Activities at the Cass County Fair continue this weekend, in Atlantic. On today’s schedule:

8:00-a.m. Sheep Show (Outdoor Show Ring) & 4-H Exhibits Open (Community Center)

10:00-a.m. Pet Show (Community Center)

Noon Working Exhbits, Educational Presentations & Extemporaneous Speaking (Community Center)

1:00-p.m. Meat & Dairy Goat Show (Outdoor Show Ring)

3:00-p.m. Livestock Judging Contest (Indoor Show Ring)

4:00-p.m. Youth Water Fights (West of the Grandstand)

6:00-p.m. Tractor Pull (Tractor pull track)

Don’t forget to look for a chainsaw artist, with carvings to be sold after the Parade of Champions Monday evening. Ride wristbands will be on sale this afternoon, and don’t forget there’s lots of great food available, including at the Fair Foodstand, where the Noon Special is Lamb or Ham balls.

Activities continue today at the FREE Cass County Fair, in Atlantic. On the schedule is:

• Beef Weigh-in from 8-until 10-a.m.
• Rabbit Show (Indoor ring), and Horse show (Horse arena), at 9-a.m.
• 4-H exhibits open at the Community Center, beginning at 10-a.m.
• 11-a.m. Dog Show (outdoor show ring)
• 3:30-p.m., Clover Kids Animal Show (outdoor show ring)
• 5:30-p.m. Share the Fun Style show (Community Center).
• 6:30-p.m. Mutton Busting (Grandstand)
• 8-p.m. Bull Riding (also at the Grandstand)

Today’s Noon Special at the Fair Foodstand located just east of the Commercial Building, is Chicken and Noodles. Don’t forget to look for a chainsaw artist, with carvings to be sold after the Parade of Champions Monday evening. Ride wristbands will be on sale this afternoon, also.,

KJAN will be broadcasting live from the Fair from 1-until 7-p.m., including our Newscasts at 5-and 6:45-p.m.

(Radio Iowa) — The impact of President Trump’s announced soybean deal with the European Union is unclear. U.S. soybeans are already sold in Europe and China’s market for soybeans is far larger than the European Union’s. Ray Gaesser, of Corning, is past president of the American Soybean Association. “Hopefully our ability to market our products to other countries besides China will be improved and will at least offset some of the China demand,” Gaesser says.

Soybean prices are down 20 percent from March when the U.S. trade disputes with China started to escalate. “US soybeans are less expensive than South American soybeans today, so there’s some good reasons to create new customers and hopefully new relationships for the future,” Gaesser says. Another factor, according to Gaesser, is that the global supply of soybeans is down because of a drought in Argentina. “Most of the South American soybeans, particularly Brazil’s, are going to China now,” Gaesser says, “so the European Union and some of the other countries are needing to come to the United States for supply.”

But some European countries have labeled American soybeans as “genetically modified” and refuse to purchase U.S.-grown beans. Gaesser says he hopes Trump Administration negotiations with the European Union will resolve those conflicts, erase all tariffs and make the European market a larger sales option for U.S. soybeans.

From left: Princess Nicole Eilts, Queen Emily Saeugling, King Tyler Comes, Prince Cale Pellett

Royalty for the 2018 Cass County Fair was crowned on Thursday night outside the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic. This year’s contest had 8 individuals competing for King and 9 vying for Queen. The candidates all got together for a preliminary group and individual interview with Judges Amanda Graham and Kandie Erickson. Then on Thursday night all the candidates were introduced to the crowd and four finalists on each side were brought up for a Q & A in front of the crowd. The judges then had a little time to make their final decisions.

The 2018 Cass County Fair Queen is Emily Saeugling, the daughter of Aaron and Dana Saeugling. Emily is a member of the Cass County RAMS 4-H club and Atlantic FFA. Emily will be joined in duties this week by Princess Nicole Eilts, the daughter of Tim and Karla Eilts. Miss Congenialty was Myah Rubio, the daughter of Roxane Reyna, Fustavo Rubio & Fredie Martinez.

The 2018 Cass County Fair King is Tyler Comes, the son of Chad and Tresa Comes. Tyler is a member of the Atlantic FFA. Earning the title of Prince was Cale Pellett, the son of Bret Pellett and Lindsay Pellett. Cale was also named Mr. Congeniality.

In addition to the King and Queen contest the Little Miss and Little Mister contest was held. 4 boys and 14 girls entered into the contest in which a name is simply drawn from the entrants for each title. The 2018 Cass County Fair Little Miss is Eden Ohms and the Little Mister is Keagen Dreager.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — An earthworm native to east Asia has been confirmed in Dubuque and Muscatine counties in eastern Iowa. The Iowa Agriculture Department says they’re usually called jumping worms because of their vigorous wriggling when disturbed. They’re also referred to as crazy worms or Alabama jumpers. They can grow up to 8 inches long and are found closer to the soil surface than other earthworms and found amid leaf litter.

The department says leaf litter protects open areas of land. When the worms consume the litter and soil, the land is subject to compaction, increased water runoff and erosion. The department recommends against moving compost, mulch and/or topsoil from potentially infested areas and against moving plants from the infested counties.

w/Denny Heflin.

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(Radio Iowa) — It’s been a challenging growing season for farmers in many parts of Iowa, for a variety of reasons. In north-central Iowa, crops were planted late due to snow and persistent heavy rains this summer caused ponding and drowned-out spots in many fields. But Brent Renner, who’s farms near Klemme, says much of the corn that survived is looking good. “I’ve been through some stuff that at least appears to still have 240-bushel potential,” Renner says. “But there are very few, if any, fields in my immediate area that are going to have overall farm averages at that level.”

Kent Klingbeil, an agronomist with Ames-based Landus Coop, says his biggest concern is nitrogen stress in corn. “I’ve been out in some fields and there are a lot of leaves firing up on the bottom with nitrogen deficiencies,” Klingbeil said. “It will be interesting to see if we can mineralize enough nitrogen to keep filling those ears or if we’re going to run a little short.”

Renner, who’s a custom sprayer, says weed control has also been a challenge. He says herbicide spraying programs have been “turned upside down” by the spring they had in north-central Iowa. Many farmers in central and southern Iowa have crops that were damaged in the tornado outbreak one week ago. Other farmers, in south-central and southeast Iowa, are having problems with drought. But statewide, this week’s USDA report rated 79-percent of Iowa’s corn crop in good-to-excellent condition and 76-percent of the state’s soybean crop in the good-to-excellent category.

(Radio Iowa) — A new report estimates more than one-million acres of soybeans across the region have been accidentally damaged by the use of dicamba herbicide despite strict usage rules. Iowa State University Extension weed specialist and Agronomy Professor Bob Hartzler says the big increase in pesticide misuse cases indicates a stewardship problem. 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 121 complaints of herbicide drift this year, compared to 82 statewide in early July of 2017.  “With the acres we have here in Iowa, sometimes applicators get behind and they feel pressured to apply products under less-than-ideal conditions,” Hartzler says. “With other herbicides, you can get away with that, with dicamba, you can’t.” Hartzler says you can only do so much with education. “The company worked hard last winter trying to get everybody trained,” he says. “I’m convinced that volatility is still an issue and all of the education in the world is not going to prevent problems with that.”

Hartzler says he’s not convinced further regulation is the answer, either. “It’s already difficult to find appropriate times to apply the product,” he says. “If you further restrict application windows, it greatly reduces the value of the herbicide.”  Hartzler says it’s a difficult situation and producers need to do a better job of selecting fields where the product is applied. He says more attention also needs to be made to strictly follow the label. Arkansas and Missouri banned the sale and use of dicamba last year following multiple complaints of crop damage due to drift.

w/Kate Olson.

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The Cass County Fair opens today (Wednesday), here in Atlantic, with a light schedule: From 9-a.m. until 2:30-p.m., there is 4H Static Exhibit Judging; 9-a.m. until Noon is the Clover Kids Showcase entry; The Food Sale takes place at the Community Center beginning at 10-a.m., and Fairgrounds set-up is this evening, beginning at 6.  There’s lots more going on tomorrow through the end of the Fair next Tuesday, at the Cass County Fairgrounds. Some highlights tomorrow night include: The “Little Miss and Mister” contest, at 7; King and Queen contest at 7:30; Senior Recognition at 8-p.m., and a movie in the Outdoor Show Ring, beginning at 8:45-p.m., Thursday.

For more on the Cass County Fair Schedule, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/cass, or look for The Cass County Fair (IA) on Facebook.