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Elsewhere across Iowa…
Officials with the Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) invite women who own or manage farmland in Taylor County and surrounding counties, to participate in a free discussion focused on the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program). The meeting begins 8:30-a.m. Feb. 14th in Lenox with registration, coffee and resource sharing at the Lenox Community Center (210 E. Dallas St.). It includes lunch, and an afternoon field trip to view CRP plantings and other stewardship practices. The meeting concludes with a dessert and wrap-up session by 3-p.m.
Women landowners who attend the meeting will learn to improve and protect their soils and water, through the use of targeted CRP practices. Special maps will be used to show how protecting your soil can be profitable. You’ll also learn how local agency staff can help you understand the CRP program and application process.
Reserve your place now by calling Erin Ogle at 712-523-2118, or by email at Erin.Ogle@ia.nacdnet.net. Reservations are needed by 4-p.m. Feb. 10th. For more information, visit www.womencaringfortheland.org, or call Carol at 641-430-2540.
You’re invited to join Iowa State University Extension & Outreach Field Agronomist, Aaron Saeugling, and Iowa State University Farm Coordinator for Southwest Iowa, Jim Rogers, for a one-hour presentation covering the newest farm trials conducted across the state. The Ag Input Meeting for Montgomery County will be held on Friday, February 10th from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm at the Extension office in Red Oak.
Do you have crop input questions for 2017? Do you wonder what research Iowa State University is doing in southwest Iowa? Do you value independent research results? Would you like to see demonstrations conducted on farm fields? ISU’s Saeugling and Rogers will also answer participants’ questions about crop input in the upcoming growing season.
Ag Input Meetings will be conducted all across southwest Iowa this winter. There will be one held at the Montgomery County Extension Office located at 400 Bridge Street, Suite 2 on Friday, February 10, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Complementary cookies and coffee will be served. There is no fee to attend and pre-registration is not required. For more information contact Montgomery County Extension at 712-623-2592.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach connects the needs of Iowans with Iowa State University research and resources.We provide education and partnerships designed to solve today’s problems, prepare for the future and help Iowans make informed decisions.
The Montgomery County office is located at 400 Bridge Street in Red Oak. You can contact us at 712.623.2592 or through our website at www.extension.iastate.edu/montgomery or “like” Montgomery County-IA Extension on Facebook.
(Press Release)
Some Iowans are worried about the impact on the state’s billions of dollars in exports after President Trump signed an order Monday to pull out of talks on the Trans Pacific Partnership. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says trade is vital to several Iowa industries, chiefly agriculture, manufacturing and services. “You’re playing with fire when you talk against trade agreements that maybe could be better for the United States,” Grassley says. “I wouldn’t make any judgments that Trump’s wrong for trying to get a better deal for America. If he can do that, I’ll support that.”
Iowa exported more than 13-billion dollars in products during 2015 and Grassley fears Trump’s action could hurt the Hawkeye State’s options for overseas trade. “Particularly with Japan, I think it will,” Grassley says, “but if he follows it up quickly with some sort of bilateral negotiation with just Japan, particularly to help agriculture, it would fill that vacuum.”
Iowa sent one-point-one billion dollars in exports to Japan in 2015. The T-P-P involves the U-S and 11 other countries, including Canada, Mexico, Peru, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. As promised during the campaign, Trump signed an executive order which pulls the U-S out of future negotiations on the proposed partnership. “It may sound like I’d just be blaming Trump maybe hurting Iowa,” Grassley says, “but let me tell you, TPP would’ve had a very difficult time in the Congress getting a majority vote even if Obama was president.”
Grassley says people will appreciate that the new president is trying to get a better deal for American products. “Who can argue with that, but we don’t know yet, but he’s going down that road,” Grassley says. “We’ll just have to wait and see. I hope he’s successful. In the meantime, I hope he doesn’t hurt American agriculture in the process.”
Many agriculture commodity groups, including the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, supported the T-P-P as a way to stimulate trade.
Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst said she was “Disappointed in [Monday’s] executive action to withdraw the United States from TPP. With one in five jobs in Iowa dependent on trade, access to new markets is critical to our state’s economy. However, we must not let this stop our country from pursuing increased trade opportunities for our exporters. With the growing demand for our agricultural products across the world, it is imperative that we ensure a level playing field for American farmers and manufacturers to have a fair opportunity to compete in these markets. Under this new administration, I will continue to advocate for ways to work together toward a stronger trade agenda on behalf of Iowans.”
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Tuesday) announced that Kirk, Kent and Kevin Swanson from Montgomery County have been named the winners of the Gary Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award. Northey will present the award to the family on Thursday, January 26th. The ceremony will be held at the Coalition to Support Iowa Farmer’s booth (1923) at the Iowa Pork Congress, which is held at Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.
Northey said “The Swanson family does things right in how they care for their animals, protect the environment and serve their neighbors and community. It is great to be able to recognize a deserving family like this in front of their peers during Iowa Pork Congress. Iowa is fortunate to have outstanding livestock farmers like the Swanson family all across the state and I encourage anyone to consider nominating a livestock farmer in your community for this distinguished award.”
Kirk, Kent and Kevin own 4 K Farms, which is a farrow-to-finish hog business with 20 boar studs and also sell semen to other hog farmers. The family was nominated for the award by their neighbor Dennis Carlson. In his nomination Carlson highlighted the family’s care for the environment and also their active involvement in the community. The Swanson family has planted a wind break and also uses cover crops, buffer strips and terraces to prevent erosion and protect water quality.
They are also active in the community including regularly hosting tours of their farm. The family has helped many young 4-H students get started showing pigs by providing starter pigs and hosting a workshop to help them care for their animals. Kirk is also the Montgomery County Fair Swine Superintendent and also regularly judge’s swine shows.
The Wergin Good Farm Neighbor award, made possible through the financial support of the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers, recognizes Iowa livestock farmers who take pride in doing things right. This includes caring for the environment and their livestock and being good neighbors. It is named in memory of Gary Wergin, a long-time WHO Radio farm broadcaster who helped create the award.
Anyone interested in nominating their neighbor for the award should write a letter or e-mail explaining why their neighbor should receive this designation. Applications may be submitted to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Attn: Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award, Henry A. Wallace Building, Des Moines, IA 50319 or emailed to Communications@iowaAgriculture.gov.
Landus Cooperative invites area growers to a series of informational sessions to learn about results from the largest farmer-owned cooperative research plot in the nation.
Landus Cooperative’s agronomy team will highlight four years of data from the cooperative’s 184-acre Research Plot in Farnhamville, Iowa as well as results from nearly 90 corn and soybean seed plots statewide. The Landus Cooperative Research Plot was home to 19 different projects last year.
“This is a mass of field data results not available by any other farmer-owned agronomy retailer in the nation,” explained the cooperative’s director of agronomy, Todd Claussen. “Our team has done the work to drill down to actionable steps our growers can take to improve their bottom line.”
Sessions will focus on the return on investment (ROI) for a variety of management practices and issues including Sudden Death Syndrome, the impact of seed rate as compared to planting date as well as the benefits of fungicide.
Registration for all events begins at 9:30 a.m. with the meeting beginning at 10:00 a.m. In the KJAN listening area, meetings will be held Tuesday, Jan. 31st in Atlantic, at the Cass County Community Center, and in Carroll on Feb. 7th at the Carrollton Inn.
Farmers and ranchers in Iowa now can get notifications from their county Farm Service Agency office through text messages on their cell phones. John Whitaker, director of the Iowa F-S-A office, says whether producers are in the field, on a tractor or even on horseback, this service enables vital notifications to get through.
“What we’re trying to do is get immediate, important messages out to producers, say a deadline that’s approaching or, like last weekend, when we had severe weather and there were livestock losses,” Whitaker says, “just important information they can use right at their fingertips.”
While producers nationwide can sign on to the program, Whitaker says the texts can be sent on a county-by-county basis and all messages will come from your nearest county office. “The idea is, we don’t want you to get messages from the entire country,” he says. “We want these to be very specific to the county office, particularly if it’s something like storm damage or crop reporting or something like that.”
The goal is to quickly disseminate the information producers need. “We don’t spend as much money on paper newsletters as we did years ago,” Whitaker says. “Sometimes, we only send a couple a year instead of one every month. It helps us control our costs when we do that but we want to get the information out to producers in a timely manner.”
Contact your local F-S-A office for details.
(Radio Iowa)
The state’s top wine makers will be recognized at a conference in central Iowa next month. Nicole Eilers is spokeswoman for the Iowa Wine Growers Association which is celebrating the state’s best operations. There are nominees for several awards, including the top two. “For Vineyard of the Year, we have Corey Goodhue with North River Valley Vineyard and Victor Rose Vineyard in Indianola,” Eilers says. “For Winemaker of the Year, we have Terry Smith with Summerset Winery and Anne Zwink with Soldier Creek Winery in Fort Dodge.”
The winners of all categories will be announced at the association’s annual conference in Ames. Eilers says Iowa’s wine industry is growing and thriving. “Currently, we have just over 100 wineries and we have nearly 300 vineyards across the state,” Eilers says. “It’s been a time for research on new grapes that grow in the cold climate as well as just fine-tuning wine-making techniques.”
The conference is being held on February 5th and 6th at the Gateway Hotel & Conference Center in Ames. There will be speakers and sessions focused on improving practices and knowledge in enology — the study of wine — as well as viticulture, marketing and business, and industry exhibitors showcasing the latest tools, products and services.
Learn more at : www.iowawinegrowers.org
(Radio Iowa)
An Iowan who has been an advisor to Donald Trump during the presidential campaign is moving into the job in the U-S Department of Agriculture. Sam Clovis of Hinton, Iowa was sworn after Trump was sworn in so he can begin his duties.Clovis says they are setting up what they call a beachhead team to ensure they have a smooth transition between the administrations.
Clovis did not go into detail about his specific U-S-D-A duties, but says the Trump administration will be marked by a very conservative agenda. “I’ve been personally involved over the last several weeks of making sure the policy implementation that we are going to see from day one — starting this afternoon forward — I will say without qualification it is the most conservative agenda I have seen come from a Republican presidency in a long time,” Clovis says. “I may be more conservative than Ronald Reagen’s was.”
He does say that President Trump has assured him that biofuels will continue to be a major part of America’s energy plan. “It is our distinct guidance that we keep to an all of the above energy plan,” Clovis says. He says he’s already talked with incoming Energy Secretary Rick Perry about the issue.
Clovis formerly supported the former Texas Governor when Perry ran against Trump early in the G-O-P presidential race. Thousands of protesters opposing Trump lined the streets of Washington today, with some clashing with police. Clovis says he has never seen protests to this level after an election but thinks he partly knows why so many have come to the capitol. He says people are coming to get attention through social media and other media. “And this is why I think they are motivated to do it more than anything else, because it allows them to get the attention across the world,” Clovis says.
Clovis added that he’s disappointed by the number of those who don’t want to reconcile with the fact that Trump is now president. “I honestly don’t think I’ve every seen anything in our history like this where we’ve seen such adamant digging in on the part of the opposition over anything,” Clovis says. “Because I think a lot of has to do with the American people decided — and not the elites in Washington.”
Clovis is a veteran who has run for the U-S Senate, state treasurer, and was also a former professor and radio talk show host.
(Radio Iowa)
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