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 U.S. government is going to start buying three BILLION dollars of meat, dairy and produce from farmers, to supply food banks. The announcement came after Vice President Mike Pence heard sobering assessments of the farm economy during a forum in West Des Moines on Friday. Senator Chuck Grassley says farmers are losing a lot of money. “Things aren’t very good out there on the farm,” Grassley said. Senator Joni Ernst says farmers from corner to corner of the state are impacted.
“Hearing the distress in the voice coming from our beef cattle producers, our dairy farmers, our egg and poultry farmers, especially our hog farmers,” Ernst says, “even those folks engaged in row crops and biofuels like ethanol.” American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall says farmers are experiencing a perfect storm with a pandemic in the middle of a trade war with China.
“We had high hopes and now we’re wondering whether or not the president’s going to be able to keep their feet to the fire and make them come good on the commitments of buying $40 billion worth of agricultural products,” Duvall said.
Duvall and both of Iowa’s U.S. senators also called for an investigation of allegations that meat packers are engaged in price fixing.
(Radio Iowa) — Vice President Mike Pence’s Friday afternoon forum about the nation’s food supply featured the C-E-Os of two of the nation’s major meat packers, allegations of price fixing in the industry from other panelists and the revelation that another packing plant worker has died of COVID-19. Smithfield C-E-O Ken Sullivan was near the end of the list of speakers.
“I’d like to use the time I’ve got to thank our employees,” Sullivan said, “who are heroes.” Sullivan said he spent Friday morning visiting one of his company’s plants and just before the forum with the vice president stsarted, he’d been notified one of Smithfield’s employees had died.
“Our employees have been showing up day after day, in close quarters. They’ve been harvesting animals. They’ve been keeping the food supply in this country and they’re doing it in a selfless way and I think they deserve a lot of recognition for that,” Sullivan said. “It’s gutwrenching for us as companies to have the choice between maintaining the food supply in this country and asking our employees to go into plants to do that.”
Pence, who whispered an affirmation during Sullivan’s remarks, led the crowd in applause after Sullivan stopped his. “These employees really deserve a lot of gratitude,” Sullivan said, adding: “That’s all.” Pence responded: “Ken, I’m sorry for your loss. I hope you convey our deepest sympathies to the family of that employee, but I appreciate the strength of emotion in your voice and the American people are grateful.” Pence then began punctuating his remarks by thumping the table with his hand. “They’re grateful for the people that have been coming to work every day in our meat processing plants throughout this epidemic. They’ve absolutely been essential.”
Pence convened the event at HyVee headquarters in West Des Moines by praising grocery stores, truckers and meat packers. Pence said processors of beef, pork and poultry industry had faced coronavirus challenges, but 14 previously closed plants were resuming operations. “How about a big round of applause for all these great meat processing plants that have stepped up and partnered with us to keep our food supply strong?” Pence asked. The panel on stage, along with a crowd of about 70 Hy-Vee employees, joined Pence to applaud.
Tyson Fresh Meats C-E-O thanked Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who was also on the panel. “The safety of our team members are paramount to us,” White said, “and without your involvement providing the tests, supported by the federal government, the PPE that you’ve been able to provide has been paramount to us enabling to get back to work.” At least 730 employees at Tyson’s plant in Perry tested positive for COVID-19. Black Hawk County Public Health officials say more than a thousand employees at Tyson’s Waterloo plant tested positive for the virus. Both plants are back in operation.
Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators and a national Farm Bureau leader were part Friday’s panel — and all three raised the issue of price fixing in the beef industry. Senator Chuck Grassley bluntly said farmers want an explanation from meat packers. “How come we’re losing hundreds of dollars on our cattle and the price (for) consumers are going up?” Grassley said. Zippy Duvall, the American Farm Bureau’s C-E-O, said farmers are frustrated by the “rock bottom” prices for live cattle and the “sky high” wholesale prices for beef carcasses.
“The farmers and ranchers are coming unhingened when they see that difference in that price because they’re facing losing their farms,” he said, “and it is a very difficult thing to explain.” President Trump this week said he’s asked the Department of Justice to investigate allegations of market manipulation by Tyson, Smithfield, J-B-S and Cargill. The four companies account for about 80 percent of the beef market.
WEST LIBERTY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa turkey plant that is the site of a coronavirus outbreak says that hundreds of employees will be furloughed this fall due to the nation’s economic collapse. West Liberty Foods says that roughly one-third of its 994 employees could be temporarily laid off for months, likely from from November through February.
The company confirmed that 136 employees have tested positive for coronavirus, after mass testing at the West Liberty plant last week. The company says restaurant closures have dramatically reduced demand for many of its products, resulting in a glut of supply.
DES MOINES, Iowa — As campgrounds begin opening up today (Friday) to walk-in, first come, first served, campers with self-contained restrooms, and visitors continue to take advantage of state parks, the DNR is encouraging everyone to check the DNR website for temporary closures before traveling to any of these areas.
Some parks and campgrounds have closures due to construction or maintenance projects, maintenance etc., so it’s important to check the closure website ahead of time.
DNR parks staff will be closely monitoring parks and campground areas and remind visitors and campers to obey physical distancing guidelines and other guidelines released earlier this week by the DNR.
Some pit latrines in high use areas will be open, but all other restrooms, drinking fountains and shower houses will remain closed. Park visitors for day use areas, should utilize specific and designated parking lots and not park on the sides of roads or trails, as well as obey all posted signage.
The DNR’s reservation system for reservable campgrounds opened up online today (Friday), to begin making reservations starting Monday, May 11.
Iowa has 68 state parks and 4 state forests for visitors to enjoy with hiking trails, lake recreation and camping, to learn more visit: www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks or www.iowadnr.gov/Things-to-Do/Camping
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As coronavirus hotspots erupted at major U.S. meatpacking plants, experts criticized extremely tight working conditions that made the factories natural high risk contagion locations. But some Midwestern politicians have pointed the finger at the workers’ living conditions, suggesting crowded homes bear some blame. The comments include a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice’s remark that an outbreak didn’t seem to have come from “regular folks.” Outraged employees and advocates call the comments elitist and critical of immigrants in the meatpacking workforce. The remarks came amid public gratitude for other essential workers like police officers, health care professionals and grocery store workers.
(Radio Iowa) — Black Hawk County officials say more than a thousand employees at the Tyson plant in Waterloo have tested positive for the coronavirus. That’s more than double the number released by state officials earlier this week. Joshua Pikora with the county public health department says the state-related total of 444 employees only included testing that was done onsite at the plant.
“The 1031 reported cases includes those positive results from the onsite testing, positive test results from local healthcare providers here in Black Hawk County, as well as the positive serology tests that give us the complete picture of scope of illness in our county,” he says. Pikora says those cases do not include family members or roommates who may also have tested positive.
As of Thursday, the county had 1703 confirmed cases. Tyson’s pork plant in Waterloo resumed limited operations at the plant yesterday (Thursday). More than 28-hundred usually work in the facility.
DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) — Tyson Foods plans to reopen its Dakota City, Nebraska, beef plant after closing the facility following a surge of coronavirus cases among workers. Tyson closed the plant Friday and initially planned to reopen in four days but pushed that back to Thursday after awaiting coronavirus test results. The plant employs 4,300 people and is among the largest employers for neighboring Sioux City, Iowa.
The Dakota City plant is one of numerous meat processing facilities that have closed due to coronavirus outbreaks. A Tyson pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, and a Smithfield pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, both reopened this week.
Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh says this should be a big month for planting. In her weekly “Grow Another Row” update, Hoegh says now is a good time to start planting carrots. Carrots are great to donate due to familiarity and shelf life. You can start planting now and plant additional rows of carrots every two weeks to harvest all summer long! Keep seeds continuously moist for best germination. A quick note on tomatoes: although the temptation is strong, it is best to hold off setting those tomato plants out for another couple of weeks. Tomatoes do best when temps are consistently above 50°F.
“Grow Another Row, Cass County!” is a campaign to encourage residents to grow more food to share in 2020. The campaign was launched to address food challenges created by COVID-19, as more people are finding themselves needing a little extra help keeping food on the table. If you are looking to buy starter plants, check out Rolling Acres Farm. Denise sells many vegetables that are great for donations, including cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and cabbage, and offers either deliver or farm pick-up. For more information visit: https://www.rollingacres76.com/.
Ready to donate now? Cass County food pantries love receiving fresh produce! Make sure the pantries are able to use your donations.
1. Contact the pantry ahead of time to let them know you are planning to bring produce and set up a time to drop off your donation (pantries don’t always have extra refrigeration space, so they may ask you to bring your donation on the day they distribute food). For more information, please contact: Brigham Hoegh, Wellness Coordinator Cass County ISU Extension 712-249-5870
2. Bring clean produce to the pantry (very little dirt). If you wash the produce before bringing it to the pantry, be sure you can dry it. If you can’t fully dry it, don’t wash it. This keeps produce safe.
3. If possible, bring the produce pre-sacked in quantities that could be sent home with a small family. (Example: please sack green beans, carrots, etc. in 1-pound bags).
For more information, please contact: Brigham Hoegh, Wellness Coordinator Cass County ISU Extension 712-249-5870; For Produce donation contact: Brigham Hoegh (712) 249-5870
Watch for newsletters for more gardening news throughout the season. For more gardening tips and to sign up to participate in Grow Another Row visit
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/content/grow-another-row-cass-county.
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