(Iowa DNR News) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports Bluegills are biting in small ponds and lakes across the State. In late May and early June, male bluegill build nests that female bluegill lay eggs in. Bluegill nests are circular depressions, 1 to 2 feet in diameter. Built in clusters called beds, they appear to look like the surface of a golf ball or elephant tracks. Male bluegills are easy to catch when they are guarding the nests in shallow water. Cast from a distance instead of getting close if the water is clear. Fish will be less finicky if they don’t see you.

Bluegill have small mouths. The DNR suggests you keep your hooks, bobbers and bait small and your line light (2 or 4 pound-test). Weighted bobbers will help you cast further. Worms are a great bait option. You can also tip your jig with a small piece of artificial worm.

Male bluegills build nests (also called beds) for female bluegills to lay eggs in. These spawning beds were built on reefs at Prairie Rose Lake, near Harlan. Photo courtesy of Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Look for bluegill on any type of structure in the water. Check out the Iowa DNR’s mobile-friendly fishing atlas to see where habitat features are in your chosen lake. Many near-shore spawning structures and off shore reefs have been added to Iowa waters. Bluegills can be found in almost every lake across Iowa. Check the weekly fishing report to find out where bluegills are biting.

DES MOINES, Iowa (May 29, 2025) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, Thursday, announced 33 schools or school districts have received grants to participate in the Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Program for Schools. The one-year pilot program connects Iowa schools with Choose Iowa members to encourage school food service programs to purchase and serve more ingredients and products sourced from local farmers and small businesses.  The pilot program was authorized during the 2024 legislative session and is an initiative of Choose Iowa, the state’s branding and marketing program that identifies and promotes Iowa grown, made, and raised food, beverages and ag products.

Among the area community school districts (CSD) which received grants for the Choose Iowa program, was:

• The Griswold School District
• The Clarinda CSD
• The Council Bluffs CSD
• The Missouri Valley School District, and
• The Diagonal CSD

The school pilot program has a total budget of $70,000, and each school was eligible to apply for up to $1,000 per school building. Both public and private schools were encouraged to apply. Selected schools are required to provide a minimum one-to-one (1:1) financial match. For example, a school receiving $1,000 must provide at least $1,000 from other sources for a total of $2,000 spent on local foods through the pilot program. Choose Iowa received applications from 61 schools or school districts totaling $158,249, an overall request far exceeding available funding.

Secretary Naig said “This Choose Iowa pilot program is yet another way we’re connecting Iowa farmers and small businesses with schools to provide fresh, local, and nutritious food to our students. This one-year pilot program saw strong demand from interested schools that far exceeded the available program budget. As Choose Iowa continues to expand, we will work to open even more opportunities to connect local producers and school food programs. Choose Iowa’s membership is growing quickly and is already demonstrating how it can be a powerful tool for strengthening and growing our rural communities.”

Eligible products that can be purchased include meat and poultry, dairy products (other than milk), eggs, honey and produce. Funding for milk is available through a different federal program. To be eligible for funding through the Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Program, schools must purchase food from a Choose Iowa member. If selected schools wish to purchase from specific Iowa farmers, they should encourage those farmers or businesses to apply to become a Choose Iowa member. Food hubs that are Choose Iowa members are also eligible for food purchases within the program. Products purchased through food hubs must come from Iowa producers.

Find the complete list of school districts that were awarded Choose Iowa grants, HERE.

Additional details on the school pilot program can be found on the Choose Iowa website. The school program accompanies the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Choose Iowa’s Food Purchasing Pilot Program for Food Banks, which launched last summer to connect food banks with Choose Iowa members to help alleviate hunger within our communities.

(Radio Iowa) – One of the highest blends of biodiesel is now available at a retailer in central Iowa. B-99 contains just a tenth of a percent of petroleum-based diesel and it’s being sold at the Pilot Travel Center in Urbandale. Dave Walton, a soybean farmer from Wilton, says it’s a major milestone.

“It’s the lowest carbon fuel out that’s out there,” Walton says. “…On the health side, actually, the particulate matter is reduced by like 90% over petroleum diesel.” The B-99 terminal in Urbandale has two pumps. According to the Iowa Soybean Association, PepsiCo will fill its Des Moines-based distribution fleet there. Engines must be equipped with new technology to run on B-99.

Eric Fobes, a vice president for Pilot Travel Centers, says he hopes other carriers invest in the technology to cut carbon emissions. “Heavy duty trucking is very difficult to abate,” Fobes says. “This is a very unique solution to abate that carbon.” A ribbon cutting for the B-99 pump was held Thursday. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says it’s a big step.

B99 is being sold from this pump at a Pilot Travel Center in Urbandale, Iowa. (Brownfield Ag News photo by Brent Barnett)

“We can make this high-quality biofuel, but if it doesn’t make it into the supply chain, if it doesn’t end up in a fuel tank somewhere and get used then we haven’t really pulled the threat through,” Naig said. “We haven’t really completed the supply chain.”

B-99 is being sold at a Pilot Travel Center in Decatur, Illinois — the only other spot in the U-S where B-99 is available for sale in a retail setting. Iowa is the top biodiesel producing state, but the industry is in limbo. In January, five of the 10 plants shut down because a federal tax credit for biodiesel production expired at the end of 2024.

Cass County: Corn $4.31 Beans $10.09
Adair County: Corn $4.28 Beans $10.12
Adams County: Corn $4.28 Beans $10.08
Audubon County: Corn $4.30 Beans $10.11
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.34 Beans $10.09
Guthrie County: Corn $4.33 Beans $10.13
Montgomery County: Corn $4.33 Beans $10.11
Shelby County: Corn $4.34 Beans $10.09

Oats: $3.17 (same in all counties)

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Officials with JBS announced plans today (Thursday), to build a $135 million sausage-production facility that will create more than 700 jobs in Perry. Cameron Bruett, head of corporate affairs for the company, said the facility will be “state of the art” and that “there’s gonna be nothing like it” in America.  “This would probably be the first facility of its kind built in the last 40 years. And so that’s exciting for us to be a new entrant, a new competitor, in a growing space in agriculture,” Bruett said in a call with Iowa Capital Dispatch.

The announcement comes nearly a year after the shuttering of a Tyson Foods pork processing facility in Perry that employed nearly 1,300 people.  Bruett, who was in Perry Wednesday along with other members of JBS senior staff, said the reception to the project has been overwhelmingly positive. The new facility will have 500 direct positions. While it doesn’t fill the 1,300-slot hole left in Perry by Tyson’s departure, Bruett said he believes there will be “ample opportunity” for former Tyson employees in town to find work at the new facility.

A rendering of a sausage production facility in Perry, proposed by JBS USA. (Rendering courtesy of JBS)

Perry Mayor Dirk Cavanaugh said at the time of the Tyson plant closure he was unsure how the town of about 8,000 would recover from the closure and loss of jobs.  Following the news from JBS, Cavanaugh. said the project was a “potential game-changer” for Perry. Bruett was unable to share wage ranges for the jobs the facility, if approved, would provide. He said the starting salary for other JBS facilities in Iowa is about $22 per hour and the Perry site would be comparable. JBS also anticipates the construction of the facility will require around 250 local construction jobs, starting in 2025 when it hopes to begin building. The company expects the facility will be operational in late 2026.

The sausage-making facility would process around 500,000 sows to create 130 million pounds of sausage each year. Bruett said the facility will create an additional outlet for local pork producers who currently transport most of their sows east for processing. Additionally, JBS plans to invest in the Perry community through its Hometown Strong and Better Futures programs which fund projects in the community and help JBS team members and their family members attend community colleges.

JBS will submit a request to the City of Perry to change the zoning for the property, located on the southeast side of town, from agricultural to heavy industrial, according to Bruett. The city council will have to approve the project before it can begin construction.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Advisory C omission during their monthly meeting Wednesday afternoon, heard from Trees Forever Representative Brad Riphagen, with regard to Community Visioning, specifically for the City’s Parks system. Riphagen explained Community Visioning is a program established in 1997, and provided for communities with a population of less than 10,000, in partnership with the Iowa Department of Transportation (for funding), and Iowa State University.

He said it’s up to the community to determine what their concerns are. Riphagen said there are three parts to the process. It begins with collecting information from various groups and individuals, and analyzing what’s already available.

That data is compiled into a feasibility study, that includes maps, goals, proposed projects and associated costs, and how to implement project plans. The whole process takes about a year, he said. The last time a feasibility study was conducted in Atlantic, was in 1998.

Brad Riphagen w/Trees Forever

The process, Riphagen said, “Has changed immensely since then.”

The application due date – if the City wishes to proceed – is September 1^st. The planning service is essentially free, but does require local funds to be set aside, as a commitment to begin whatever the first project is.

The Commission tabled action on moving ahead at this time, and to conduct a little more research for discussing the next steps in moving forward. They noted there’s still plenty of time before the application to conduct the survey, needs to be submitted.

In other business, the Atlantic Parks and Rec Advisory Commission discussed signage for a County monument in the City Park. Commission Chair Kevin Ferguson presented a plaque honoring sponsors: Atlantic Junior Federated. A design for mounting of the sign will be presented to the Junior Federation before the plaque will be affixed to it.

Cass County: Corn $4.33 Beans $10.11
Adair County: Corn $4.30 Beans $10.14
Adams County: Corn $4.30 Beans $10.10
Audubon County: Corn $4.32 Beans $10.13
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.36 Beans $10.11
Guthrie County: Corn $4.35 Beans $10.15
Montgomery County: Corn $4.35 Beans $10.13
Shelby County: Corn $4.36 Beans $10.11

Oats: $3.14 (same in all counties)

(Radio Iowa) – Wet weather in the past week stalled planting progress for Iowa farmers.  The U-S-D-A weekly report shows corn planting increased by only four percent to 95 percent complete. It is still six days ahead of last year and two days ahead of the five-year average. Bean planting increased from 84 to 92 percent complete. That’s more than two weeks ahead of last year and eight days ahead of average.

Seventy-six percent of the corn has emerged, and 83 percent is rated in good to excellent condition. Sixty-percent of soybeans have emerged and 80 percent are rated in good to excellent condition.

Cass County: Corn $4.34 Beans $10.12
Adair County: Corn $4.31 Beans $10.15
Adams County: Corn $4.33 Beans $10.11
Audubon County: Corn $4.33 Beans $10.14
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.37 Beans $10.12
Guthrie County: Corn $4.36 Beans $10.16
Montgomery County: Corn $4.36 Beans $10.14
Shelby County: Corn $4.37 Beans $10.12

Oats: $3.14 (same in all counties)

(Iowa News Service) – Farmers in Iowa fear that proposed cuts in SNAP benefit funding could limit the market for their products. The Trump administration says it is cutting federal spending across all budget sectors. The Food Bank of Iowa says nearly 11% of Iowans, including almost 111,000 children, don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman said food insecurity is a problem, not just in urban areas but also in rural ones. “We know that this impacts our people directly,” said Lehman, “and also impacts our farms, who are growing the food that’s used in the SNAP program ” Lehman added that fewer SNAP dollars mean less money for recipients to buy the products raised by Iowa growers, which would trickle down to Iowa farmers.

He said the SNAP program helps farmers broaden their markets, which ag producers need now more than ever as they face their own set of economic challenges. “Because farmers are experiencing all sorts of market upsets due to trade tensions and tariffs,” said Lehman, “and we’re also selling into a monopolized marketplace, where just a few people buy what we sell.”

Lehman added that some Iowa farmers are already selling their crops below production costs, which would only worsen with fewer places to sell them, and reducing the number of buyers would further stiffen their economic challenges.