The Page County Sheriff’s Office in investigating the theft of a tractor and wagon from rural Clarinda. 59-year old Mark Christopher Holt, of Clarinda,  reported Saturday, the theft of a 1990 John Deere 4455 2- wheel drive tractor he owned, and a green 605 Parker wagon, owned by Hunter Farms LLC. The tractor and wagon were stolen from field near Highway 2 and V Avenue.

The wagon was empty. Both the tractor and wagon have been entered as stolen nationwide. The incident set off a string of other people reporting that their tractor’s were stolen. All of the others have been recovered and appeared to have been stolen from one location and then left at the next location where another tractor was stolen.

The John Deere tractor and green Parker wagon was still missing at last report. The Page County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in recovering this as well as solving these crimes. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Page County Sheriff’s Office at 712-542-5193 or their local Law Enforcement agency.

(Radio Iowa) — Associated Milk Producers Inc., or A-M-P-I, plans to shut down its factory in Arlington, Iowa, that produces nonfat dry milk. Company leaders say the decision stems from the continued decline in dairy farm numbers and milk production in the region. The 49 Arlington employees have been informed. AMPI is working with them to provide access to resources, training and opportunities to apply for available jobs at AMPI facilities.

Milk previously processed at AMPI’s Arlington location will now be routed to other plants in the surrounding area, including AMPI’s Blair, Wisconsin, cheese plant. AMPI will continue to meet customer needs for dependable supplies of high-quality dairy products from its other manufacturing plants. AMPI leadership is exploring options for the facilities’ future.

(Radio Iowa) — The governor, late last week, signed a proclamation temporarily suspending certain regulation on the hours of service for the delivery of propane. Early winter weather conditions the late harvest are all creating a big demand for the liquid gas. The president of Demmer Oil Company in the Worthington, Steve Demmer, says supplying his northeast Iowa customers with liquid propane (LP) has not been easy. “We have gotten 25 percent of what we actually need. We are working very hard — we are getting propane out of Chicago and Kansas — but those are long deliveries,” Demmer says. “So this is going to be something to try and get through this year.”

It is not uncommon for fall demand to slow the deliveries — but he says this year is tougher. “This is the worst we’ve ever seen it. We’ve gotten through every other year and we’ve always gotten propane — 2008 and 2013 were our worst years and we’ve always kept people in propane,” Demmer says, “but this year it certainly is not going to be the case.”  State Senator Dan Zumbach, is also a farmer and says the propane supply is there – it’s just hard to keep up with the demand.)”Yeah it’s discouraging for a lot of folks and you have to keep it in perspective and keep your head on straight. You know it is not our suppliers problem. It is not anyone’s real fault,” Zumbach says. “But what is going on and what created the situation is — we have a huge supply of L-P — but we are using the L-P so fast with today’s modern combines, with today’s modern driers and with the late crop, everyone in the midwest want’s L-P and everyone is consuming it.”

Wet grain has to be dried or it can spoil in the storage bins and become useless. “It’s a very real problem and it’s going to slow harvest down tremendously, because you have to dry the crop as you’re harvesting and it may very cut that rate by half. And that is concerning for a lot of farmers,” Zumbach says. ” I am sweating it out myself — but am willing to take my turn so that suppliers can spread that out the best they can.”  Zumbach says there’s not much more that can be done to speed up the process. “People just have to be patient and realize it’s not your driver’s fault. It’s not your suppliers fault — it’s just a huge demand. The state of Iowa did everything they can to allow drivers to deliver as quickly and as long hours as is safe,” Zumbach says.

The harvest has been running way behind normal and wet weather has also kept crops from drying in the fields.

(A-P) — A new report says farm bankruptcies have risen in Nebraska and Iowa. The American Farm Bureau Federation shows Chapter 12 bankruptcies rose 24% nationwide over the previous year. The report covers the 12 months ending Sept. 30. The report cited severe weather and trade disputes among the problems faced by farmers.

There were 37 farm bankruptcies in Nebraska and 24 in Iowa over those 12 months — a year-over-year increase of six in Nebraska and 10 in Iowa. The highest number of farm bankruptcies was in Wisconsin, with 48. Nebraska tied for second with Georgia and Kansas.

The report cites U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that farms will bring in $88 billion in 2019 — 29% below the record set in 2013.

Adair County 4-H’ers will hold their annual 4-H awards program Sunday, November 3rd at the Warren Cultural Center located on the east side of the square in Greenfield. The program is slated to begin at 2 pm. During the program all members and leaders of our ten Adair County 4-H clubs will be recognized. In addition, thirteen adults will be recognized with Awards of the Clover for their tenure as 4-H volunteers.

The public is invited. Immediately following the program refreshments will be served by the Summit Superstars 4-H Club.

Bob Bebensee with Conservation Officer Grant Gelly.

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VINING, Iowa (AP) — Iowa environmental officials are investigating a manure spill that led to a fish kill in east-central Iowa. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said in a news release Friday that the fish kill was found on Wolf Creek about 2 miles northwest of Vining.

Department staff say a manure applicator for Mayo Farm Inc. reported Thursday morning that a drag hose leaked about 2,600 gallons of manure during land application. The applicator built a berm to dam up the spilled manure, but estimates that up to 500 gallons reached the creek.

Staff saw live fish at the site Thursday, but found some dead fish just downstream were found Friday morning. The department will monitor cleanup activities and consider appropriate enforcement action.

DES MOINES – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, today (Thursday), signed a proclamation temporarily suspending certain regulatory provisions pertaining to hours of service for the delivery of propane. Early winter weather conditions, late harvest, and high demand for petroleum products throughout the Midwest have resulted in low supplies of propane. The proclamation temporarily suspends provisions of Iowa Code § 321.449 pertaining to hours of service for crews and drivers delivering propane.

The proclamation is effective November 1, 2019 and will expire at midnight on November 30, 2019.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A northwest Iowa man has been accused of lying to investors who authorities say lost more than $550,000 as a result. Federal court records say Lon Friedrichsen is charged with one count of wire fraud. The records say he’s scheduled to enter a guilty plea on Nov. 25 at the U.S. District Court in Sioux City.

Court documents say the Alton resident pretended to be a professional crude oil futures trader from June 2014 through March 2018. The documents say Friedrichsen used several aliases and email addresses so he could conceal his identity from investors.

Prosecutors say Friedrichsen fraudulently boasted in online advertising that he had 30 years of trading experience and had previously worked on Wall Street and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

(Radio Iowa) — The bobcat comeback in Iowa continues and that’s led the Iowa D-N-R to raise the trapping limit in the area where they are most prevalent in the state. D-N-R wildlife biologist Vince Evelsizer says the limit was raised “Up from one bobcat up to three across the southern three tiers of counties in southern Iowa. While other counties — it’s a one bobcat bag limit.”  Forty-six of Iowa’s 99 counties are still closed to any bobcat trapping — stretching from the counties next to the western border across central Iowa to the eastern side of the state. Evelsizer says some of those close counties are starting to see more animals. “The bobcat population continues to do well — it’s still in expansion mode — so, we are happy to see bobcats still expanding into more areas of Iowa from a south to north direction,” Evelsizer says. “Right now, kind of the front line for that is northeast Iowa. There’s starting to be more bobcats up there.”

Bobcat

The bobcat range has already expanded from southwest Iowa northward along the western border.”Places like Boone County, Webster County they are doing very well up through there, up through the river corridors. And then in western Iowa they now extend all the way up the South Dakota-Minnesota border in western Iowa. We are seeing them fill in in areas of good habitat throughout the state in a south to north direction,” Evelsizer explained.  He says they have taken a conservative approach to the amount of bobcats that can be taken as they’ve made a comeback. “It’s another case of a wildlife success story that they largely did on their own, where they naturally came back to Iowa. They are originally native to Iowa — and they came back over time,” according to Evelsizer. “In this case all we did was protect them from harvest and any other kind of take from the mid 70’s up until 2007 when there was a closed season on them.”

The bobcat comeback has not gone unnoticed among the human residents of the state. There were many unconfirmed reports of bobcat sightings as their population increased — that in some cases were cats or other animals — and some cases were actually bobcats. Evelsizer says there’s still a lot of talk about them. “It’s really mixed. There’s more folks that have seen bobcats than ever. They tend to show up — especially on trail cameras — and sometimes folks will see them in their backyard walking along the edge and that sort of thing,” Evelsizer says. “In general bobcats are secretive. There’s a few places in some towns where bobcats are getting spotted regularly. But in general bobcats they are a secretive animal that’s mostly nocturnal.”

The bobcat season opens Saturday (November 2nd) and runs through January 31st. The counties where the bobcat bag limit has been raised from one to three (locally) include: Adair, Adams, Cass, Fremont, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Taylor and Union. The counties that stay at a one bobcat limit include: Audubon, Crawford, Dallas, Guthrie, Harrison, Monona, Shelby, Sioux and Woodbury. The overall season limit for bobcats is three.