(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has — again — approved legislation that would provide new protections for landowners along the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline route. Representative Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, says the overwhelming majority of Iowans oppose the project.

“Parts of the government of Iowa seem to refuse to recognize reality and at some point, it starts to look like corruption,” Thomson said. “…I think the right thing will be done. I hope it’s sooner rather than later.” The package includes new restrictions on the use of eminent domain to seize land for an expansion of the pipeline and it calls for Summit to reimburse landowners who cannot get insurance because the pipeline runs through their property.

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says he’s proud the House has been standing up for property owners. “I have to say that the pride has been replaced with disappointment by the fact that members of the senate have not listened to the cries of our citizens to stand up for the Constitution, to tell Summit and Bruce Rastetter and the lobby that the fundamental private property rights of Iowans are not for sale,” he said, “not now and not ever.”

Bruce Rastetter is the founder and owner of Summit Carbon Solutions. One Democrat who voted for the package suggested it will not become law because Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and key Republicans in the Senate support the pipeline project. The head of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says he’s confident cooler heads will prevail in the senate, the pipeline will be built and demand for corn will increase by billions of bushels.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has voted to shield farm chemical companies from lawsuits that allege the labels of products lack proper warnings about health risks. Bayer, the company that sells Roundup, faces thousands of lawsuits filed on behalf of farmers and others who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says Roundup’s label meets the legal requirements of the U-S government and other countries where it’s approved for use.

“No scientific agency in the world has concluded that glyphosate poses a carcinogenic risk,” Bousselot says. Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, says this area of the law has become a playground for attorneys. “It’s about sue-happy attorneys and their latest attempt to make a lottery out of our legal system,” Dickey said. The bill passed on a 26-to-21 vote — the minimum number of yes votes required to clear the Senate.

Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is among the critics who call the bill the cancer gag act. “This bill is a dangerous piece of legislation that places corporate interests above the health and rights of Iowans at a time when our state is grappling with rising cancer rates,” she said.

Similar legislation passed the Iowa Senate last year by a wider margin, but it didn’t come up for a vote in the House.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board is holding a Native Landscaping Program next month. The program will be held in the Atlantic Public Library’s Community Room on April 5th, beginning at 11-a.m.

An additional session will be held at the Outdoor Educational Classroom (OEC), south of Massena, on April 5th, beginning at 2-p.m. Both programs are FREE, and all ages are welcome to attend. Conservation staff will be discussing different Native plants and how to incorporate them into your yard. Discover how to use native plants in your yard.

(Photo via raincampaign.org)

The OEC is located south of Massena. To get there, take Highway 148 south of Massena, turn left on Tucson Road and follow it East for about two miles, then turn right hand into the parking lot.

(Ringgold County, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has canceled the upcoming Prairie Chicken Day due to the decline in the local population to the point where staff have only observed sporadic use by a few male prairie chickens of the main Kellerton Lek.

Prairie Chicken

The effort to return the prairie chicken to Ringgold County, Iowa, and Harrison County, Missouri, had begun in 1987, when wild birds captured primarily in Kansas and Nebraska, with a few coming from South Dakota, were released in the area. Ringgold and Decatur counties had been identified as offering the best habitat to support prairie chickens in Iowa.

The last significant translocation effort was in 2017. Since then, the population has shown a steady decline with a few years of stability, but no significant increases to indicate a growing population have been recorded.

(Radio Iowa) – The recent snow and rain could help Iowa improve drought conditions was we move out of March and into April. The Iowa D-N-R’s Jessica McIntyre says she sees changes when looking back at the Drought Monitor for the start of March. “Especially in central Iowa, where there was what was considered D-1 or moderate drought, has now been downgraded to D-zero, which is abnormally dry, so that’s an improvement. And there’s also another section in eastern Iowa that also had that similar trend,” she says. Several areas of the state with drought got snow and rain last week. McIntyre says there will be some help as the snow melts with warmer temperatures.

“Not sure how much impact it will have immediately, just because we’re still kind of in that transition time when the ground is still somewhat frozen,” she says. McIntire says things are looking okay as we head into what are normally wetter spring months. “We get normal or above normal precipitation over the next couple of months, yeah, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape, especially when we compare ourselves to a year or two years ago. We are sitting pretty good right now,” McIntire says.

McIntire says the driest months of the year are behind us and there should be improvement as we move toward spring planting.

(Radio Iowa) – A “Freedom to Garden Act” has passed the Iowa Senate unanimously.  “This bill addresses a growing concern — literally growing our own food.” That’s Senator Cherielynn Westrich of Ottumwa, the bill’s floor manager. The bill would forbid state and local governments from regulating vegetable gardens on property the gardener owns or rents. “In other states, heavy handed regulators have used local zoning ordinances to explicitly ban home vegetable gardens or to put up unreasoable rules governing what homeowners may grow and where they can plant their food,” she said, “with heavy fines levied for violating these mandates”

The bill says Iowans have a right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume food they grow in their own garden — and home gardeners would have a right to sell what they grow. “In my view, this is a basic human right,” Westrich said. “Wisconsin has similar legislation and has added protections into their constitution as well and legislation has sprouted up in states like Florida and Illinois and others.”

There are some exceptions to the bill. It would still be illegal to grow marijuana. A section of the bill would give Iowans who object to a neighbor’s garden a chance to go to court and get a judge to declare the garden a public nuisance. According to the National Gardening Association’s 2024 survey, over 43 percent of Americans grew some fruits or vegetables to eat at home.

(Radio Iowa) – Seed supply shortages could cause problems for farmers in Iowa this spring. Flooding early in the season last spring devastated parts of southern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa, and Casey Staloch, with Albert Lea Seed Company in Minnesota, says seed production really suffered. “Just because we had too much water early and not enough late, and then also with our sales being up on the conventional side,” Staloch says, “yeah, we are getting sold out of a lot of numbers right now.”

Staloch says there are other seed options if a farmer can’t get access to their first choice. “You can change some maturities, different things like that. But some of these companies where sales are down now, we’re coming them back in and lowering their prices in-season to try to get rid of some seed,” he says. “So I think there’s a lot of seed to be bought yet, even only a month out.”

Heavy rains last spring led to historic flooding in northwest Iowa, in communities including Rock Valley, Sioux Rapids, and Spencer, impacting hundreds of homes and thousands of residents.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Economic Development Board recently approved funds for three start-up businesses. I-E-D-A spokesperson Kanan Kappelman says Ames-based Janas Materials was awarded a 100-thousand dollar loan to help refine its product. “They developed sustainable technology for the coating industry that improves the appearance and application of wood stains. They provide a more environmentally friendly alternative,” she says. Poultry Patrol received funds for their robot. “They’re based in Coralville, and they’ve created a poultry tending robot to stimulate bird movement in turkey barns,: Kappleman says. She says the robot also alerts farmers to spills and bird health and maintenance issues.

“The robot support in the animal husbandry process keeps the turkeys healthier and saves farmers time and money. The company was awarded a 50-thousand dollars proof of commercial relevance loan,” she says. Fairfield’s Better Natural company also received a proof of commercial relevance loan. “And they developed a technology to integrate roof sheathing, roof cover and solar energy in one single layer. So this technology allows them to lower manufacturing and installation costs and create more visually appealing solar energy systems that look a whole lot like roofing tiles,” Kappleman says. The Board also approved two Community Attraction And Tourism Grants. “The Hoover Presidential Foundation was awarded 400-thousand dollars to redesign the 60 year old Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum,” she says.

A sports tourism award for 50-thousand dollars was approved to help Polk County promote the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts Fight Night at Wells Fargo Arena.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans who oppose the use of eminent domain to seize land for the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline are urging Iowans to lobby members of the Senate to protect property rights. During a news conference at the Iowa Capitol, Senator Doug Campbell of Mason City had this message for land owners who are fighting the project. “You will prevail, but you cannot disengage. You cannot give up for any and every reason,” Campbell said. “…Don’t give in. Persist.”

Representative Helena Hayes of New Sharon says the now abandoned Navigator pipeline project would have gone through her House district. “And I’m thankful for that, but I didn’t sit back and go, ‘Whew! O.K., I guess I don’t have to worry about it anymore,'” she said. “No, because directly or indirectly this issue affects all Iowans.” Representative Charley Thomson of Charles City says Summit should shelve the project. “I’m calling today for Summit to withdraw their petition from the I.U.C.,” Thomson said, to applause. “It never should have been approved. It doesn’t comply with law. It doesn’t comply with the constitution. I think now that we’ve seen, there’s no basis under the current IUC order to proceed.”

A new law in South Dakota forbids Summit from using eminent domain to acquire land from unwilling South Dakota property owners. The Iowa Utilities Commission’s permit for the pipeline is conditioned on the company getting permits to operate in other states along the pipeline route. Muscatine Senator Mark Lofgren says Republicans in the senate are working with a Republican who supports the pipeline, in hopes of passing some eminent domain protections.  “It’s in our best interest to let Republicans kind of work through these things,” Lofgren said. “…We’re not done yet.”

House Republicans are preparing a package of pipeline-related proposals, but House G-O-P bills on the subject have never been considered in the senate over the past three years. A spokesperson for Summit Carbon Solutions says the company respects the role of elected officials in the policy-making process and remains focused on delivering a project that supports Iowa agriculture, ethanol, and national energy dominance.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation is hosting an event in Washington, D.C. tomorrow (Tuesday) to focus on ideas for feeding the world’s expanding population. Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack — who took over as foundation’s C-E-O March 1st — says it’s inspired by a letter.

“153 Nobel laureates and World Food Prize laureates came together late last year to issue an open letter to the rest of the world suggesting that with 733,000 people in the world today that are currently food insecure, nearly 1 in 10 people on the face of the earth malnourished,” Vilsack says, “…they believed it was necessary to issue a call to action.” The group’s letter suggests as the world population swells, the challenge will get more daunting.

World Food Prize Foundation CEO Thomas J. Vilsack in WFP headquarters in Des Moines. (WFP photo)

“Especially when you consider the challenges of weather and its impacts on production,” Vilsack says. “What they are calling for is an increase in research and development and an acceleration of innovation in agriculture and in production agriculture to be able to meet this need.” Vilsack says many of the world’s conflicts revolve around food insecurity and addressing those challenges could lead to a more peaceful world.

As the Trump Administration has moved to terminate U-S-A-I-D food programs in other countries, Vilsack says the World Food Prize Foundation will emphasize its record of hosting discussions about hunger for thinkers and problem solvers. “As one player, if you will, leaves the field, it places responsibility on the remaining players on the field to do more,” Vilsack said. The 2008 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, a NASA scientist who won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics and three World Food Prize laureates will participate in a panel discussion at tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) event in D.C.

The president of Iowa based Stine Seed Company and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley have speaking slots as well.