(Glenwood, Iowa) – Two Counties in southwest Iowa now have bans in place on outdoor burning. On Thursday, a ban on open burning went into effect in Adair County. Today (Friday), the State Fire Marshal’s Office issued a BURN BAN for Mills County, effective from 8-a.m. Saturday, August 6th, and until further notice. The conditions are such in both Adair and Mills Counties, that conducting an open burn creates a danger to lives and property.

Once fire officials in each county agree those conditions no longer exist, the Emergency Management Director will request the ban to be removed. Until then, a violation of the ban on open burning, is a simple misdemeanor.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Abnormally dry or drought conditions now cover more than half of Iowa. The latest Drought Monitor map was released Thursday morning. The map shows 56% of the state rated as abnormally dry, which now includes Polk and Jasper counties. Areas of northwest and southeastern Iowa are now so dry they’re dealing with drought conditions. Two-thirds of Cass County, most of Adair, Madison, Adams, Union and Montgomery Counties are experiencing a Moderate Drought, while other areas to the north and northeast are considered “Dry.”

According to the report, 30.6% of Iowa is experiencing moderate drought, up from 17.2% a week ago.  9.1% of Iowa is experiencing severe drought, a 1.4% increase from last week, while 3.2% of the state is dealing with extreme drought.

Iowa Drought Monitor, 8/4/22 (click on image to enlarge)

 An island of D1 category moderate drought introduced two weeks ago in southeast Iowa is expanding across the southern and central part of the state into southwest Iowa. Plymouth County and the northern portion of Woodbury County in northwest Iowa are dealing with extreme drought conditions.

(Radio Iowa) – Starting today (Friday), Summit Carbon Solutions will start providing state regulators with lists of landowners along its proposed pipeline who have not agreed to voluntary easements. Justin Kirchoff, president of Summit Ag Investors, says hundreds of people HAVE signed contracts to let the carbon pipeline run through their property. “We’ve got about 750 landowners that have decided to sign voluntary easements with us today, so that’s about 270 miles of pipeline easements,” Kirchoff says. Summit submitted an application to the Iowa Utilities Board for a pipeline permit earlier this year. State regulations require disclosure of which parcels along the route are not yet secured voluntarily.

“That process will take about a month,” Kirchoff says, “and then, obviously, as we move forward and continue to sign voluntary easements which remains 100% of our focus today some of those names will come off the list.” Kirchoff says people understandably have questions about carbon capture and the pipeline itself. “I think a lot of people have scar tissue, if you will, in terms of Dakota Access. We’re going to do things a lot different,” Kirchoff says. “First and foremost, over 60% of this pipe is going to be eight inches or smaller and you compare that with Dakota Access, which is 30 inches. Just the whole process of installation is going to be a lot less invasive.”

The Dakota Access pipeline, which cuts diagonally through Iowa, was first proposed nearly a decade ago. In 2017, it began shipping crude oil from North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois. Kirchoff says Summit has obtained voluntary easements from about a third of landowners in five states. The pipeline’s Iowa segment is to connect with a dozen ethanol plants in the state, to lower the carbon footprint of the fuel that’s produced. “We’re getting closer to fall here. Every other row of corn that’s harvested is going to wind up going to an ethanol plant,” Kirchoff says. “We think its an incredibly important market and if we want to be competitive long-term we think that it certainly makes sense that we implement projects like this that make ethanol plants in the near term more profitable and in the long term more competitive in various markets.”

Several county boards of supervisors have urged state officials to reject eminent domain requests connected to carbon pipelines. The eminent domain process would let the company seize land from property owners who haven’t signed voluntary easements. Summit and two other companies have proposed building carbon pipelines through Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest Iowa Farm Bureau Food and Farm index survey is showing the concerns people have with food prices. The Farm Bureau’s Zach Bader says prices were listed at the top of the list of concerns for the first time in nine years of the survey for a couple of items. “Price is listed as the most important factor that’s driving both meat and dairy purchases by Iowans that’s above eight other factors that were tested,” he says.

Bader says 79 percent of those in the survey done with Harris Polls, say they are concerned about the impact of government regulations on the prices. “Which is up from 62 percent in last year survey,” Bader says. “In fact, government regulation that increases food costs went from the sixth most concerning aspect of food production last year in 2021, to the most selected option.”

Bader says they didn’t ask for specifics on the regulation side. “We just left it as government regulation that increases food costs. So there’s, you know, regulations on the food chain all the way from the farm — all the way up to the manufacturing and whatnot,” he says.

Bader says the survey found among the Iowans who are the primary or have a shared responsibility for grocery grocery shopping responsibilities, 96 percent eat meat at least weekly, and 94 percent consume dairy, at least weekly.

(Winterset, Iowa) – A wind farm project featuring 30 turbines has been scrapped in Madison County. Officials with MidAmerican Energy told KCCI in Des Moines, that the utility company says it canceled the Arbor Hill project, because of the circumstances surrounding their original plans have changed, including the number of turbines they were allowed to construct.

In a statement to the television station, MidAmerican said “While the project in Madison County won’t proceed, we have proudly partnered with more than 4,000 landowners across Iowa to host wind turbines that are critical to our ability to deliver customers clean, renewable energy – in 2021, that amounted to more than 88% of the energy our Iowa customers used.”

Atlantic, Iowa – Produce in the Park Manager Brigham Hoege reports food trucks Zipp’s Pizzeria and Zemog’s Cocina will be at Produce in the Park this Thursday, August 4th. Zemog’s jalapeno ranch sauce is quickly becoming a customer favorite at the park. Those who like jalapenos will find fresh jalapenos at the park this week.

Hoege says August is a great time of year for fresh, local produce in Iowa, and vendors will be selling jalapenos, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, sweet corn, onions, garlic, eggplant, peppers, and more. This week, free taste tests of cherry tomatoes will be handed out by Produce in the Park Board Member Vicki Nordskog. Cherry tomatoes are a simple, delicious, healthy snack that come in a variety of colors. Tasting different colors is a great way to introduce kids to produce. 

Sue Irvin of Sue’s Country Garden does an excellent job of introducing people to produce. For example, she’s been known to sneak zucchini and eggplant into brownies. A few years ago, after repeatedly offering her young grandson tomatoes, Sue brought him to Produce in the Park. Up to that point, the boy had insisted to his grandma that he didn’t like tomatoes, but to her surprise he changed his mind that day at the park when he tried orange and yellow tomatoes. Stories like this one demonstrate the special magic of farmers markets. Stop by the market this week to discover produce you never knew you loved.

Produce in the Park is held every Thursday through Oct. 13th.

Details on the August 4th event are as follows:

Produce in the Park August 4
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: Atlantic City Park (10 W. 7th Street, Atlantic, IA 50022)
Food Trucks: Zipp’s Pizza and Zemog’s Cocina Taco Truck
Fresh Produce: Tomatoes, sweet corn, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, and more
Local Meat: beef, pork, lamb, and chicken
Farm favorites: fresh-cut flowers, farm-fresh eggs, honey
Treats and Sweets: fresh-squeezed lemonade, popcorn, kringle, pastries, and fruit crisps
Crafts and more: jewelry, art prints, greeting cards, soaps, candles, lotions, plants, and lawn decorations
Fun: Live music, games, and more!
Free Taste Tests: Cherry tomatoes
Visiting organizations: Atlantic Public Library and Atlantic Parks and Recreation
Free drawing for a dozen eggs sponsored by the Cass County Local Food Policy Council.
(Anyone age 18+ can enter for free. Winner will be drawn after the market and receive eggs the
following week.
Payment methods accepted: All vendors accept cash. Many accept credit cards, Venmo, and Farmers
Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Senior and WIC checks. All qualifying food vendors accept SNAP/EBT
(also known as food stamps). All fresh produce vendors both accept and distribute Double Up Food
Bucks (coupons given for SNAP/EBT purchases of fresh produce).

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Extension office will host their annual Farmland Leasing information meeting on Thursday, August 11, beginning at 1:00 PM. The meeting will be held at the Cass County Community Center on the fairgrounds; 805 West 10th Street in Atlantic. Tim Christensen, farm and agriculture business management specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach, will lead the meeting, which will last about 2 ½ hours.

The discussion will focus on various methods to determine a fair 2023 cash rental rate and the importance of good tenant/landlord communications. Emphasis will be placed on recent returns to Iowa Cash Rented Land and the 2022 Iowa Cash Rental Rate Survey.

Pre-registration is required prior to the meeting and a $20 fee per individual is payable at the door. Participants will receive a 100-page booklet and meeting handouts designed to assist landowners, tenants and other agri-business professionals with issues related to farmland ownership, management, and leasing arrangements.

Contact the Cass County Extension office at (712) 243-1132 with your questions or to pre-register on or before Wednesday, August 10.

For a list of meetings statewide, check the ISU Extension calendar for a meeting near you.

www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/info/meetings.html

(Radio Iowa) – Three state agencies are developing guidelines and real-time resources for city and county officials who may have to restrict water usage during a drought emergency. Tim Hall of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the first-ever state “drought plan” would leave decisions about limiting water usage to local officials.  “We’re trying to set up a framework that will help local communities, local water utilities, emergency management folks be prepared to deal with a drought when it comes by answering those questions: ‘What should be do and when should be do it?’ and we can provide the data and the information that helps them make those decisions,” Hall says.

The latest information from the U.S. Drought Mitigation Center shows there are “extreme” drought conditions in four northwest Iowa counties, but water shortages haven’t dropped to the level of what’s called an “exceptional” drought. “We have seen droughts on a fairly regular schedule. We saw, of course, a significant drought in 2012,” Hall says. “We saw some very dry years in 2020 and 2021. This year is looking pretty dry as well.”

In July, state officials hosted meetings in Sioux City, Cedar Rapids and Creston to hear from water utilities, local communities, county emergency managers and industries that use water. A final virtual meeting is being held this (Wednesday) morning with about 70 representatives of those groups. “We’re almost to the end of the stakeholder piece,” Hall says. “We have a science and data team that’s looking at information that’s available and how we might establish some trigger mechanisms for the state, so we are right in the middle of developing of the heavy duty stuff of the plan right now.”

Hall is the hydrology resources coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. On Thursday, Hall will be issuing a statewide summary of water resources. He says water levels in some areas of northwest Iowa are alarmingly low. “As the temperatures start to climb and we don’t see any precipitation, it could get a little bit rough in some places,” he says.

The situation, though, isn’t currently as dire as the last major drought of 2012, according to Hall.  “But on a local basis, there are some areas of northwest Iowa that are struggling to see what their water situation is going to be in three weeks, four weeks, six weeks if we don’t get much rain,” Hall says.

According to the state climatologist, unseasonably dry conditions persisted across Iowa last week and the drought intensified in the state’s northwest corner.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – Sweet corn….those two words mean the true taste of summer for Iowans. This year has been an interesting and challenging one for growers like Todd Kjormoe (CHORE-mo) in rural Hardin County. “The prices of everything have obviously skyrocketed and takes a lot of nitrogen to grow our corn. And it’s been challenging,”. The weather over here hasn’t been too bad. We’ve had good rains. And we’re about halfway through our patch. So it shouldn’t be out there for another couple of weeks I suppose,” Kjormoe says. He says getting enough people to help tend and bring in the sweet corn to sell has been another issue.

“Labor is getting harder and harder to find like always — and you’ve got to just keep trying to go through it,” he says. He has been growing east of Iowa Falls for ten years and says the taste of the sweet corn they are picking is a bit different compared to previous years… “This year for some reason we don’t feel like we quite have the sugar content. I don’t know if it’s because of the extreme drought we had last year, the soils gotten messed up, and then this spring it was so cold and wet that I don’t know if it got off to a great start,” he says. “We are about halfway through and the sugar content just still isn’t quite there. It’s still really good corn — but it’s not as good as it has been.”

Kjormoe believes one issue is causing the variance in the sweet corn taste this year. “I think weather is 99 percent of it to be honest with you — because like I said we’ve been at it for a long time now, ten seasons — and we’ve never changed the land at all. We get adequate soil sampling on it that land is in tip-top condition,” according to Kjormoe.

Kjormoe has nine locations in north central and northeast Iowa for his homegrown sweet corn this summer.