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(Radio Iowa) – Donald Trump has said his first act after he’s sworn in on January 20 will be appointing a task force to plan for the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026 — and he picked Iowa as the spot for a major exposition. “The Great American State Fair will showcase the glory of every state in the union, promote pride in our history,” Trump said, “and promote innovative visions for America’s future.”
A video Trump posted on social media back in May of 2023 is recirculating online after X owner Elon Musk commented on it. Trump said he’d work with all the nation’s governors to create pavilions for each state that will be set up on the Iowa State Fairgrounds — for a year-long expo.
111,591 people attended the Iowa State Fair on August 16, 2024. (RI photo)
“My hope is that the amazing people of Iowa will work with my administration to open up the legendary Iowa State Fairgrounds to host the Great American State Fair and welcome millions and millions of visitors from around the world to the heartland of America for this special one-time festival,” Trump said. “Together we will built it and they will come.”
Governor Kim Reynolds, in a post on social media today, said Iowans “know the Iowa State Fair is the best fair in the country!…We stand ready to host the Great American State Fair.” Reynolds was at Trump’s Election Night party in Florida Tuesday night.
Jeremy Parsons, the manager and CEO of the Iowa State Fair, issued a written statement. “We know the world’s greatest state fair is in Iowa, but no formal request or inquiry has been made for use of the Iowa State Fairgrounds at this time,” Parsons said.
Trump has visited the Iowa State Fair twice. He also held a rally on the fairgrounds in October of 2021 and in 2016 Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Senator Joni Ernst that was held in the livestock pavilion. Trump’s first State Fair visit was in 2015. He flew his helicopter over the fairgrounds, then walked through the throngs of fairgoers on the same day Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were at the fair. In 2023, Trump visited the State Fair on the same day as Republican rival Ron DeSantis. Trump stopped at the Iowa Pork Producers’ grill, walked down the fair’s Grand Concourse and spoke to supporters who’d gathered inside a beer hall.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who oppose a pipeline that would collect carbon from Midwest ethanol plants are cheering a development in South Dakota. South Dakota voters rejected a proposal that would have made it harder for South Dakota Counties to regulate the location of carbon pipelines. Ed Fischbach, a South Dakota farmer, says the results were gratifying. “We won 65 of the 66 counties. We won every county that an ethanol plant exists in even though we were outspent about 50-to-1. I think there’s probably going to be about $3 million so far to our little piddly $220,000 effort,” Fischbach says. “Hopefully at some point in time maybe this company will realize they’re not going to prevail here and move on.”
Summit Carbon Solutions wants to build a pipeline across Iowa and four other states to pump carbon emissions from ethanol plants in the region into underground storage in North Dakota. The Iowa Utility Commission has awarded a permit to Summit so it can seize property from unwilling land owners and build the pipeline, but construction cannot start until Summit gets regulators’ approval in the Dakotas. Brian Jorde is an attorney who represents landowners in South Dakota AND Iowa who have refused to sign contracts to allow the pipeline on their property. Jorde says the South Dakota vote sends a message.
Map of proposed Summit pipeline route through Iowa (Source: Summit Carbon Solutions)
“It’s time for Summit and their sympathizers and their friends and the politicians that they fund to realize you’ve got to respect local control in South Dakota, respect the ordinances and eminent domain cannot be used,” Jorde says. “And if they don’t get that through their head, this pipeline will not be built in South Dakota, ever.”
Carbon Solutions will apply for a permit in South Dakota on November 19th. In a written statement, the company said its focus continues to be on working with landowners and ensuring the long-term viability of ethanol and agriculture in the state. Summit also cites other pipeline projects that it says have successfully navigated South Dakota’s existing regulatory landscape in the past.
SIOUX CITY – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, this (Wednesday) evening, said their Field Office in Spencer was notified by the City of Sioux City of an untreated wastewater discharge due to equipment failure at the Floyd lift station.
The discharge began around 10:15 a.m. on November 6th. Officials sayiIt is estimated nearly two million gallons of untreated wastewater discharged into Bacon Creek Channel, with an unknown amount reaching the Missouri River. Officials say Bacon Creek Channel was dry prior to the incident. The discharge has stopped and the lift station is operational. No dead fish have been observed at this time, and Bacon Creek Channel is now dry.
The Iowa DNR has notified downstream surface water systems with the cities of Council Bluffs, Blair, Nebraska, and Omaha, Nebraska. Any downstream recreational users should take caution and stay out of the river at this time. The Iowa DNR will follow up with the city for further assessment.
To report a release after hours, please call the DNR’s emergency spill line at (515) 725-8694. Quick reporting can help DNR staff identify the cause of an incident. The DNR website has more information about spill reporting requirements.
Oats: $3.05 (same in all counties)
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(Des Moines, Iowa; Iowa Capital Dispatch) – After a near-record dry September and October, Iowa received some much-needed rain while many farmers finished off their corn and soybean harvests for the season. Corn harvest reached 92% complete in the state, which is two weeks ahead of the average schedule, according to the Iowa crop progress and condition report for Oct. 28 through Nov. 3. Soybean harvest is 98% complete in the state, according to the national report.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the damp and rainy conditions may slow the progress of farmers who still have crops to harvest. “However, it will also provide the added benefits of reducing dust, decreasing fire risk and helping to replenish our dry soils, waterways and pastures,” said Naig in a statement Monday. “For the many farmers who have seeded cover crops or are planning to do so, the rain also provided a much needed boost toward getting them established.”
The rain from the past week, which state climatologist Justin Glisan said was “nearly a month’s worth of rain” at some reporting stations, has also helped to replenish topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions. For the past several weeks, these conditions have been trending downward, with soil moisture becoming increasingly short. This week however, topsoil moisture condition increased from 15% adequate to 39% adequate. Subsoil moisture similarly jumped from just 20% adequate to 31% adequate due to the statewide average precipitation of 2.29 inches. The climatologist report said rainfall was more than four times the normal amount for this reporting period. Temperatures across Iowa were also above typical years, with an average of 53.1 degrees, nearly 8 degrees above normal.
The price of corn in Iowa was lower in September 2024 than previous years. (Graph courtesy of USDA)
The rainfall also lifted burn bans across the state, and now just nine Iowa counties are under a burn ban, according to the State Fire Marshal site. The state also released ag prices, Oct. 31, for the month of September. This report showed corn, on average, was $4.09 per bushel in September, which was 7 cents above the price per bushel in August, but $1.13 below the price of the previous September. Soybeans were similarly $3.10 per bushel below the price in September 2023 and averaged $10 per bushel in September 2024.
Milk prices in Iowa were $5.80 per hundredweight count (cwt) above prices from September 2023, and averaged $25.70 per cwt.
(Radio Iowa) – Two scientists who helped create an international seed vault received the World Food Prize last week in Des Moines, spotlighting the importance of seed banks, including one in northeast Iowa. The Seed Savers Exchange, based in Decorah, is a collection with more than 20-thousand heirloom varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers and grains. The non-profit’s development director Cindy Goodner says it’s one of the largest non-governmental seed banks in the U.S. “Our collection of home-grown seeds is really deemed as being globally significant,” Goodner says. She notes the Seed Savers’ mission is to build a community of people who safeguard heirloom seeds for the future.
Goodner says this year’s World Food Prize, often dubbed the Nobel Prize of food and agriculture, elevates the importance of protecting crop diversity. Mike Bollinger, executive director of the Seed Savers Exchange, says home gardeners and small-scale farmers who save and share heirloom seeds are also vital links to maintaining diversity in our crops. “No matter how you’re looking at it, you need crop diversity,” Bolinger says. “It is really the foundation of our agricultural food system, and so it’s important to preserve that.” Bollinger says he was happy to see the World Food Prize awarded to scientists in this field. He says it brings attention to seed banks and their role in food security, especially in the face of climate change.
The World Food Prize went to Geoffrey Hawtin and Cary Fowler, who helped start the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway in 2008. It’s a backup for more than 100 seed banks around the world, including the Seed Savers Exchange.
(Radio Iowa) – Creating a field of solar panels to generate power doesn’t have to mean taking farmland out of agricultural production. Mallory Tope, a policy associate with the Center for Rural Affairs, says “dual use solar” is an excellent solution for meeting the growing demand for renewable energy while also utilizing Iowa’s fertile soil for growing crops — and growing other things. “A dual use solar site combines solar generation with agricultural use,” Tope says. “There’s a lot of different options. You could do livestock grazing, crop production, pollinator habitat, beekeeping, but it really just is the essence of using the same land to have ag and solar generation.”
The center is launching an educational campaign designed to reach policymakers at the city, county and state level. “There’s a lot of concern around having solar on agricultural land and taking that land out of production, but with dual use, you’re able to get both and have all the benefits that come with having a solar site,” Tope says. “You get the tax revenues, the landowners get their lease payment, but you still get to use that land for agricultural production.” The Center for Rural Affairs is working to encourage local leaders to consider agri-solar and dual use when drafting or amending ordinances that relate to solar development.
CFRA photo
“It’s a great solution, as a lot of people maybe don’t want to completely take out land for just solar, but with agri-solar, you still can get some use out of it,” Tope says. “It’s kind of like the best of both worlds, having that energy generation and being able to still use your land for some agricultural usage.” To support dual use development, Tope says counties could set additional land-use expectations, adopt zoning approaches that allow for mixed land use, or set up overlay districts for special solar permits.
A report from the Clean Grid Alliance says Iowa has more than 30-million acres of farmland, with about 18-million considered “prime” acres, while about 25-hundred acres statewide are devoted to solar, generating 260-megawatts of power.
(Radio Iowa) – The trapping season opens in Iowa Saturday with a D-N-R expert saying the prospects look good. Furbearer biologist Vince Evelsizer says some of the animals have managed the recent wet to dry weather swings better than others. “The more aquatic fur bear species like beavers, otters, mink and muskrats, they’re more affected by this extreme wet to dry to wet, intra-annual variation that we’re seeing more than ever in Iowa,” he says. “That’s hard on them for rearing litters and overwintering successfully.”
He says the bobcat, coyote and foxes, are less impacted by that, but it can impact their numbers to some extent when it gets really dry out. He says the price of fur is one thing that has trappers more motivated. “There’s a little bit of optimism because of reports of an increased demand and wild furs from more countries than have been at the table the past few years. So the demand is there a bit more than it has been the last few years,” Evelsizer says. But he says you are not going to make a fortune with fur in Iowa.
“Trapping is not a lucrative sport any longer. It’s something to do just out of sheer passion and a way to enjoy the outdoors and learn many things about reading animal sign and just seeing things go on out there while you’re out there,” he says. Evelsizer says it is a venture that doesn’t take a big investment to get started. “It’s one of those activities where you can keep it as simple as you want or as complex as you want,” Evelsizer says. “So generally, for a few hundred dollars you could get enough equipment to get a taste of trapping, If you wanted to get into it even more than you can spend even more.”
(DNR graphic)
Evelsizer says it’s also not hard to learn the basics. “There’s more ways than ever to get into trapping. Probably the number one way is to find a seasoned, experienced trapper that’s and you know that can kind of play a role as being a mentor,” he says. “Another option is to attend one of our beginner Trapper education events that are held annually around the state.” A change was made to the trapping law to try and get younger kids interested. “Youth trappers under age 16 can go trapping with a licensed adult now without having to pay for a youth for harvester license,” Evelsizer says.
He says you can find out more about trapping on the D-N-R’s website.
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