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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!
MANILLA, IOWA (May 31, 2018) –Landus Cooperative takes possession of the ADM grain asset in Manilla, Iowa tomorrow, Friday, June 1st.
A few reminders for customers:
· The site is closed Friday, June 1st for the transition of the business. It will re-open at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, June 4th.
· Grain bids will be available June 1st at LandusCooperative.com or on the cooperative’s free mobile app. Find it in your Google or Apple Store by searching “Landus Cooperative.”
· The main phone number for the Manilla location remains (712) 654-2012. Customers may now call the Landus Cooperative main grain desk at (877) 778-2226 instead of the former ADM Manilla toll-free number.
· Manilla customers are invited to a meet & greet on Monday, June 4th between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the location. RSVPs requested at (712) 654-2012.
· Under terms of the purchase agreement, ADM and Landus Cooperative plan to honor all outstanding grain contracts.
Iowans who love to fish or who want to learn will be able to fish for free this coming weekend. The state is holding its annual opportunity to see what the fishing fuss is all about, according to Joe Larscheid, chief of the Iowa D-N-R Fisheries Bureau. “Currently in Iowa, anybody under 16 years old can fish for free but this allows all residents to try fishing for free,” Larscheid says. The event runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Given the warm weather, Larscheid says the fish should be biting across the state. “It’s a great time to go fishing,” he says. “The crappies and the bluegills are close to shore, so there’s shore fishing and lakes and ponds and impoundments across Iowa should be very good this coming weekend.”
You don’t need to invest in expensive equipment to give the sport a whirl. “If you go to our Special Events Calendar on the DNR website, you can find events close to where you live,” Larscheid says. “At these events, there’s usually people there to help you fish, even provide fishing tackle, rods and reels to go fishing.”
A fishing license for Iowa residents costs $19 a year, which Larscheid says is a good bargain, as that pays for the state to stock 150-million fish every year, in addition to running the hatcheries and staffing biologists and enforcement personnel.
One person was injured in a grain elevator explosion in Sioux City Tuesday afternoon. Sioux City police chief Ed Mahon says the explosion happened at 12:55 p-m at the Anderson Grain Elevator. He says they don’t know what caused the explosion and it was mostly out, but crews had to find and shut off the gas to the elevator to get the fire out.
A gaping hole was blown into the top and side of the structure and homes located east of the building were evacuated because of the threat of a possible second explosion and elevator collapse. Chief Mahon says there were three employees at the elevator when the explosion happened. He says one was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Two others were not injured and have been interviewed about what they saw. The injured employee’s name has not been released. Mahon says there was a big concern about part of the building collapsing on firefighters. “They said they saw some concrete moving that appeared to be bulging out,” Mahon said. He says they were being cautious until they could do something to take the concrete down.
Firefighters from South Sioux City, Dakota City, Homer and Winnebago responded to help Sioux City.
(Radio Iowa)
Rental rates for Iowa farmland increased this year for the first time since 2013, according to a survey from Iowa State University Extension. It shows the average statewide rental rate is $222 per acre, an increase of just 1.4 percent over last year. ISU Extension economist Ann Johanns says another, related report is on the way.
“Soon, Iowa State will release a farmland ownership survey. That’s something we do every five years and that really gives us some insight into how much is land is rented and how it’s rented,” Johanns said. According to the most recent figures from the USDA, a little more than half of the farmland in Iowa is rented. ISU Extension will be holding leasing meetings around the state in July and August, at which time the survey on farmland ownership will be discussed.
“Which we think really gives some good insight into who owns the land, how they own it, and it asks how they might intend to pass it on,” Johanns said. The increase in farmland rental rates, while rather small, is somewhat surprising in light of grain prices. Johanns notes rental rates have dropped by nearly 18-percent since 2013. Over the same time period, corn and soybean prices received by Iowa farmers declined by 52 and 37-percent, respectively.
(Radio Iowa)
Iowa farmers can now sign up for a cost-sharing program to help pay for water quality strategies. State Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says it’s the sixth annual round for the program which helps farmers install nutrient reduction management practices. Naig says, “What we make available is a cost share for cover crops or converting to strip-till and no-till and for using a nitrogen inhibitor in the fall on fall-applied fertilizer.” Farmers who are planting cover crops for the first time get the highest cost share, he says, and the funding will be doled out starting in July. Naig says, “We have had 8,000 participants over the last five years and 4,600 of those have been first-time users of one of those water quality practices.”
He encourages growers to apply for the cost share program as soon as possible. “It’s good to get in early because the dollars do run out at some point,” Naig says. “We’ll make those decisions in July or into August. Folks can call the office or visit our website, Iowa Agriculture-dot-gov, or they can walk into their county conservation office and apply for the cost share there.”
Naig says farmers are only eligible for cost share on up to 160 acres.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Faced with an increasing shortage of workers, Idaho dairies are investing in robotic milkers. John Paetz, regional manager of Lely North America, headquartered in Pella, Iowa, says “The interest in robotic milking in Idaho is growing quite rapidly.” The company has robots installed in three Idaho dairies now, with two more scheduled to come online in July and two more scheduled for later in the year or early next.
In robotic milking, the cow decides when she wants to be milked and goes to the robotic milker. While she enjoys a snack such as a high-energy pellet, a laser-controlled device finds her teats, cleans them and dries them, then attaches and milks. When she’s done, the robot detaches and the cow wanders off. All without human intervention.
Paetz says “Larger dairies, where they’re employing 20 people, can see a big benefit initially. We’re not in the business of displacing labor, but you can do the same job with less labor.” Idaho has been behind the curve in implementing robotic milking, partly because Lely, one of the major vendors, has been migrating its marketing across the country after starting in western Europe and then heading to Canada and the East Coast. “We just started looking at the western region in the last five or six years,” Paetz said. “We don’t want our infantry to outrun our lines of support.” Across the U.S., robots are now being used in 5 percent or fewer of the dairies, he said. “But it’s accelerating.”
MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — Officials and volunteers in eastern Iowa have opened a park on a former vacant lot with hopes of increasing habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects and demonstrating the importance of such efforts. The Pollinator Park opened in Muscatine May 19. Volunteers planted new plants during the ceremony.
The nonprofit hopes to attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other flying insects with the plants. Volunteers from Nature Conservancy of Iowa, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Muscatine County Conservation Board and City of Muscatine helped with the project. Bridgestone Bandag donated most of the seeds, which are all native species, and Muscatine Community College donated the greenhouse.
Pollinator Park will take up to four years to be fully developed. It will also feature benches, a pathway and signage to explain how an active prairie is sustained.
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