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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
(Atlantic FFA report) — Last Tuesday, June 11th, three members of the Atlantic FFA chapter traveled to Cedar Rapids, to compete in the Iowa FFA Horse Career Development Event. Taylor McCreedy, Aspen Niklasen, and Craig Alan Becker represented Atlantic FFA at the event. McCreedy placed 4th individually in the event. As a team, the Atlantic members placed 8th overall as well. The competition was held at the Iowa Equestrian Center, located at Kirkwood Community College. A total of 103 individuals from 33 different FFA chapters across the state competed in the event.
Photo: Left to right
Taylor Mcreedy, Craig Alan Becker, Aspen Niklasen.
The state FFA Horse Evaluation CDE was designed to test each contestant’s knowledge of agriculture and their skills in equine science. The contest itself consisted of six classes of horses that each competitor evaluated and judged. They also gave oral reasons and answered questions over the classes that they evaluated. Along with these classes, there was a written examination and a team problem solving competition.
The Iowa FFA Horse Career Development Event was made possible through the Iowa FFA Foundation. The Horse Career Development event was coordinated and conducted by Rhonda Clough of Kirkwood Community College at the Iowa Equestrian Center.
(Radio Iowa) — The summer season officially arrives later this (Friday) morning and with it, an elevated risk of serious or deadly accidents as Iowans seek to cool off in the water. Mindy Uhle, an executive officer with the Iowa Department of Public Health, says if you’ll be on or near the water for fishing, boating or swimming, whether it’s a backyard pool, a lake or river, remember these life-saving tips. “We would encourage everyone to learn how to swim. Keep a close eye on your children. For young children and children who are non-swimmers, keep those kids at arm’s reach at all times,” Uhle says. “Use lifejackets, for non-swimmers and anytime you’re out boating or out doing recreational activities on lakes and rivers.”
Learning how to perform C-P-R takes two or three hours, depending on the course, and it’s a skill you can use for a lifetime. “There are lots of organizations that teach it,” Uhle says. “It is very accessible and it is something we would recommend learning if you are going to be around water or in a caregiver role.” Nationally, drowning kills more children between the ages of one and four than anything else except birth defects.
“Last year, we had 48 drowning deaths in Iowa,” Uhle says. “It’s been pretty stable. The average for the last five years is somewhere in between 40 and 50. Interestingly enough, about 70% of our drowning victims are male and almost 35% of our drowning deaths occur in lakes, rivers and streams.” A report from the Centers for Disease Control says ten people die from drowning every day nationwide, about one in every five is a child under the age of 14. Summer arrives today at 10:54 A-M Central time.
(Radio Iowa) — More than 100-thousand acres of farmland in three southwest Iowa counties were flooded this spring. One southwest Iowa farmer says his family has been able to plant just THREE PERCENT of their cropland due to this spring’s flooding. “About 75 or 76 acres is about all I’m going to get in this year.” Pat Sheldon says in a normal year, his family’s farming operation near Percival would plant 25-hundred acres of corn or soybeans. They planted beans this year. This is the second time in less than a decade that Sheldon’s farm has been hit by flooding.
“We had to build a new home after 2011 and we built this one up, so it’s dry and in a good shape,” Sheldon says. “Some of our buildings have had water in them, lost some grain bins and some of that stuff.” Sheldon says hauling out the rotten grain is a concern.
“Most of ours isn’t as bad as what I’ve seen some of the neighbors have, but you know the structural integrity of some of those bins in getting the grain out in a safe manner is a real issue — I mean a very dangerous issue,” Sheldon says. “Farming’s dangerous enough in normal conditions, let alone the things we’re dealing with now and it’s going to be a while because we’ve got to fix roads before we can even get a lot of it out.”
Nearly two MILLION bushels of corn and another half a million bushels of soybeans were sitting in grain bins and spoiled by this spring’s flooding. The U-S-D-A has not yet come up with the documentation required for getting federal payments to cover some of those losses. State officials advise farmers who are removing grain to take photos and have a third-party confirm how much grain was damaged.
A state legislator from Glenwood says farmers in his area are struggling to figure out how to safely remove ground-level sections of their grain bins — so a skid loader can be used to get the spoiled grain out.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers surveyed in parts of 10 Plains and Western states are seeing improvement in the region’s farm economy. The Rural Mainstreet survey released Thursday shows the survey’s overall index rising from a stunted 48.5 in May to 53.2 this month. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy.
Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says higher agriculture commodity prices and rebuilding from recent floods boosted June’s index. Goss also noted that despite negative consequences from trade tensions and tariffs, nearly 7 of 10 bank CEOS surveyed support either raising or continuing the Trump administration’s current tariffs.
Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.
(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa State University mosquito expert says you really can make a difference in the amount of mosquitoes around your home. Assistant professor of entomology, Ryan Smith says mosquito populations are starting to pick up some in different areas of the state. “I think it really just kind of depends on the given location, I think the temperatures are getting a little bit warmer, we’ve had some rain, but not quite as much in the recent week. So I think the increased temperatures are allowing the mosquitoes to finally show their ugly heads,” Smith says. He says mosquitoes need to get blood from somewhere to help them reproduce.
“Just a single female mosquito can lay anywhere between 50 to 100 eggs,” he says. “That one female might feed multiple times during her lifetime. And each time that she feeds on one of us — taking a blood meal — that provides a nutrient source to produce eggs.” Smith said “Each time that they bite us they are actually trying to have offspring, and so, a female mosquito might feed multiple times in their life, and just that one mosquito might produce maybe 300 mosquitoes.” So one way you can keep the female mosquito from reproducing is by not becoming a meal. Smith says you can do this by wearing repellent and proper clothing.
Smith says some of the mosquitoes don’t feed exclusively on human and can feed on birds or dogs and cats. “But really, just preventing any biting and removing any standing water around the home can actually make an important difference in kind of eliminating mosquitoes,” Smith explained. Most of the mosquitoes that are buzzing about now are what Smith calls nuisance species. “They will bite humans — but they don’t really transmit disease — and so, that’s kind of why I use the word nuisance. They will bite and feed off of people, but there’s no real major kind of health concern,” Smith says.
Smith says the mosquitoes that DO carry West Nile are already showing up in some places. “Populations that can be important for West Nile Virus transmission — we start to see them already — but really as the summer time progresses, their number and populations will continue to build,” Smith says. His studies of mosquitoes show that the mosquitoes that carry the West Nile Virus are most prevalent on the western side of the state and the populations drop down as you get to central and eastern Iowa.
Due to the rain Tuesday and Tuesday night, and the expected rain this weekend, the Atlantic Parks & Recreation Department is postponing their playground build at Schildberg Recreation Area. The community event was set to take place Friday and Saturday. The Parks Department is working with Miracle Playground to find another date to schedule their expert builder to come back and guide construction of the playground.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A northwest Iowa company that’s been fined thousands of dollars for the stink coming from its plant has lost its lawsuit targeting the city’s odor ordinance.
The Sioux City Journal reports that Judge Leonard Strand of the U.S. District Court in Sioux City granted the city of Sibley’s motion for a summary judgment. Strand disagreed with Iowa Drying & Processing’s contention that the ordinance was unconstitutionally vague.
Iowa Drying & Processing had said the city’s enforcement unfairly targeted the company and interfered with its efforts to sell the plant, which had drawn residents’ complaints for years.
One resident, Josh Harms, sued Sibley after city officials threatened legal action against him for saying on a website that Sibley smelled like “rancid dog food.” Strand ruled against the city in Harms’ case, barring officials from making more threats and ordering the city to pay him $6,500 in damages and $20,000 in legal fees.
Ag 4 All, the non-profit ag literacy group based in Adair County, shares that their popular Ag Adventure experience will be part of 64th Annual Jesse James Chuckwagon Days at Adair this weekend. The interactive exhibit will be set up in the Adair City Park on Saturday, June 22nd from 1-3 p.m.
The exhibit provides fun and learning for the entire family. There is Ag BINGO for the kids with prizes for everyone and a special Farm Input game for the adults with a chance to win a $25 ethanol certificate. It is a great opportunity to meet farm animals and the people that raise them. For the younger set there is a corn pool and pedal tractors to be fueled up at a renewable fuel station.
There is even free food. Grab an egg-on-a-stick, meat snack sample, and bottle of water while supplies last. Look for the red Ag Adventure tent and the volunteers in blue to find Ag Adventure on Saturday.
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