Cass County Extension to host training sessions beginning mid- September

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Master Gardener program will hold its core training sessions this fall for individuals interested in becoming Master Gardeners.

The Master Gardener program is looking for people who are passionate about volunteering and gardening. No previous garden knowledge is required. The program equips volunteers to grow in knowledge about gardening best practices, and in return they are asked to share that knowledge with their local communities through projects that contribute produce to food banks to enhance food security, make Iowa’s communities beautiful, and educate local residents and youth on gardening. Cass County has a large, active group of Master Gardeners- with over 80 individuals having completed the program over the past 30 years, and more than 30 currently reporting service hours each year.

“Master Gardeners provide information and education to Iowans,” said Susan DeBlieck, ISU Extension and Outreach Master Gardener assistant coordinator. “They are excellent community resources who help make the state a better place to live.”

The Cass County Extension office will be one of the training locations for the Master Gardener class this fall. Classes will begin Tuesday evening September 19, and run through November 14. The trainings will be held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays weekly. There will also be three hands-on workshops held during the course of the trainings, as well as a training session held on the Iowa State University campus on Saturday, October 7 and 21.

Those interested in being trained as a Master Gardner can apply online at https://mastergardenerhours.hort.iastate.edu/application-form.php. Applications for the Master Gardener Program are due by September 1 to participate in 40 hours of Master Gardener training. Training fees are $195 for all materials and classes. Persons who are unable to apply online can contact the Extension Office for assistance in applying to the program.

After completing the course, Master Gardener trainees start their work as volunteers within the community, volunteering 40 hours in the first year to graduate from “trainee” status, and 20 hours per year after that to maintain their active status, while building their gardening know-how by participating in ten hours of continuing education annually. Master Gardeners donated nearly 120,000 volunteer hours during 2016, providing the equivalent of $2.6 million of labor to help beautify and educate Iowa communities, and address ongoing food security issues.

Individuals not interested in becoming a Master Gardener and fulfilling volunteer requirements can still participate in the training. The ProHort program allows individuals to gain knowledge while earning a certificate of completion. Cost for the ProHort program is $550 and does not include any volunteer requirements.

For more information on the Master Gardener classes in Cass County, please contact the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or email Program Coordinator Kate Olson at keolson@iastate.edu.

Des Moines (Radio Iowa) – The Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator is in Iowa today (Tuesday) for meetings with farmers and state officials. Iowa is the 18th state Scott Pruitt has visited as his agency considers a new “Waters of the U.S.” rule to replace regulations drafted by the Obama Administration, but put on hold by the courts. “When the EPA defines a ‘Waters of the United States’ as being a puddle, a dry creek bed and an ephemeral drainage ditch, then clearly they were misplaced,” Pruitt said this morning, “and they have not provided great certainty to landowners.”

During an interview with Radio Iowa, Pruitt said his goal is to provide “regulatory clarity” with a new rule, so property owners will know where federal jurisdiction begins and ends. “If you want to build a pond on your land,” Pruitt said, “if you have natural springs on your land and you want to want to water your livestock and build (a retention) pond…and you’re not really sure whether if you do that you’re going to be subject to $37,000-plus a day in fines if you don’t get a permit and you find it out five years from now, what does that mean? You don’t build the pond or you don’t build the subdivision or you don’t use your land the way you want.”

Pruitt suggests his agency will align its substitute Waters of the U.S. rule with a U.S. Supreme Court opinion that outlined “traditional notions” about what streams, rivers and wetlands should be subject to federal Clean Water Act regulations. “The goal is to help folks in Iowa know that they’re not under the threat of the EPA coming in and saying: ‘Gotcha!’ five years from now and trying to assess hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for the use your own land,” Pruitt told Radio Iowa.

President Trump issued an executive order in February that set in motion the ultimate withdrawal of the Obama Administration’s “Waters of the U.S.” rule. While Pruitt’s agency drafts a replacement, pre-2015 standards remain in place. Pruitt says the Obama Administration’s approach to water regulation was too “adversarial.”  “As I talk to farmers and ranchers, I first want them to understand that I see them as partners,” Pruitt said. “I see them as co-partners in achieving good outcomes and that they’re going to take care of the water that they have on their land and that they desire to do so.”

A draft of a report about climate change that was written by scientists in the E-P-A and a dozen other federal agencies was leaked to the New York Times and the newspaper published a story on the report late yesterday (Monday). Pruitt told Radio Iowa he hasn’t reviewed the scientific report and could not comment on it.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is visiting Iowa on a tour to tout the importance of bringing more young people into farm-related professions.

Perdue stopped in Sheffield, Des Moines, Urbandale and Davenport over the weekend as part of a five-state tour. On Saturday, he delivered the keynote speech at the 2017 Iowa Ag Summit in Des Moines.

Perdue also announced a new mentoring program for farmers. He says he wants to make it easier for families to get into the industry. A new partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the nonprofit group SCORE will help aspiring farmers.

Perdue says future farmers need more access to capital, technology and information to join the industry, which he says will face greater demands in the next 30 years.

Speakers at Saturday’s Iowa Ag Summit suggested there are opportunities and risks ahead as the Trump Administration renegotiates the North American Free Trade Agreement. Officials from the U.S., Canada and Mexico will convene in Washington on August 16th to begin the first round of discussions. U-S Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue did not mention NAFTA directly during his keynote address at the Iowa Ag Summit, but he talked about it with reporters afterwards. “First of all, the principle is: ‘Do no harm.’ Overall, agriculture’s done very well under NAFTA and we hope to continue that,” Perdue said. “There are a few things that need to be addressed, certainly, with Canada and with Mexico.”

But Perdue says “not all sectors have benefited equally” under the trade deal. “Our producers in south Florida, vegetables and fruits, have not done as well. Our pork, our dairy, our grain farmers have done relatively well under NAFTA,” Perdue says. “We want to make sure that we have a good, fair deal that’s enforced and we can live with maybe for another 20 years.”

Three Canadian officials spoke at the summit, too, and each talked about NAFTA. Fred Gorrell, the assistant deputy minister for agriculture in Canada, says Canada, the United States and Mexico are the “envy of the world” when it comes to the long-standing trade relationship.  “Not only do we trade with each other, we build things together,” Gorrell said.

Jean-Claude Poissant, Canada’s parliamentary secretary for agriculture, says trade drives the economies “on both sides of the border.”  “The government of Canada is committed to working with you to grow the Canada-U.S. relationship,” Poussant said. “…The main point I want to make is that the Canada-U.S. relationship is strong, stable and beneficial to both our great nations.”

The Iowa Ag Summit also covered issues like prospects for the next Farm Bill, but trade policy was at the forefront of the day-long event. Governor Kim Reynolds says “modernizing” NAFTA presents an opportunity for the state. “Our goal is to ensure Iowa’s high quality products continue to move across borders and around the world,” Reynolds said. Senator Chuck Grassley says re-negotiating the trade pact will be “more difficult” with Canada than with Mexico. “There are some areas, like Canadian dairy policy, that are going to be quite a challenge if we try to make changes in that area, but I think it’s legitimate that we try to do that,” Grassley said.

Randy Spronk, a past president of the National Pork Producers Council, notes Canada and Mexico bought more than two BILLION dollars worth of U.S. pork last year. “As a matter of fact, you add Mexico and Canada together — Mexico is number two and Canada is number four — that’s one third of our exports,” Spronk said. Senator Joni Ernst says in addition to NAFTA, the Trump Administration must establish new “bilateral” agreements now that the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership has been scrapped. “If we don’t pursue these trade agreements, I guarantee you that China will,” Ernst said. And that makes international trade a national security issue, according to Ernst.

Bruce Rastetter, the agribusinessman from Arlington who hosted and organized Saturday’s event, says open markets are critical to both farmers AND Iowa manufacturers. “One of the negative outcomes of NAFTA has been the loss of jobs in rural Iowa,” Rastetter told reporters. Rastetter announced the next Iowa Ag Summit will be on March 3rd of 2018 — and he plans to make it an annual event. “There’ll be an emphasis on trade, manufacturing and I think also in light of the need for improved water quality in agriculture, we’ll have an emphasis on that,” Rastetter said.

Panelists at THIS weekend’s ag summit discussed water quality, too. One panelist suggested federal crop subsidies should be limited to farmers who engage in conservation practices. Others discussed how to provide “accountability” and measure progress.

(Radio Iowa)

A new report from the U-S Food and Drug Administration links consumption of soybean oil to a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. Iowa Soybean Association president Rolland Schnell says it’s great news for the state’s soybean growers — and for consumers. “Hopefully, it’s going to put to rest some of the naysayers who like to paint soybean oil as a bad food ingredient,” Schnell says. “It’s not and there’s all kinds of research to back up that it is beneficial, looking at it from a health standpoint.”

Schnell says the cooking oil market is important for soybean farmers and the new report will enable manufacturers of soybean oil to tell consumers about the heart-healthy benefits. “It’s very positive and hopefully, the general public will take this report by the FDA to heart and realize its a valuable product for their health,” Schnell says, “and the volume of (sales) will continue to increase.”

Schnell says sometimes soybean oil gets a negative rap, but this move by the F-D-A may change that. “The social media always tries to paint it as a bad thing when it’s not,” he says. “Research will verify over and over that it’s a good thing and to have the government agency come out and support that is real welcome news.”  The F-D-A report recognizes the ability of soybean oil to provide a superior omega-three fatty acid profile while also lowering “bad cholesterol” levels.

(Radio Iowa)

The latest U-S-D-A report estimates the value of Iowa farmland now averages eight-thousand dollars an acre. Farmland values in Iowa were up nearly two percent in the past two years according to the U-S-D-A. The other “corn belt” states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri all failed to see an increase in land values. The U-S-D-A calculation includes the value of homes and farm buildings along with pastures and cropland in its value measurement. The national average price for farmland is about three thousand dollars. That means the value of farm property in Iowa is more than twice that.

The U-S-D-A calculates the average price for an acre of Nebraska farmland has declined by one-point-seven percent from 2015 values. Farmland values are UP nine-and-a-half percent in Wisconsin and UP by about one percent in Minnesota. The other neighboring states of Illinois and Missouri saw a decline of about one-and-a-half percent. In South Dakota, the drop was about three percent.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The latest farm real estate values are out and the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the average acre of farmland in Iowa rose 1.9 percent from a year ago to $8,000 an acre, returning to the same value posted in 2015.

Iowa is the only state in the five-state corn belt region which also includes Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio to see an increase in value. The USDA’s farm real estate value includes all land and buildings on farms. The report was released Thursday.

Midwest farmland values fell or leveled off in many states from 2015 to 2016 but Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota also saw increases this year. Nebraska saw a 1.7 percent decrease to $2,900 an acre. The national average is up 2.3 percent to $3,080 an acre.

Birdwatchers in the Lower Loess Hills region may soon see a greater diversity of species. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources proposes a bird conservation area of nearly 90-thousand-acres. Such areas are created through a targeted effort on public and private lands to plant bird-friendly habitats. Bruce Ehresman is a wildlife diversity bird biologist for the D-N-R.

“If you think about what Iowa looked like historical with about 27- or 28-million acres of prairie, it was a huge landscape of habitat and we’ve carved that up into little tiny pieces,” Ehresman says. “We’re trying to put back some of the pieces into larger pieces because they will benefit more species.” Ehresman says this proposed bird conservation area in western Iowa is ecologically diverse.

“We’ve documented 282 species that have occurred at one time or another within this proposed area and of those, 128 are nesting species,” Ehresman says. “It actually may not sound like a very high number, but it really is, and so a high proportion of those species that nest throughout the state actually nest in this one area.” If approved, this conservation area would be Iowa’s 24th. Ehresman says it will contain the most bird species of all the conversation areas in the state.

(Radio Iowa w/report by Sarah Boden, Iowa Public Radio)

The U-S Ag Secretary has started a tour of five Midwestern states that will pass through Iowa this weekend.  U-S Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue plans to gather input for the 2018 Farm Bill during his stops in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. Perdue says he’ll be able to “hear directly from people in agriculture…as well as consumers” who “know best what the current issues are.” Perdue is a former veterinarian who served as Georgia’s governor. He’ll be a leading voice for the Trump Administration as congress writes the next Farm Bill.)

Perdue is in Wisconsin today (Thursday) and he’ll be in Minnesota tomorrow (Friday). On Saturday, Perdue will deliver the keynote address at the Iowa Ag Summit in Des Moines. The event’s organized and hosted by Iowa agribusinessman Bruce Rastetter. Early Saturday, Perdue plans to be in Sheffield to tour Sukup Manufacturing, which makes grain handling equipment. Perdue also will hold a midday roundtable discussion on Saturday in Des Moines with an invited group of farmers, then visit Living History Farms. On Sunday afternoon, Perdue will visit the Mississippi Valley Farm in Davenport.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Monsanto Corporation report the  America’s Farmers Grow Communities program has returned. The goal of the program is to give farmers in Cass County and across the State, an opportunity to enroll for a chance to win a $2,500 donation to direct to their favorite local eligible nonprofit organization. Through the America’s Farmers Grow Communities Program, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, farmers across rural America will donate more than $3 million to nonprofit organizations in 2018 – helping farmers to give back to and support their local communities.

New this year, all farmers are now eligible to enroll in the program, as long as they meet the requirement of being 21 years old and actively engaged in farming at least 250 acres or more.

The funds being awarded are used to provide support to a variety of rural nonprofit organizations that reflect the makeup and character of their local communities, including food banks, emergency response organizations, youth agriculture programs and many others. Since the program began in 2010, the program has awarded more than $26 million to nonprofits in rural America, such as emergency response organizations, schools, and youth agriculture programs.

Farmer enrollment began August 1st and runs through Nov. 1, 2017.  Winners will be announced in January 2017. Iowa farmers can enter for a chance to win online at www.GrowCommunities.com or by calling 877-267-3332 toll-free.

About the American Farmers Campaign: The America’s Farmers campaign highlights the importance of modern US Agriculture through communications and community outreach programs that partner with farmers to impact rural America. To learn more, visit America’s Farmers at www.AmericasFarmers.com.