the opening, the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association has organized a bike ride and ribbon cutting on Saturday and Boulton says there are more trails to come.
The High Trestle Trail (Natural Heritage Foundation photo)
“We’re not done yet as a state,” she says. “We’ve got a very big vision.” Linking Lake Red Rock to Saylorville, Eldora to Marshalltown, and filling in gaps across the Great American Rail-Trail are part of that vision. Boulton says developing long-distance, destination trails gets more people outdoors. “As they’re doing that, they’re discovering new places, new restaurants, new stores, new parks, and places that they’ve never been to before,” she says, “and they’re realizing they can make a whole vacation out of it.”
A 2012 study found cyclists and trails generate over 360-million dollars in direct and indirect economic impacts on the state. A new study is underway.
(Rachel Cramer, Iowa Public Radio)
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