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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Environmental Council (Citing the weekly Iowa Department of Natural Resources data), today (Friday), report a total of 14 beaches in Iowa are under advisories for excessive E. Coli levels. Advisories are issued when bacteria standards for safe swimming are exceeded.
All State monitored beaches are posted with Information Signs on indicator bacteria and blue-green algae toxins that provide general information regarding ways to reduce the potential health risk associated with swimming at public beaches. These signs will also inform the public of current monitoring efforts and ways to obtain the data. Water samples from the beaches are analyzed for microorganisms, known as bacteria and cyanobacteria toxins. These indicator bacteria are one-celled organisms visible only under a microscope.
High levels of these bacteria indicate that the water has come into contact with fecal material. 
13 Beaches with an E. coli Advisory:
Backbone Beach (Dundee, Delaware County, IA)*
Beed’s Lake Beach (Hampton, Franklin County, IA)*
Big Creek Beach (Polk City, Polk County, IA)*
Clear Lake Beach (Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County, IA)*
Lake Ahquabi Beach (Indianola, Warren County, IA)*
Lake Darling Beach (Brighton, Washington County, IA)*
Lake of Three Fires Beach (Bedford, Taylor County, IA)*
Lower Pine Lake Beach (Eldora, Hardin County, IA)*
Nine Eagles Beach (Davis City, Decatur County, IA)*
North Overlook Beach (Lake Red Rock, Pella, Marion County, IA)**
Pleasant Creek Lake Beach (Palo, Linn County, IA)*
Sugar Bottom Campground Beach (Coralville Lake, Coralville, Johnson County, IA)**
Union Grove Beach (Gladbrook, Tama County, IA)*
1 Beach with a Microcystin Advisory:
Lake Darling Beach (Brighton, Washington County, IA)*
4 City and County Beaches exceed the state’s advisory threshold for E. coli.*
DES MOINES, Iowa, August 16, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield today announced that USDA is providing $14,610,814 in funding for 19 projects in Iowa to expand access to clean energy systems and increase the availability of domestic biofuels that will create new market opportunities and jobs for U.S. farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers. Included among the projects are Casey’s General Stores in multiple western/southwest Iowa locations, and separate Higher Blends Infrastructure Projects in Oakland and Council Bluffs. The projects will increase American energy security and advance President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to grow the nation’s economy from the middle out and bottom up. 
“By providing fuel station and distribution facility owners with grants to install and upgrade infrastructure, USDA is helping folks find lower prices at the pump,” said Director Greenfield. “The Biden-Harris Administration is working to lower costs for rural Iowans while addressing the impacts of climate change. These projects announced today help create good-paying jobs and new market opportunities in rural Iowa.”
An additional project funded for $9,975,252 involves multiple locations in Iowa and four other states. All 20 projects are funded through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentives Program (HBIIP) and are part of a larger nationwide announcement.
NEWTON — U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks spoke Thursday in favor of carbon dioxide pipelines as a way to aid Iowa’s ethanol production industry with an environmentally conscious impact. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Miller-Meeks, the Republican representative for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, spoke about pipelines and other renewable fuel efforts supported by the Conservative Climate Caucus. She, alongside Republican Reps. Randy Weber of Texas, Doug Lamborn of Colorado and Brett Guthrie of Kentucky — fellow caucus members — visited the Chevron Renewable Energy Group in Newton as part of a trip to Iowa focused on increasing affordable, low-emission energy options.
Following a tour of the biodiesel production facility, the Iowa Republican said Iowa is a “forerunner and a leader” in enacting a conservative vision for climate-conscious energy production through the use of renewable fuels, wind and solar energy.
The caucus wants to explore ways to encourage the adoption of new climate-conscious technology and techniques, but Republicans encourage “market-based solutions” rather than government requirements, Miller-Meeks said. She criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for its approach to climate change solutions, citing the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules on issues like coal and natural gas-fired power plants and tailpipe emissions.
U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks spoke about the conservative climate caucus during a visit to the Chevron Renewable Energy Group facility in Newton Aug. 15, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
As the Republican lawmakers seek to bolster alternative energy sources and production in the U.S., Miller-Meeks said carbon dioxide pipelines are one way to lower the carbon intensity score of ethanol, which she said in turn makes the industry competitive globally as American ethanol producers compete with countries like Brazil.
The Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project has been a major point of contention for Iowans in both parties as the company seeks to build a network in five states, including Iowa. Much of the pushback over the project has come from the use of eminent domain that would force landowners to allow the pipeline to be built through their land even if they do not grant the company voluntarily easements.
A group of state Republican lawmakers, as well as conservation groups, counties and property owners, have filed requests for reconsideration with the Iowa Utilities Commission on the three-person panel’s decision to issue a permit to Summit in Iowa.
Miller-Meeks said the use of eminent domain is a “state issue, not a federal issue,” but said the ideal is for a “limited amount of involuntary easements” to be used in pipeline projects. She also said it was important to remember that pipeline companies will not be taking or owning the land.
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.
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