(Radio Iowa) – House Speaker Pat Grassley says a bill that would provide some liability to protection to the makers of Roundup and other farm chemical companies does not have enough Republican support to pass the Iowa House. “We’ve had a lot of conversations…I think a lot of our members see both sides of this issue when it comes to making sure that we have a product that’s actually made here in Iowa, that’s an American made product,” Grassley says. “…I think there’s also some concerns with this, the public perception.”

The bill is a priority for Bayer, the maker of Roundup, which is facing a number of lawsuits from Americans who allege their cancer is connected to their use of Roundup. The bill says farm chemical companies that follow E-P-A labeling standards cannot be sued for failing to issue health warnings about the products. Grassley, a farmer from New Hartford, says the bill is narrowly focused.

“I’m not sure that the bill is being totally digested from the perspective of just from the labeling,” Grassley says. “Some of the narrative that’s been out there maybe distracts from that.” The bill passed the Iowa Senate last year and it passed the Senate again last week, but by a narrower margin. Senate President Amy Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton, has been a vocal supporter of the bill.

“I don’t try to tell the House how to do their job. I suppose the House can be entitled to their wrong opinion,” Sinclair said. “I believe wholeheartedly the bill we passed doesn’t prevent anybody from seeking justice if they’re damaged by a company.” But Sinclair says a company that sells a product with labels that follow federal guidelines shouldn’t face lawsuits alleging the labels are flawed.

(Radio Iowa) – The emergency self-evacuation and shelter-in-place orders instituted Monday after a fire started at the Coop in Otley have been lifted. Information from the Marion County Emergency Management Agency says the fire at Two Rivers Cooperative is now out and the orders were lifted at 10:30 this (Thursday) morning. The fire in the fertilizer storage facility caused concerns about the air quality, but E-P-A monitoring shows the air quality is now safe.

Investigators are trying to figure out the cause of the fire. Marion County Public Safety and the D-N-R are continuing to monitor the cleanup efforts.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans have seen radical temperature swings lately, with highs in the 80s followed by snowfall days later, but one outlet predicts the summer ahead will be stuck on one setting: steamy. Sandi Duncan, editor of the Farmer’s Almanac, warns Iowans had better stock up on sunscreen. “I hope you’re ready for some heat, because the heat is on for this summer, and in fact, we do think there’s going to be some possible record breakers,” Duncan says. “It does look like it’s going to be a very warm summer for you guys, so be prepared.” Since 1818, the almanac has been using a proprietary formula to forecast the weather, based on historical and celestial factors. Duncan says Iowa’s long-running bouts with drought will likely return this summer.

“Looking ahead, the Farmer’s Almanac is saying this should be about average on rainfall, so that’s good, not too wet, not too dry,” Duncan says, “however, with the very hot temperatures, you can imagine that you might have to do some supplemental watering for your garden or for your irrigation systems, because it’s going to be a hot one for sure.” The almanac predicts thunderstorms for the 4th of July in Iowa this year, and she suggests making plans either for the next day or to be indoors. Duncan says Iowa will be far from alone in trying to beat the summer heat.

“As we do, the long-range weather forecast does look like it’s going to be quite hot in almost every area,” Duncan says. “We are seeing some very dry conditions out in the California area, which is kind of concerning with all the wildfires that happen out there.” Last year, Des Moines saw 27 days with temperatures at or above 90 degrees, with the highest temperature of 99 degrees set last August 26th. The Lewiston, Maine-based almanac boasts a forecast accuracy rate of 80% to 85%. The prognosticating formula was developed more than two centuries ago, based on factors including sunspot activity, planet positions, and the effect the Moon has on the Earth.

Besides long-term weather predictions, the Farmers’ Almanac also contains a wealth of information on gardening, cooking, home remedies, folklore, managing your household, living in harmony with nature, and more.

On the web at: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/

(Radio Iowa) – Staff members from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are running the roads at night in all 99 counties this month, shining spotlights out both sides of their vehicles as they search for creatures from otters to badgers. Jace Elliott, a deer biologist with the D-N-R, says this annual Springtime Spotlight Survey is one of the agency’s largest and most comprehensive efforts that provides valuable information on about a dozen species. “It’s a nocturnal survey where staff in every county of the state run two 25-mile transects with spotlights and note any mammals,” Elliott says, “both furbearers and deer that are spotted along the way.” The surveys start about an hour after sunset, preferably on nights with low wind, high humidity and above-freezing temperatures.

Elliott says the routes cover different habitats — from river bottoms to farm fields, prairies, woodlots, pastures and timber stands — and they’re seeking out critters of all kinds. “Very common species like deer, raccoons, possums, skunks, those are typical to detect in any county,” Elliott says, “but then there are also some more rare or elusive species, like bobcats, mink. There’s about a dozen wildlife species, everything from deer to house cats.” Keeping the routes and conditions consistent provides more reliable data, he says, and it offers an important index of observations about a variety of Iowa’s animal populations.

“We’re running only 50 miles in a county, which is a big effort, but we still can only hope to see approximately 5% of the landscape,” Elliott says. “The numbers that we track every year are, of course, not a census, but they reflect a trend. If we were to detect less deer year after year in a certain county, then we can infer that that population is declining.” The survey was started in the 1970s as a way to collect information on the raccoon population, but it’s been greatly expanded. The results will be posted this summer on the Iowa DNR’s website.

https://www.iowadnr.gov/Hunting/Population-Harvest-Trends

(Radio Iowa) – A Senate committee has overhauled a wide-ranging bill that key House members said would — in their words — “clean up the mess” the Iowa Utilities Commission created by granting a pipeline permit to Summit Carbon Solutions. Republican Senator Mike Bousselot of Ankeny has proposed a 34-page alternative and it got support from the other Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee.

“House legislation over the past few years has discriminated by project type, creating protected classes of landowners,” Bousselot said. “or it was simply intended to attack a particular project.” The bill is now eligible for debate in the full Senate, which has never considered any pipeline-related bill since Summit’s project was first proposed in 2022. This year’s original House bill would have set a 25 year limit on the operation of a carbon pipeline. Bousselot gets rid of that limitation and, instead, sets some standards for any type of pipeline, transmission line project or structures to generate power proposed since last year.

“I believe it is important that we pass legislation protecting all landowners, not just those impacted by a certain pipeline project by taking into account all potential future contingencies,” Bousselot said. Former Congressman Steve King of Kiron  was at the Iowa Capitol yesterday (Wednesday), urging senators to stop Summit’s carbon capture project.  “This is dangerous material. We don’t have regulations for it,” King said. “…People are at risk here.” Kim Junker, a Butler County farmer, expressed her frustration during a Senate subcommittee hearing.

“My husband and I are registered Republicans and frankly I’m sick and tired of the games the Republicans have been playing with our lives, our livelihoods, our business, our property and our legacy,” she said. “You guys work for us, your constituents, not just your big donors.”

Bousselot’s plan says the Iowa Utilities Commission would have to decide within a year if a project qualifies for eminent domain.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman reports, that under the “Authority of the Fire Chiefs [in the County], the Open Burn Ban for Montgomery County is now lifted.”

The ban had been put into place on February 28th, due to windy conditions, combined with tinder vegetation and low humidity, that created a situation where any fires that would start, could spread rapidly, endangering life and property. There were in fact numerous grass and field fires in late February and throughout the month of March, in Montgomery County.

Again, the Burn Ban is no longer in effect. A Burn Ban for Pottawattamie County that had been in effect since March 18th, was lifted April 1st. As of April 2nd, bans on open burning remain in effect for: Adair; Audubon; Guthrie; Mills; Page and Union Counties. (UPDATE: The Mills and Page County burn bans were lifted effective immediately today – April 2nd)

Cass County: Corn $4.27 Beans $9.67
Adair County: Corn $4.24 Beans $9.70
Adams County: Corn $4.24 Beans $9.66
Audubon County: Corn $4.26 Beans $9.68
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.30 Beans $9.67
Guthrie County: Corn $4.28 Beans $9.71
Montgomery County: Corn $4.29 Beans $9.69
Shelby County: Corn $4.30 Beans $9.67

Oats: $2.89 (same in all counties)

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S-D-A is ending two local food programs this month, which is a financial blow to some eastern Iowa farmers. The programs helped connect regional food producers with food banks and schools statewide. Funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance and Local Food for Schools programs was approved under the Biden administration, but is now being cut off. Emmaly Renshaw is with Iowa Valley R-C-and-D, a nonprofit that supports food supply chains across Iowa.

“What we have seen in the last three years of LFPA and LFS has been absolutely phenomenal, as farmers have more stable revenue through these programs, as food hubs are able to have that revenue, they’ve grown,” Renshaw says. “We’ve seen new trucks, we’ve seen new cold storage, we’ve seen new connections.” Renshaw says the total revenue for producers in both programs was 360-thousand dollars. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said they were COVID-era programs that needed to be eliminated. Emma Johnson is an owner of Buffalo Ridge Orchard in Central City.

“Local food is going to be more expensive, because currently, we’re at a stage where every farm is having to do every single part of production — sales, distribution, all of it,” Johnson says, “and this is why it was so important to actually build the infrastructure for local food.” With the programs being discontinued, Johnson says her orchard has roughly 50-thousand pounds of apples that she needs to find a new way to sell.

(Radio Iowa) – About a dozen people rallied outside the Iowa Capitol today (Tuesday), criticizing a bill shielding some farm chemical makers from lawsuits alleging product labels failed to warn of cancer risks. The bill narrowly won approval in the Iowa Senate last week and is eligible for consideration in the House. Ava Auen-Ryan of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action says the legislature’s time would be better spent finding ways to lower Iowa’s rising cancer rate. “Not working on bills that provide immunity to giant corporations,” she said.

Jenny Turner’s husband died in 2018 of a type of lymphoma she says has been linked to Roundup. “He wasn’t a farmer. He was a school band director, but he used Roundup in our yard and he had summer landscaping jobs and he lived in Iowa where we have high concentrations of pesticides and nitrates in our air and water.” Turner, who is from West Des Moines, says the bill is being pushed by lobbyists to benefit Bayer, not farmers.

“Now I know that glyphosate is useful for some farming, but everything has its pros and cons and Roundup has a cost. Bayer would like to pretend that there is no cost,” Turner said. “Our state legislature must not help them silence people’s right to redress that cost in court.”

Bayer — the maker of Roundup — says the litigation industry has unfairly targeted glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup. The company says glyphosate minimizes the need for plowing and increases the productivity of crop land.

(Radio Iowa) – Emergency officials are recommending that residents of the south-central Iowa town of Otley evacuate or shelter in place due to a smouldering fire at a co-op. The fire at the Two Rivers Cooperative fertilizer storage facility started early Monday afternoon and officials say it could smoulder for several days. The main concern is burning sulfur, which can cause respiratory issues. The facility had 265 tons of sulfur when the fire started, plus even larger amounts of other farm chemicals like potash and urea.

About 800 people live in Otley and emergency officials say people who live near the town should consider evacuating or remaining inside due to air quality concerns.