DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield has announced that the Agency is hiring two Climate Change Fellows in Iowa to help with the record number of applications from farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses seeking funding for clean energy projects under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). USDA is hiring a total of 40 Climate Change Fellows nationwide.

Greenfield says “Iowa ag producers and small business owners are investing in clean energy systems through the REAP program. Their investments are climate smart and will lower their energy costs. These non-partisan positions will help handle the renewable energy portfolio within Rural Development. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to lower energy costs for Iowans.”

The new positions are being funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, and they are part of the USDA Climate Change Fellows Program, which hires new staff with a range of skills to carry out USDA’s activities to address climate change and find solutions to agricultural challenges, enhance economic growth and create new streams of income for farmers, ranchers and producers.

Three of the new positions will report to USDA Rural Development’s national office. To apply, visit this USA Jobs posting.

Initial appointments may be for up to two years. Additional one-year extensions may be made up to four years. Most states will receive additional funds, announced at a later date, to provide REAP technical assistance in addition to these staffing positions.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Crop Advantage meeting to provide a solid foundation of current, research-based crop production information, will be held Jan. 18, 2024, in Atlantic. The meeting at the Cass County Community Building (805 W. 10th St.) is designed to help crop producers make smart, informed decisions for their farming operation. The event is hosted by ISU Extension and Outreach. Topics are selected for each meeting site pertaining to field and growing conditions in those areas. Visit www.cropadvantage.org for more information and to register.$75 early registration ends at midnight, Jan. 11th. Late, or on-site registration is $100.

Crop Advantage is supported in-part, by an Iowa Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program mini-grant. Other sponsors include the Iowa Corn and Soybean Associations.

The schedule for the Crop Advantage session in Atlantic is as follows:

8:30 Registration opens
8:55 Welcome – Aaron Saeugling, extension field agronomist
9:00 Grain bags in western Iowa: Bagging profit or storing problems? – Tony
Mensing, extension field agricultural engineer (CM)
10:00 Windbreak School: Establishment, management, and renovation – Billy
Beck, extension forestry specialist (SW)
10:50 Break
11:00 Soybean gall midge – Ashley Dean, extension education specialist,
Entomology (PM)
12:00 Lunch (provided)
12:50 Impacts of cereal rye on nitrogen cycling and crop production: Benefits,
challenges, and potential solutions and opportunities – Richard Roth,
extension nitrogen science specialist (NM)
1:50 Growing season 2024: Current conditions, a final 2023 summary, El Niño
implications and climatological outlooks – Justin Glisan, State Climatologist
of Iowa (CM)
2:50 Break
3:00 Crop markets in 2024: Can we get back to normal? – Chad Hart, extension
crop marketing specialist (CM)
4:00 Iowa Private Pesticide Applicator Continuing Instruction Course.
Additional fee applies. Applicators must attend the entire meeting
to receive recertification credit. – Aaron Saeugling, extension field
agronomist
5:00 Meeting adjourns

(Radio Iowa) – Sixteen rural Iowa projects are getting funds from the U-S-D-A’s Rural Development Program. Rural Development State Director Theresa Greenfield says the projects vary from linking up medical professionals, to improving water systems. “For a long time, for too long, in my opinion, these communities have felt the loss of the consolidation of farming, the loss of families lost a lot of businesses, we all know grocery stores have closed that kind of thing,” she says “And, and some of that comes from, you know, the get big or get out kind of economy. ”

There’s more than one million dollars ( $1,084,171) going into the projects. “The mission of U-S-D-A Rural Development is to be there to support our rural communities, particularly those that are 20-thousand in population or under. And many of these are even smaller yet, 500 or less,” Greenfield says.

A 50-thousand dollar grant is going to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital to help rural residents in the county.  “All that equipment is going to go to the little town of Villisca, their medical clinic there. And having grown up in that little town of 500, my parents still have to drive almost 30 miles to get health care,” she says, “I know how important it is to make those investments.”

Other grants help cities with facilities and equipment, as Gilbertville is receiving 500-thousand dollars to help build an emergency services building, and Griswold and Lennox are getting grants to help purchase equipment for their fire departments. “Some of these communities may have already received these funds, and some might be still working through and finishing up the paperwork to get these funds,” Greenfield says. “But all 16 of these grants are a great example of communities reaching out to U-S-D-A, telling us what they need to be prosperous, what they need to meet the needs of the community and us working with them to get the support them with those kinds of financial resources.”

The funding comes from various sources, include the U-S-D-A’s Rural Development Program’s budget, the American Rescue plan, and the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Here’s more info on the grants:
-Knierim received a $22,000 grant to help create a water facility plan developed by engineers. This project will assist with the costs of planning for construction and will promote water quality for residents of this rural Calhoun County community.
-Murray received a $22,500 grant to help complete a wastewater system plan. The project will supply a plan created by engineers with alternatives and recommendations to address rehabilitation of the city’s wastewater infrastructure.
–Pisgah received a $22,000 grant to create a water facility plan developed by engineers. This project will address water system conditions and performance and will include alternatives and recommendations to meet the rehabilitation needs of the entire water system.
-Gilbertville received a $500,000 grant to help build an emergency services building to provide essential public services. Anamosa received a $21,000 grant to help purchase fingerprinting scanners, tables, chairs, cabinets, and animal kennels to facilitate law enforcement operations.
–Griswold received a $7,100 grant to help purchase communications equipment for the city’s fire department.
-Lenox received a $43,000 grant to help purchase equipment for the fire department.
-Volga Community in Clayton County received a $44,600 grant to help purchase a utility truck for city road maintenance and snow removal operations.
-Clarke County Public Hospital received a $43,000 grant to help purchase an ambulance. This project will provide a more reliable and comfortable unit with a power lift and ultraviolet disinfection.
–Blockton received a $50,000 grant to help purchase a tanker truck for the city’s volunteer fire department to increase water capacity in fire-fighting operations.
–Montgomery County Memorial Hospital received a $50,000 grant to help purchase medical imaging equipment for Villisca Medical Clinic. This project will provide an X-ray machine to make more accurate diagnosis and to save patient travel time to distant hospitals.
–Corning received a $49,000 grant to help remodel city hall. This project will renovate and update the shingles, concrete, and lighting on the building.
–Anita received a $50,000 grant to help purchase an ambulance. Albia received a $24,100 grant to help purchase a utility vehicle.
-Varina received a $13,500 grant to help purchase 12 sets of essential equipment for the fire department.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a 14-year-old juvenile was arrested Tuesday night, for Domestic Abuse/Simple Assault – 1st offense. The teen was taken into custody at 10:24-p.m, cited into juvenile court, and then released to a guardian. The youth’s name and additional information, was not released.

(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa families have a tradition of taking down the Christmas tree on Sunday, the last day of the year, in order to start the new year out fresh on Monday. Horticulturist and extension educator John Fech says don’t just toss the tree to the curb, but find a way to repurpose it.

“Recycling it, reusing it, thinking of it again as a resource or an asset,” Fech says. If you’re crafty, trim the branches to make a fragrant sachet, wreath, or garland to enjoy in the weeks ahead. You could also cut up pieces of the evergreen to toss in a nearby lake or pond to provide a habitat for fish. Fech says mulching is another option.

“Do that yourself with a hatchet or you could have it run through a chipper,” Fech says. “Many of the cities do that for their parks and then they use that for trail cover around city parks and hospitals and places like that.” Another idea is to return the tree to the great outdoors for wildlife to use as shelter. He likes to call it tree-cycling.

“Also, it could just be songbird habitat,” Fech says. “Set it near the bird feeder so birds have a place to get out of the wind and have a little bit of refuge from predator birds.” If mulching the entire tree is too much work, just using the needles can be an effective mulch on perennial plants, in your garden, and to keep weeds in check.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported after an SUV struck a deer Tuesday afternoon. The 2022 Chevy Tahoe, driven by 20-year-old Macy Wiley, of Creston, was traveling south on Cherry Street near 150th Street at around 3:33-p.m., when a deer came out of the east ditch and into the middle of the road.

Wiley was unable to avoid hitting the animal, which struck the left front side of the SUV. The deer flipped over the top of the vehicle and died at the scene. Damage to the Tahoe was estimated at $5,000.

A single-vehicle accident Tuesday evening near Ellsworth, in northern Iowa, claimed the life of Missouri man. The Iowa State Patrol reports a passenger in a pickup truck, 42-year-old Jose Roger Rivera Vasquez, of Kansas City, MO., died, when the vehicle he was a back seat passenger in, went out of control northbound on I-35 in Hamilton County.

When the vehicle rolled into the east ditch, Vasquez was ejected and died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt. The accident happened at around 5:23-p.m.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as 29-year-old Pedro F. Quintanilla Castellanos, of Kansas City, MO.

The crash remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican leaders aren’t sure whether the 2024 legislature will set new rules for Iowa Capitol displays after the controversy surrounding this month’s Satanic Temple of Iowa display. House Speaker Pat Grassley says the topic was discussed earlier this month during a private meeting of House Republicans.

“Quite frankly, when we brought it up within our caucus…it’s something that we we do not support. It’s not anything we really want to see around here, however as elected representatives we also have to respect First Amendment rights,” Grassley says. “That group, even if I don’t agree with anything they stand for, did follow the process.”

The Satanic Temple of Iowa applied for and received a permit from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to set up its display in the Capitol rotunda for two weeks. “It’s a really tough issue and it’s gotten a lot of people pretty fired up about it,” Grassley says, “but at the end of the day we have to follow the Constitution and we smart about what we’re doing and not just be reactive because we completely disagree with what’s displayed.”

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver says he and other G-O-P senators are reviewing the current rules for Capitol displays. “I don’t know what that means for next year if we pass a bill or what that looks like,” Whitver says, “but there are a lot of people that are disgusted about it.”

A man from Mississippi has been charged with vandalizing the statue in the Satanic Temple’s display. A nativity scene also was displayed in the Iowa Capitol this year, along with a banner from the Iowa Atheist and Free Thinkers and a display by the national Freedom from Religion Foundation.

Early this month Governor Reynolds issued a written statement, saying in a free society the best response to objectionable speech is more speech and she invited like-minded Iowans to join her in praying over the Capitol and recognizing the nativity scene on display in the rotunda.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who got DNA testing kits as Christmas gifts have the opportunity to learn more about their ancestry — and perhaps much more.

Consumer consultant Claudia Lombana says the advanced kits go well beyond your genetic roots and can give you access to more than 25 DNA-based products, including what type of wine may best suit you, to a host of health and fitness information.

Lombana says, “If we talk about fitness and nutrition, there are a couple of kits that will tell you based on your specific DNA the types of exercise that are best for you, the type of nutrition that is best for you.”

For the purchase price, the consumer simply has to spit into a tube, seal it, send it in and wait for the results to come back. The data can be fascinating and very helpful.

Scientist analyzing DNA result for check genetics and forensics science.

“You might be predisposed to high cholesterol but it doesn’t mean your sibling will be,” Lombana says. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to get it but at least it lets you know, ‘Wow, I have a predisposition to this so maybe I should cut back on my salt,’ or cut back on sugar if you have a predisposition to diabetes.

There are differences and a lot of great insights and information you can find out.” For those who want to stick to the basics, Lombana says some kits can follow your DNA back centuries.

“You can dive deeper into your ancestry and it will even tell you the migration paths of your ancestors and the percentage of Neanderthal that you have in you,” she says, laughing. “So, some really interesting and cool things that you can find out.”

Lombana says if you want to buy a kit, do some homework first. Prices vary on what you want to find out, from as little as $50 to several hundred dollars.