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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!
(Radio Iowa) — The mayor of a western Iowa city that’s home to two packing plants is asking state officials to establish a “Test Iowa” site in her community. Pam Soseman, the mayor of Denison, says “I remain very concerned and I have been concerned for weeks, knowing that plants are hot spots and have been historically hot spots in the past month.”
State officials confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks Tuesday at packing plants in Perry, Waterloo, Tama and Columbus Junction. Smithfield operates a pork plant in Denison, with about 12-hundred-50 hourly workers. A few hundred others work at the Quality Meats plant in Denison. Denison is in Crawford County and the latest state report shows there are now 103 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Crawford County.
“I am very concerned about those numbers,” Soseman says. “We keep communicating with our state representatives and our governor.” National data indicates meat packing has more foreign-born workers than any other industry in the country. Soseman is worried the Test Iowa app that screens people for testing may not be understandable to all the packing plant workers in Denison.
“With 26 languages spoken in our high school, that is a deep concern of mine,” she says. “I also have a concern with those who may not have access to a computer to be able to sign up online, so I’m asking for those who can help to communicate this to people who may be in danger or at risk, to communicate with those people and assist them with that website.”
Last month state officials sent test kits to Columbus Junction and Waterloo after concerns that dozens of workers had contracted COVID-19 and the virus was spreading in the community. The state has also sent what Reynolds calls “strike teams” to test nursing home employees in areas where outbreaks have been identified in long term care facilities.
After a successful egg giveaway in Atlantic in April, more donors have stepped up to provide free eggs to people in Cass County this Saturday, May 9. Cumberland, Massena, and Atlantic will be the egg giveaway sites on Saturday, May 9th. The eggs, purchased from Southwest Iowa Egg in Massena, are being paid for by anonymous donors. Eggs will be handed out by members of the Cass County Local Food Policy Council and Ag 4 All.
Photo from the Atlantic Egg Giveaway on April 25th (Courtesy Brigham Hoegh)
Only one person from each household is asked to collect the eggs and masks are appreciated. Eggs will be handed out in flats (30 eggs). The eggs are clean and chilled, but ungraded and unwashed. Eggs are available to anyone who needs them. There is no requirement to prove need. People who may not need eggs themselves are encouraged to consider getting them for a neighbor or friend.
Free Egg Giveaway Saturday May 9:
Cumberland: Cumberland Care & Share (Cumberland United Methodist Church, 317 Monroe St. Cumberland, IA 50843) – When: 10:00-10:30 AM (or as supplies last)
Massena: Southwest Iowa Egg Coop in Massena (74877 Clarke Ave, Massena, IA 50853)
When: 11:00-11:30 AM (or as supplies last)
Atlantic: Iowa Western Parking Lot (705 Walnut Street, Atlantic, IA 50022)
When: 1:00-2:00 PM (or as supplies last)
Interested in purchasing eggs from Southwest Iowa Egg? Southwest Iowa Egg is selling eggs from their Massena office located at 74877 Clarke Ave. on Tuesdays and Friday from 9:00-1:00 PM. A flat (30 eggs) is sold for $3.00; a dozen for $1.25. Customers must bring their own cartons or containers if buying anything other than a flat. Exact change is required, and customers are asked to wear masks to keep customers and staff safe. Home delivery is available within the city limits of Massena and Bridgewater by calling (712)779-0704.
For more information on local food, farmers markets, and food access, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page @CassCountyLocalFood.
Questions can be directed to Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at (712)249-5870 or bhoegh@iastate.edu.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Today, Governor Reynolds issued a new proclamation opening campgrounds in the state of Iowa, effective Friday, May 8, 2020. The Iowa DNR will open state campgrounds at 8:00am on Friday, May 8 to campers with self-contained restrooms only. Self-contained is defined as a tent or pop-up camper with a portable toilet or an RV with a functioning, self-contained bathroom. Walk-in campers may begin registering at 8 am.
All other reservations will continue as reserved beginning May 15, unless otherwise notified directly by the DNR. The DNR extends an apology to those that had reservations scheduled during the May 8 – May 14 time period. Those reservations will not be honored because refunds have already been issued and the transactions are complete.
While state parks have seen a great influx of visitors at our parks, it is expected to see the same at the campgrounds. Parks staff will be closely monitoring these areas to avoid gatherings of groups larger than 10. Staff presence throughout the parks and campgrounds will remind and educate visitors to continue physical distancing while enjoying some of Iowa’s most beautiful public places. Campers should also abide by the following guidelines:
For the latest closure information for state parks, campgrounds and trails, visit: www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Alerts-and-Closures
The DNR highly recommends practicing physical distancing so that the parks and campgrounds remain open as a viable option for recreational opportunity. Campers should assume personal responsibility and abide by the guidelines set forth.
(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds and U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue say the nation’s meat supply should be stabilized within 10 days. Reynolds was in the Oval Office earlier this afternoon for a meeting with President Trump. She indicated Iowa packing plants are reopening and be operating at excess capacity soon.
President Trump said he’s asked the Justice Department to investigate whether meat packers are engaging in price gouging in the midst of the pandemic.
(Radio Iowa) — One of the state’s leading advocates for open government says citizens in places like Perry have a right to know when there’s a public health concern at large local employers. Iowa Freedom of Information Council executive director Randy Evans says “The fundamental concern I have is the public ought to be informed so that they now what is going on in their community.”
On Tuesday, state officials announced 730 employees at Tyson Fresh Meats in Perry had tested positive for COVID-19. That’s 58 percent of all the workers who were tested. The company had been refusing to reveal how many workers had COVID-19, citing privacy concerns. Evans applauds the Iowa Department of Public Health Department’s decision to start announcing outbreaks at facilities like meat packing plants. “The public needs to know more rather than knowing less,” Evans says.
But Evans questions the department’s standard for what constitutes an outbreak. State officials will announce there’s a COVID-19 outbreak when at least 10 percent of the employees at a food production plant or other large manufacturing facility are absent or test positive for the virus. “A business that employs 2000 people, 10 percent who are infected, is a large number of people circulating in the community, potentially,” Evans says.
State Auditor Rob Sand says no corporation or public official should ever claim the federal law on individual health care records justifies withholding the big picture from the public. In late April, Sand had called for packing plant outbreak numbers to be made public.
(Radio Iowa) — One of the country’s largest Latino organizations is calling for a boycott of processed meat, due to outbreaks of the coronavirus at meat packing plants. The League of United Latin American Citizens — also known as LULAC (LOO-lack) is calling on consumers to join their “Meatless May” campaign. Joe Henry leads the Des Moines chapter of LULAC.
“This is again the time for people in America to speak up…for safety and health procedures for these workers,” Henry says, “to make sure that we have justice in the workplace.” Henry and other advocates say in addition to COVID-19 testing for all employees at food processing plants, the corporate owners of the plants should provide paid sick leave and slow down production lines so workers can stand farther apart.
State officials announced yesterday (Tuesday) that 16-hundred-53 employees at FOUR meat packing plants in Columbus Junction, Tama, Waterloo and Perry have tested positive for COVID-19. Henry says that means the relatives of those workers are at risk of contracting the virus. “Aunts and uncles in these homes, grandparents are becoming infected and then having to go the hospitals,” Henry says, “and so it’s tragic.”
State officials reported yesterday (Tuesday) that for the first time, more than 400 Iowans were hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19 and about a quarter of those patients were on ventilators.
CRESTON, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources say that at around 5-p.m. on April 28th, a bystander called 911 after noticing a capsized raft with a family of four on Green Valley Lake, near Creston. All four members of the family were wearing Personal Flotation Devices, also known as life jackets, but were struggling outside of the buoys of the beach area. At the time, strong winds gusting to over 35mph, cold water temperatures and inexperience made for an exhausting effort by the family.
The two adults and two children were able to swim to shore. Rescue personnel from the Creston’s Greater Regional Medical Center, the Union County Sheriff’s Office, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources met the family at the shore and provided immediate medical attention. All four family members’ lives were saved in part to their personal flotation devices.
The Iowa DNR stresses the importance of wearing PFD’s, no matter the circumstances and no matter the skill of the person. Iowa law requires all children 13 years or younger to wear an approved PFD while in a vessel on Iowa waters, unless below deck in an enclosed cabin, or on a commercial vessel with 25 or more people. All vessels, including kayaks and canoes, operating on Iowa waterways are required by law to have the same number of approved PFDs on board as passengers present. Jason Hyde, DNR Park Ranger, said “Just as we saw in this incident, the simple act of wearing a Personal Flotation Device could absolutely save your life and the lives of your friends and family members. The appearance or inconvenience are no excuse for risking your life.”
DNR conservation officers and other law enforcement are present on the waterways throughout the state monitoring, educating and enforcing these laws on a regular basis during the spring, summer and fall months.
(Radio Iowa) — Farmers made some record progress putting crops in the ground last week. Warm, dry weather allowed the wheels to roll on tractors and planters and farmers now have forty-six percent of the beans in the ground. That compares to nine percent of the soybeans planted one week before — and it marks the most soybeans farmers had planted by May 3rd since records began in 1974. Bean planting is now one full month ahead of schedule. Thirty-nine-percent of the expected corn planting got done last week — and it is the first time since 201 that three-quarters of the corn crop was in the ground by May 3rd.
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