Republicans and Democrats say finding a long-term source of money for water quality efforts is a priority for the 2018 Iowa legislative session — and they expect quick action. It’s still a matter of debate, though, as to WHICH policy option will be pursued. Senate President Jack Whitver of Ankeny acknowledges the House passed one approach LAST year, while the Senate approved a different one.

“But at the end of session, we decided there were too many dollars on the line and too much policy to hammer out to do that at the last minute and just patch it together,” Whitver says, “and we decided we wanted to take time and make sure you’re going to do it right because that’s plan that’s going to be around for 20 or 30 or 40 years.”

House Republican Leader Chris Hagenow, of Windsor Heights, expects “hundreds of millions of dollars” to be dedicated to water quality projects over the next few decades.”We shouldn’t see this one bill that we have as the beginning and the end of our work on water quality,” Hagenow says. “I see this as a generational challenge.”

Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen of Des Moines favors an approach that addresses pollution at the watershed level. “The problems with water are not evenly sprinkled across our state and we should be going after the areas that is most poisoning our water,” Petersen says. “We should be going after those areas first, I believe.”

House Democratic Leader Mark Smith of Marshalltown says it’s a mistake to make look solely at the quality of surface water. “We need to be focusing on good soil and retaining Iowa soil, which is our lifeblood here in this state,” Smith says. “By doing so, we will correct the water quality issues that we have in our state and many other issues as well.”

Addressing flood-prone areas of the state through water improvement projects is important, according to Smith. The legislative leaders made their comments Thursday during a forum sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Partnership. It represents 23 chambers of commerce in central Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

WRIGHT COUNTY, Iowa – DNR conservation officers responded to a personal injury hunting incident on November 29 around 1:20 p.m., in southwestern Wright County. 36-year old William Rancourt, of Lebanon, New Hapshire was pheasant hunting on the Boone River Greenbelt Conservation Board Public Hunting Area with three other hunters when he was hit in the back by bird shot pellets from another hunter’s 12-guage shotgun.

The shotgun was lying on the ground when a hunting dog stepped on the trigger guard causing it to discharge hitting Rancourt in the back nearly 22 yards away. Rancourt was transported to Trinity Hospital in Fort Dodge with non-life threatening injuries. The DNR was assisted at the scene by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office.

The DNR reminds hunters to unload your firearm and be sure the safety mechanism is in place before setting it down.

The amount of conventional ethanol blended into the nation’s gasoline supply next year will be roughly equal to this year’s required level. The E-P-A has met today’s (Thursday’s) deadline for setting the Renewable Fuels Standard for 2018. As indicated a couple of months ago, the federal mandate for biodiesel and “cellulosic” ethanol will be lower in 2018. Required production of traditional ethanol production will remain the same next year. On Tuesday, Governor Kim Reynolds told reporters it’s a yearly fight to maintain the federal production mandates for ethanol and biiodiesel. “It is important to our economy. It’s important to rural Iowa. It’s how we add value to the products that we grow,” Reynolds says. “…I’m going to get up on Friday and I’m going to go back to the mat and we’re going to continue to fight on behalf of Iowans and Iowa farmers because we believe it’s important, but we can, in fact, feed and fuel the world.”

This fall, Reynolds joined other farm state lawmakers and the biofuels industry in a public relations push to persuade President Trump to insist his E-P-A side with farmers and ethanol producers rather than the oil industry, which wants reduced biofuel production mandates. Reynolds called President Trump and met with the E-P-A Administrator.in October to press the issue. “It is really important to the economy, the rural economy in Iowa, especially our Iowa farmers,” Reynolds says.

Senator Chuck Grassley issued a statement Wednesday night, saying the E-P-A’s decision is “disappointing,” and falls “short of the full potential of the U.S. biofuels industry.” However, Grassley says he is glad the E-P-A backed off a proposal that would have reduced mandatory production levels even further.

(Radio Iowa)

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man was burned by a fire that spread across his business site in central Iowa. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG reports that firetrucks were dispatched around 1 p.m. Tuesday to Morrison Repair in Grinnell. An outbuilding with tractors and farm equipment, a semitrailer full of tires and several piles of tires were aflame when firefighters arrived.

Investigators say people at a nearby business had been burning items at the rear of that property, but strong winds spread the flames to Morrison Repair. Authorities say owner Ron Morrison suffered burns to his face while trying to get tractors out of the outbuilding.

w/Kate Olson.

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Iowans may be pulling more green out of their pockets to purchase a Christmas tree this year, especially if that tree was grown out of state. Iowa Christmas tree grower Rod Heintz, says there’s an undersupply of some popular evergreens nationwide due to wildfires and drought. “Right now there’s a shortage of Christmas trees because of that,” Heintz says. “Everything is up three to five dollars a tree this year.”

Heintz manages Strautman Tree Farm near Cambridge. He says Iowans can likely save a few dollars this year if they get a tree grown within the state’s borders. Heintz did NOT raise his prices from last year. “We sell ’em from three feet tall to 15 foot…so, they range anywhere from $30 to $250 a (tree),” Heintz says.

There are around 100 Christmas tree farms in Iowa, growing on a total of about 1,500 acres. Heintz says he was pleasantly surprised with the strength of his Christmas tree crop this year. “We had absolutely no rain this growing season, but they look tremendous,” Heintz told Radio Iowa. “I can’t believe how well they look.”

Heintz says many of his customers return year after year because they enjoy the experience of buying a tree direct from a farm, rather than from a big box store.

According to the Iowa Christmas Tree Grower’s Association, it can take up to 15 years to grow a tree of average retail sale height (6 feet), but the average growing time is seven years. The top selling Christmas trees in Iowa are Scotch Pine and White Pine.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources report Conservation Officers responded to a hunting incident at around 3:30 p.m., Saturday, in Audubon County. Authorities say 56-year old Arthur Goupille, of Negaunee, Mich., was hunting pheasants in Audubon County when his gun discharged hitting two members of his hunting party standing about six feet away.

The group had completed a drive and was taking a break when the incident occurred. Goupille’s gun fell over, discharged, and struck the nearby hunters. The hunters were taken to the Audubon County Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. They were treated and released.

The DNR reminds hunters to use safe hunting practices, treat every firearm as if it is loaded and always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

The corn harvest is completed in a majority of the state. The final crop report from the U-S-D-A says good weather allowed farmers to get into the field every day last week. That allowed them to make a dent in the corn that remains standing in the fields and the report says 96 percent of the corn has been harvested. The leaves the state eight days behind the five-year average. The report says southwest and south-central Iowa are on the only areas with more than five percent of the corn remaining to be harvested. The bean harvest was wrapped up last week.

(Radio Iowa)

The spokesman for the Food Bank of Iowa says food donations regularly decrease significantly this time of year. Danny Akright says while donations start to drop off — the number of people who need assistance has not dropped a lot since the Great Recession that started in 2008. “You would think that there would be a lot fewer people who are food insecure. But really at the peak it was about 14 percent in Iowa — 14 percent of Iowans were food insecure — but it’s only down to 12 percent.”

The organization covers 55 counties in central and southeast Iowa. He says there’s always a seasonal drop in food that’s available as the various garden programs and farms head into winter.  “Of course when the growing season ends that flow of produce kind of slows to a trickle,” Akright says. He says the Food Bank of Iowa has seen an increase in financial donations — which he says are important to keeping the pantry stocked.”We’re able to use those to buy the products that people don’t generally donate and that we’re not getting during certain times of the year,” according to Akright.

The Food Bank of Iowa brought in more than two-point-eight million dollars in donor support last fiscal year. The previous year fiscal year, that number was two-point-two million dollars. Akright says Money raised in November and December each year equals between 30 to 40 percent of their yearly total.

(Radio Iowa, w/thanks to Clay Masters, Iowa Public Radio

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A Plains farm aid nonprofit that’s grown steadily in size and scope since being launched in North Dakota about a dozen years ago is expanding its services again.

Farm Rescue is adding livestock feeding assistance to its list of services that include crop planting and harvesting, haying, and hay and grain hauling.

The new service will be offered throughout the organization’s territory, which has grown through the years to include North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska.

Farm Rescue doesn’t dole out cash. It provides free physical labor for farmers and ranchers dealing with an injury, illness or a natural disaster. It relies on volunteers from around the country, donations and corporate sponsors. It reached a milestone last summer, helping its 500th case.