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!
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!
(Radio Iowa) – The climate-driving weather system known as La Nina may be sticking around still longer, impacting how Iowa’s weather evolves well past summer. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says the experts had expected La Nina to fade this spring. “We’ve gone through two years of La Nina, that’s not uncommon,” Todey says. “The initial thoughts were that La Nina was going to weaken this spring and dissipate. It has weakened but it really hasn’t dissipated. It actually has strengthened in certain ways. So, La Nina is still very present and impacting our background issues with the outlooks.”
Todey says the forecasting models for the next several months show a tendency toward above-normal temperatures and a lack of rain. “We did have this area of maybe not being warm in the north central U.S, and in June, July, August, that goes away,” Todey says. “So, much of the western U.S. leans towards above (-normal temperatures) and decreased chances for precipitation — sorry about that — throughout the Plains and even extending into Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri.”
Todey says there is the potential for more heat and expanding drought areas into summer, both in Iowa and across the region. “There were hints this could happen,” he says. “It’s not a guarantee. The probabilities still are not high but it’s definitely something we have to keep an eye on as we go ahead here.” A La Nina event occurs when Pacific Ocean surface temperatures cool, and it influences weather across North America.
(Radio Iowa) – The governor’s Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard that won House approval in early February has cleared a committee in the senate — but with an addition that could let nearly a third of the state’s gas stations opt out of the requirement to sell E-15. Molly Severn is the governor’s legislative liaison.
“This bill is the result of significant compromise from everyone along the fuel supply chain,” Severn says, “from farmers to fuel retailers.” The House voted to grant waivers from the E-15 mandate to stations with equipment that’s not certified to handle fuel with higher blends of ethanol. The Senate Ways and Means Committee has voted to let stations get a waiver from the E-15 mandate if they sell less than 300-thousand gallons of gasoline each year.
Supporters of the plan estimate about 30 percent of small gas stations could opt out — leaving about 70 percent of Iowa fuel retailers subject to the requirement to sell E-15. Severn says with uncertainty over federal ethanol rules, Governor Reynolds believes this is an important step for Iowa to take.
“Over 55% of the corn grown in Iowa is processed for the first time at an Iowa ethanol plant,” Severn says. “If we lose the liquid fuel market, that would devastate the Iowa economy, farmers and fuel retailers.” The ethanol mandate does have detractors. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says a mandate that gas stations sell corn-based ethanol is ironic since farmers oppose regulating fertilizer application on corn fields to improve water quality.
“The idea that we’d ever regulate or have a mandate for something like a 20 foot buffer strip along a river or creek — we’ll be 100 years from now without that,” Bolkcom said, “because of the opposition to mandates.” The Senate Ways and Means Committee has also voted to reduce the amount of matching funds small gas stations have to raise to secure state grants for installing tanks and pumps that can dispense gasoline with a higher blend of ethanol. Republican Senator Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
“We’re really trying to help out these small retailers in the state, knowing that they support a lot of our rural communities,” Dawson says. “There’s a difference between a high volume station that has the capital to make an investment in something like that versus a small station that might not have as much capital.”
It’s likely the bill will be debated in the Senate today (Tuesday).
(Radio Iowa) – Grass and field fires remained a big problem this past weekend in western Iowa and bordering states where things remain very dry. Sergeant Bluff fire chief, Anthony Gaul says his firefighters worked several hours responding to calls Saturday, and every area department was busy:
“There were so many fires going on that departments had to travel 20 and 25 miles to help manage incidents because there was nobody else available,” he says. Gaul says the local area damage total from the weekend fires will be more than seven figures as the burn ban in Woodbury County remains in place.
“One community wants to opt-out of it but the amount of dollars that were lost in Woodbury and Plymouth and then across the river and those counties if you add it up is over one million dollars. I know Plymouth County had a piece of apparatus burn up,” Gaul says. Chief Gaul says the strong winds of up to 60 miles an hour at times contributed to the fires.
“One of the fires in Woodbury County was caused by a downed power line which we can’t control that. But others have mentioned hey, we’ve had some rain and yes, we have had some rain but with that wind, it has dried everything out and there is so much out there that’s just ready and able to burn that. We can’t ask enough to stop, not do it,” Gaul says. He says you need to think twice before starting any kind of fire outdoors when conditions are as windy and dry as they have been. Even if you are using a burn barrel.
“We’ve had quite a few incidents caused by burn barrels which can be legal throughout the burn ban but there are requirements that you can’t have more than a one inch opening with a grating,” according to Gaul. He says there are code requirements for burn barrels on the State Fire Marshal’s website.
There are ten active burn bans in the state as of Monday — with all of them along the western edge of the state.
(Radio Iowa) – A new map by University of Iowa researchers shows nearly 450-thousand acres of Iowa farmland is under constant flood threat. Researcher Enes Yildirim says he developed the statewide map to help farmers compare their flood risk with their crop productivity.
“There are lots of regions very fertile, but also under flood threat, so those regions might need extra precaution, let’s say maybe a levee or some sort of other flood mitigation,” Vildirim says. Four wetlands zones in Iowa have the highest risk. They are part of four river valleys — the Middle Cedar, North Raccoon, South Skunk and West Nishnabotna.
Cropland in those areas have a 50 percent chance of flooding each year according to Yildirim’s research. He hopes policymakers will consider adding more flood protection to those areas or converting them into wetlands. “It will be helpful for maintaining the food production and also it will be helpful for cities to get less extreme floods,” he says. The University of Iowa research indicates floods lead to the destruction of around 230 million dollars worth of crops in Iowa each year.
Yildirim anticipates that number will grow as floods become more frequent within the state.
(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Kendall Crawford)
(Southwest Iowa) – Connections Area Agency officials say they are pleased to announce that the state is continuing the Farmers Market voucher program for older Iowans. With this program, seniors meeting income requirements can obtain vouchers that they can use at participating area Farmers Markets to buy $30.00 worth of fresh, locally grown produce. This year Connections will be asking individuals to call in to request an application. Beginning May 2nd, you may call 800-432-9209 x8888 and leave a message with their name and phone number. All calls will be returned within five business days in the order they are received. Applications will then be mailed out every Thursday with an addressed return envelope. Once we receive completed applications, vouchers will be mailed out to applicant starting on June 1st, 2022. Please note applications not completed will not receive vouchers until all information is provided.
Program Criteria:
When a staff member returns your call, please indicate whether you are applying as an individual or a married couple.
Outline of Process:
This method is the only way to obtain Farmers’ Market vouchers in 2022.
****
Connections Area Agency is one of six Area Agencies on Aging in Iowa, and part of a nationwide network. With a mission of enhancing the quality of life for elders in 20 counties through education, planning and coordination of services, Connections Area Agency on Aging is the premier agency for assisting elders, caregivers, and their families to access the information and services needed for independence and life transitions. Offices are located in Council Bluffs, Creston and Sioux City. For more information, contact Connections AAA at 800-432-9209 or at www.connectionsaaa.org
(Radio Iowa) – While we’re more than a month into spring already, weather and soil conditions have been far from ideal for Iowa farmers to do much in the way of spring planting. Angie Rieck-Hinz, a field agronomist with the Iowa State University Extension in north central Iowa, says a few farmers have started the process, but not many. “We want to be patient,” Rieck-Hinz says. “Our soil temperatures are still not where we would like them to be for planting. The rest of the soil conditions aren’t too bad. It’s not overly wet.” Temperatures this week have rollercoastered from the 20s to the 60s and just last weekend, parts of Iowa got more than four inches of snow.
The spring season officially arrived back on March 20th so Rieck-Hinz says it’s no surprise farmers are getting itchy to fire up the tractors. “We’ve had such nice springs the last couple of years,” she says. “In fact, 2018 was the last time we hadn’t had major corn planting progress by the third week of April, so I can understand why everybody’s a little antsy.” Recent rains have helped to recharge soil moisture levels in parts of the state that were slipping into drought conditions a year ago.
“We’ve been through two relatively dry summers now,” she says. “Our soil moisture availability is a little bit higher now. That’ll help us going into the spring if it dries out a little bit more. Otherwise, things look pretty positive going forward in time.” Rieck-Hinz says farmers need to wait for good conditions before putting corn into the ground so it has a good chance of getting -out- of the ground, adding, even emergence leads to a more consistent yield.
DES MOINES, Iowa (April 24, 2022) – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Sunday, confirmed a positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Kossuth County, Iowa. The virus was found in a non-commercial backyard flock.
It’s the 18th case of HPAI in Iowa since March 1st.
DES MOINES, Iowa (April 21, 2022) – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have confirmed a positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Bremer County, Iowa. The virus was found in a commercial turkey flock.
“While this is our first detection of HPAI in Iowa in the last two weeks, we have continued to take the threat of this virus seriously and encourage producers to remain alert,” said Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. “Our Department, USDA, farmers and industry stakeholders have and will continue to focus on exercising preparedness and response plans to protect Iowa’s livestock and agriculture-based economy.”
Flock owners should prevent contact between their birds and wild birds and report sick birds or unusual deaths to state/federal officials. Biosecurity resources and best practices are available at iowaagriculture.gov/biosecurity. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately. Possible cases must also be reported to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship at (515) 281-5305.
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS