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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) — A new emergency management coordinator started work at the Iowa Department of Agriculture, Tuesday. The legislature set aside a quarter of a million dollars for the agency to prepare for an outbreak of a foreign animal disease, like African swine fever, foot and mouth disease or Avian influenza — the bird flu. A portion of that budget will pay the salary of Dr. Andrew Hennenfent, a public health veterinarian. He will review the state’s emergency response plans for animal diseases and organize drills for responding to an outbreak.
Hennenfent grew up on an Illinois farm and worked as a vet in Orland Hills, a community about 23 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. He recently served as the State Public Health Vet for the District of Columbia, though, and supervised the investigation of diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans.
Cass County 4-H is hosting the 4-H County Convention on Sunday, November 11. The annual awards program will begin at 2:00 PM at the Cass County Community Center, and is being organized by the 4-H Youth Council and Youth Action Committee.
At County Convention, members and leaders of all fourteen 4-H clubs in Cass County will be presented on stage to receive recognition. Record book project awards will be announced and recognition will be given to members who did outstanding project work throughout the year. Local club leaders will be recognized for their service to the 4-H program.
Special recognition will be given to 4-H clubs for exceptional community service projects, herdsmanship at fair, 4-H Endowment Fund contributors, and promotional activities during National 4-H Week. Club officers will also be recognized for their excellent work.
Shelby Van Horn, Cass County Youth Coordinator, said “This is a great event for 4-Hers to receive recognition for their accomplishments. We will also be recognizing community members and businesses for their continued 4-H support. Without those individuals, our 4-H program would not be as strong.”
This year are 21 Clover Kids who have completed 3rd Grade and moved into 4-H. A Clover Kids Graduation ceremony will be held to recognize those members, and help them transition into the 4-H program. This is the second year for the event.
4-H’ers serving on the 2017-2018 Cass County Youth Council include Claire Smith, Myah Rubio, Katie York, Eric Plagman, Mitchell Williamson, Nathan Behrends, Aly Brockob, Grace Clay and Cody McCreedy. Graduating members will be recognized and final activities of the day will be the announcement and installation of the 2018-2019 Cass County 4-H Youth Council. Parents, relatives, friends and 4-H supporters are invited to attend the celebration and recognition event for Cass County 4-H members and leaders.
The Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources said today (Tuesday), that DNR Conservation Officers are investigating a Nov. 1st hunting incident involving a group of quail hunters in Page County. Authorities say 58-year old Neil Bartelt, of Fruitland, Iowa, was injured while upland bird hunting in the northwest corner of Page County, near the Montgomery, Mills, and Fremont county lines, around 3-p.m. on November 1st, when he was acting as a “blocker” for his hunting group.
The four other members of the hunting group were walking towards Bartelt when they scared up a group of quail. Several of the hunters fired shots at the quail striking Bartelt with pellets in the face and abdomen. Bartelt was transported to the Shenandoah Medical Center Hospital with minor injuries. The investigation continues into this incident.
(Radio Iowa, w/thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio) — The E-P-A is extending the approved use of the controversial weed killer dicamba for two more years, but critics say too little is being done to protect nearby crops. New restrictions include fewer hours to spray and fewer people approved to do it. Acting E-P-A administrator Andrew Wheeler says the new rules also require a 57-foot buffer around fields using dicamba.
Wheeler says, “We’re hoping that these new restrictions on the use of the pesticide for next year will improve its use as well and take away from some of the side effects or implications on neighboring crops and neighboring farms.”
The herbicide is used on fields where there are dicamba-resistant crops growing, but farmers who didn’t plant those seeds say dicamba drifted, injuring about a million acres of crops this year across the Midwest and South. Iowa State University weed scientist Bob Hartzler says the new rules won’t prevent damage to fields where farmers didn’t plant dicamba-resistant seeds. Hartzler says, “My big concern is as it’s likely the number of acres treated will increase and that just also increases the threat to plants in the landscape.”
The E-P-A insists the restrictions will help and that it needs the next two years to collect and monitor complaint data before making a longer-term decision. Hartzler says he’s talked to several farmers, including one who admits he made a critical error. “He damaged several hundred acres and he admits he sprayed when the wind speeds were less than three miles an hour,” Hartzler says. “That’s a stewardship problem. The label clearly states not to apply under those conditions.”
State officials have received dozens of complaints about herbicide drift this year. Arkansas and Missouri banned the sale and use of dicamba in 2017 following multiple complaints about crop damage due to drift.
(Radio Iowa) — Farmers made good use of dry weather again last week to advance the harvest. The corn harvest went from 49 to 72 percent complete last week as there are nearly six dry days for fieldwork. The corn harvest is three days ahead of last year — but still one day behind the five-year average.
The soybean harvest moved form 71 to 88 percent complete by the end of the week Sunday. The bean harvest is still seven days behind the five-year average, or the same as it was last week.
The report shows central Iowa farmers have combined 80 percent of their corn for grain while those in the southwest part of the state have only 55 percent of their corn out of the fields.
The Iowa 4-H Foundation reports Jeff Anderson, of Atlantic, was selected to serve as a trustee on the Iowa 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees during the foundation’s annual meeting held October 19th. Anderson is currently the Western Director of Sales with Stine Seed Company. He is a 4-H leader for the Washington G.E.M 4-H group and assistant leader to the Cass County Creator Clover Kids Club. Prior to becoming a club leader, he served on the Cass County Fair Board for 9 years and the Cass County Extension Council for four years.
Jeff Anderson
Anderson said 4-H was a major part of his life growing up and the experiences he gained definitely impacted the person he is today. Along with five other newly elected trustees, Anderson joins a 24-member board that provides the vision and fiscal oversight for the Iowa 4-H Foundation. The Iowa 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees is comprised of volunteers from both the public and private sectors who are leaders in their respective fields.
The Iowa 4-H Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides the private financial resources to develop and deliver quality 4-H youth programs throughout the state of Iowa. These opportunities help young people enhance their ability to use critical thinking, leadership, communication, and social skills – tools that will give them a competitive edge in their future endeavors.
(Radio Iowa) — Dairy farms are disappearing in Iowa and across the U.S. as the downturn in the ag economy and trade disputes are hitting the industry especially hard. Iowa has lost about 80 dairy farms this year, according to the Iowa State Dairy Association. This week, members of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) voted to push for more assistance from the Trump Administration for those struggling farmers. NMPF spokesperson Alan Bjerga says the long-term outlook for industry looks good.
“Of course, that doesn’t help you much in the immediate term when you’re trying to put pen to paper and make your numbers balance out,” Bjerga said. Exports are needed for milk production expansion, but retaliatory tariffs have halted shipments to key trade partners. Bjerga said NMPF members voted to seek assistance and improvements in the economy rather than some kind of production management system.
“Supply management in 2018 has real difficulty gaining the broad-based approach you would need to get if you really want to go forward pushing for something like that and so the decision was to not to push for that,” Bjerga said. Bjerga notes economic loss estimates show dairy farmers lost roughly $1.5 BILLION in income since May, while USDA trade mitigation payments only allocated $127 million to farmers.
Iowa still has roughly 1,150 dairy farms and is the nation’s 10th-largest milk producer. In addition to the decline in exports, the dairy industry is struggling with continued low milk prices – which are around half of what they were four years ago.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office says another report has been received about the theft of tractor weights. A Creston man told authorities Wednesday afternoon, that sometime over the weekend, someone entered his shop and took eight green weights off of his John Deere tractor. The loss was estimated $1,080. It’s the third time in less than a week weights have been stolen from farm tractors in Union County.
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