Cass County: Corn $3.33, Beans $9.44
Adair County: Corn $3.30, Beans $9.47
Adams County: Corn $3.30, Beans $9.43
Audubon County: Corn $3.32, Beans $9.46
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $3.36, Beans $9.44
Guthrie County: Corn $3.35, Beans $9.48
Montgomery County: Corn $3.35, Beans $9.46
Shelby County: Corn $3.36, Beans $9.44

Oats $2.47 (always the same in all counties)

(Information from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency offices)

The Iowa House has approved a budget plan for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that would provide an extra two million dollars for operations and maintenance of state parks. Republican Representative Norlin Mommsen, of DeWitt, says without the boost, some state parks might have to close.

“So when it came to funding, we increased funding by 43.5 percent for our state parks,” Mommssen says, “because, I think, of the desperate need…it’s a high priority.” Mommssen says he often visits state parks, including Maquoketa Caves State Park which is near his home. “The park ranger has figured out the F10 with the basset hound hanging out the window is me, inspecting,” Mommssen says. “All last year, the urinal in the bathroom by the caves. I go to Bellevue and there’s a state park up there…and the one lodge there, the roof is so bad, it’s starting to leak through and it’ll get to the point where if we don’t fix it, we’ll tear it down.”

Democrats in the House say the parks do need upgrades, but they complained the extra money for the parks was coming at the expense of other state environmental programs.

(Radio Iowa)

AMES, IA – The Iowa FFA Creed Speaking Leadership Event was held at Iowa State University, Ames, on Monday, April 23, 2018. Eighteen individuals participated in this year’s Career Development Event (CDE). The  first place individual for the event was Anna Campbell from the Audubon FFA Chapter. Their agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor is Mrs. Brittany Elmquist.The second place individual for the event was Carter Wagner from the Harlan FFA Chapter. Their agriculture education instructors and FFA advisors are Ms. Justine McCall and Mr. James Shughart.

Anna Campbell (Photo submitted)

This event is designed to develop leadership and the ability to appear before groups by 7th through 9th grade students as they become members of the FFA.

The wild goose chase in Cedar Rapids could be coming to an end with a new method for dealing with an overpopulation of Canadian Geese. The Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation Department began using “egg oiling” this month to cut the goose population. Parks and Rec Supervisor, Brent Neighbor, says it starts by floating goose eggs in a bucket of water to determine their stage of development. “Based on that stage — then you know whether it is good to oil or whether it is not,” Neighbor explains. “If it is, then you take 100 percent corn oil and then you coat the egg, and then you put it back in the nest.”

Cedar Rapids Geese

He says the corn oil stops the development of the egg. “The egg is porous and so the coating cuts off the oxygen to the interior of the egg,” Neighbor says. The eggs are left in the nest and the mother stays with them, but the never develop. More than one-thousand eggs in 200 nests have been oiled. The city has tied all sorts of other methods to control the geese population since 1996, including big roundups where the geese were chased into pens and relocated. Neighbor says the efforts to control the population have been controversial on both sides — but the egg oiling is one that appears to be acceptable. “It’s actually accepted by PETA as the most humane way to reduce populations,” he says, “so it has been accepted by both sides, which is good.”

Neighbor says if they just removed the eggs then the goose could lay again and it wouldn’t solve the problem. This allows them to cut the number of new goslings and the hope is that will eventually cut the number of adults who make Cedar Rapids their home. “Once they’re imprinted on an area and they are born in and area they are either going to stay here or not leave. And when they do leave they will come right back,” according to Neighbor. “…When we have done the roundups in the past and taken them to other areas of the state the D-N-R has tagged those geese and they just find them right back in Cedar Rapids.”

Neighbor says the egg oiling method is also cheaper than some of the other efforts. He says they use three park staff to oil the eggs and with the roundup they used the entire park staff and added several D-N-R employees to gather up the geese. “The labor savings is huge and the corn oil is very cheap.” The great goose roundups evolved after several other methods failed — including mechanical dogs designed to scare the geese away. “We called those the Fido, the radio-controlled units. And then we’ve also tried the distress calls, lasers, decoys, coyote and fox decoys, so we’ve tried quite a few things to get them to move along, ” Neighbor says. “And it works temporarily and then it doesn’t work any more.”

He says the population kept growing and the persistent geese cause all sorts of problems. “They are up and down the sidewalks, they’re covering the law areas, they are crossing the streets, which stops traffic and gives us an unexpected traffic delay, which is dangerous to the public,” he explains. “And then also on the trails the goose droppings makes it slippery and we’ve had some slipping incidents. We’ve had interactions with bicyclists where bicyclists have been flown at and charged by geese.” He says they are always getting calls to come pick up geese that had flown into cars or gotten run over. The results of the egg oil effort could start to show in a few months.

Neighbor says they should know by this summer how effective the oil treatment has been as the remaining goose eggs hatch and they see how many new goslings there are crossing the streets and in the parks and green spaces. He says it will two to four years down the road to know if they have brought the population to a more manageable level. The goose egg oiling was done under the training and supervision of the Iowa D-N-R.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst took her concerns about EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s handling of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to a Senate Ag Committee hearing Tuesday. She questioned Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue about the so-called “small refinery hardship waivers” Pruitt has been granting to oil refiners. “Some of these refiners are neither small nor facing hardships – and I’m very, very upset about this action that the administrator has taken that would destroy our demand for biofuels,” Ernst said.

U-S Ag Sec. Sonny Perdue

Perdue responded, saying all he has is “the power of persuasion” with Pruitt. Perdue said he told the EPA administrator the instructions he was given last fall for maintaining the renewable volume obligations (RVO) at 15 billion gallons has essentially been circumvented by the waivers. “We have no legal statutory authority to do anything other than that…letting (him) know that our farmers and biofuel producers are very concerned about that,” Perdue said.

Perdue said he is also pushing Pruitt to approve a waiver for E15, allowing year-round sales of the higher ethanol blend. “I have exhorted him to do the E15 waiver, as I have the President,” Perdue said. “I am encouraging the President to go ahead and make good on the commitment to do that.” Perdue also told Senate Ag Committee members that he’s encouraging President Trump to consider rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 11-nation trade deal shortly after taking office.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says their personnel will release eight trumpeter swans at three locations in southwest Iowa as part of the effort to create a self-sustaining population of swans south of Interstate 80. All releases will occur rain or shine.

• Four swans will be released on the north side of Lake Icaria at the east boat ramp on May 10 at 9:30 a.m., in partnership with the Adams County Conservation Board.
• Two swans will be released at Viking Lake near the restaurant/beach area on May 10 at 1 p.m.
• Two swans will be released at Lake Anita on May 11 at 1:30 p.m., in partnership with the Cass County Conservation Board.

swans released at Lake Icaria in 2015

The releases are part of the Iowa DNR’s statewide effort to restore trumpeter swans to Iowa that began in 1993. Trumpeter swans were once common in Iowa, but were gone from the state by the late 1880s. By the early 1930s, only 69 trumpeter swans remained in the lower 48 states. It takes six years, on average, before trumpeter swans successfully nest. Last year, Iowa was home to 54 pairs of nesting trumpeter swans; however, only two of those nesting pairs were south of I-80. Dave Hoffman, wildlife research technician with the Iowa DNR, said the goal is to raise that number to seven, which would likely create a self-sustaining population.

“We are hopeful to get them nesting here in a year or two,” Hoffman said. “We had swans displaying some territorial signs last year at Lake Icaria, which is encouraging.” As the largest North American waterfowl, these all-white birds can weigh up to 32 pounds and have an 8-foot wingspan. The trumpeter swans being released are young and flightless and will imprint on the area where they learn to fly, returning each year as open water is available. The swans were donated to the project from zoos in Cleveland, Kansas City, Green Bay, Wis. and Maryland.

Each event includes a swan and wetland presentation, an opportunity to touch and view the swans up close, and a photo opportunity with the kids.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A weekend brushfire that burned 300 acres of the popular River Valley Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Park in Council Bluffs has created dangerous conditions for visitors to the area, according to DNR officials. While the OHV park’s main entrance is closed, pedestrians can still access the area from nearby walking trails. Michelle Reinig, supervisor of the DNR’s southwest state park district, is asking visitors to avoid the park until damage to the area can be fully assessed. Reinig says “Most of the trees within the park have been burned, and many are still smoldering. It’s very important for people to avoid the area while conditions are still hazardous.”

According to Reinig, the two primary concerns are the potential for damaged trees to fall and the fire reigniting. Park staff is working with area foresters to conduct a forest health assessment of the damaged trees, and also is partnering with city and county officials to minimize further damage. The DNR will provide updates as more information is gathered.

The latest crop report shows there was very little activity down on the farm last week. The U-S-D-A weekly report says there were only one-and-a-half days last week that were suitable for any type of fieldwork. Below normal temperatures and snow in the northern part of the state kept farmers from even thinking about doing much of any planting prep in the fields. The five-year average shows farmers normally have 11 percent of the corn planted by April 22nd — and this year there hasn’t been any seed put in the ground. Farmers still need some extended warm weather to raise the soil temperatures and dry out the wet areas before the planting can get underway.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley will be questioning U-S Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today (Tuesday) in a Senate Ag Committee hearing focused on the state of rural America. Rural states like Iowa are facing serious economic threats from looming international trade wars following years of poor commodity prices, in addition to new obstacles on the production of ethanol. “That’s why I intend to stress to Secretary Perdue that trade and ethanol are very important to farmers of Iowa and to the prosperity of the Midwest,” Grassley says, “particularly to good paying jobs in small towns of Iowa.”

According to Grassley, Perdue has already demonstrated he’s very willing to support corn-based ethanol with his efforts on the renewable fuel standard (RFS) and to boost the production and sale of the E-15 blend. Grassley says, “He deserves a lot of credit for working with the ethanol industry and corn producers to get E-15 without damaging a RIN cap that would undercut the RFS more than Administrator Pruitt has already done with the EPA’s potential illegal abuse of so-called hardship waivers.”

Those waivers are designed to benefit oil producers. Corn and soybean growers have seen the value of their crops spiral in recent years, with few lasting rebounds. Those staple Midwestern commodities are in much worse shape than cotton, for example, and Grassley says the Southern farmers complain that cotton is always distressed. “I suppose you could talk about putting a lot of money into rural America through rural development programs,” Grassley says, “but the vitality of agriculture and prices that farmers get is a good part of solving the problems in rural America.”

Today’s hearing began at 9 A-M.

(Radio Iowa)

Atlantic FFA Adviser Eric Miller reports the Iowa FFA Public Speaking Leadership Event was held at Iowa State University, Ames, on Monday, April 23rd, 2018. Twelve individuals, including Emily Saeugling, of Atlantic, participated in this year’s Career Development Event (CDE). Saeugling placed first (Gold) in the individual competition during the event. The second place individual for the event was Brookelyn Harned from the West Liberty FFA Chapter.

Miller says the event is designed to develop rural and agricultural leadership, to provide for member participation in agricultural public speaking activities and to stimulate interest along such lines. The prepared public speaking event requires participants to write and deliver a six-to-eight minute speech in front of a panel of judges. Scoring is based on the written manuscript, the delivery of the speech and the answers to questions. The Iowa FFA Public Speaking CDE was made possible with support from GROWMARK and the 2003-2004 Iowa FFA State Officers through the Iowa FFA Foundation.