DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A wet spring continues to soak soil across much of the Midwest, causing the prolonged drought to retreat ever so slowly westward.  Sections of central Iowa, southeast Minnesota and western parts of Wisconsin and Missouri have seen notable improvement in drought conditions. The weekly drought monitor measures conditions up to 7 a.m. Tuesday. The report is released on Thursdays by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

It shows the drought has subsided for nearly two-thirds of Iowa, most of Missouri and Arkansas.  West of those states drought remains. A smaller portion of western Nebraska is in extreme or exceptional drought and southwestern Nebraska improved slightly.  The soil moisture is good news for corn growers who are now dodging rain storms to get seed in the ground.

A newly-drafted bill on the fast track in the Iowa House would provide new liability protection to Iowa farmers. It’s in response to a February Iowa Supreme Court ruling that said a woman injured during a northeast Iowa farm tour had the right to sue the farm host. Representative Kevin Koester, a Republican from Ankeny, says farmers are now reluctant to allow anyone on their property for any activity.  “Something should happen in the legislature this month on that so that we relieve the concern that many folks who hunt, fish and do other recreational purposes have access to private land without it being a liability headache for the landowner,” Koester says. A state law passed in 1967 granted private property owners liability protection if they allowed recreational activities like hunting and fishing.

“There’s concern about whether or not it’s safe regarding the liability of allowing people to do what they’ve always done,” Koester says. The bill will be considered in the House Government Oversight Committee next week and is the result of discussions among legislative leaders. Koester is co-chair of that committee. A bid to address this farmer liability issue was rejected by Senate Democrats in late April. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who is a lawyer, told his colleagues not to “buy into the hysteria” about the recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling.

(Radio Iowa)

Work is set to begin on a new farm bill in both chambers of Congress next week. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, says they’ll take up the legislation on Tuesday. Harkin got his first copy of the committee bill last night (Wednesday) and has looked it over. “It’s basically the same kind of bill that we passed in the Senate last year,” Harkin says. “We passed it with a strong bipartisan vote, so it’s basically the same bill that we had last fall.” Farm and food bills have typically been renewed by Congress every five years and the last one passed in 2008.

“I’m very happy about the conservation provisions in it, the conservation compliance provisions, the fresh fruit and vegetable program that we have in there, so I think our bill looks pretty good,” Harkin says. “I hope we can get it through.” The full Senate passed its version of the farm bill last year and another version passed the House Ag Committee, but it never went before the full House. Congress chose to extend the current farm bill into September of this year. Harkin, a Democrat, is not highly optimistic about a resolution, given Republican Paul Ryan is still chair of the House Budget Committee.

“The Ryan budget in the House that’s going to be controlling over (their version of the farm bill),” Harkin says, chuckling, “It would just be abysmal for agriculture. I’ll have more to say about that later.” One sticking point last year was the House version of the farm bill cut the food stamp program by billions more dollars than the Senate version.

(Radio Iowa)

Info from the Atlantic Animal Shelter.

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A recreational trail to nowhere could finally be connected to somewhere.  The Sioux City Journal reports that for four years, the three-mile Floyd River Trail hasn’t had a north trailhead. It ends abruptly, and the only way to reach it from the north is to walk through a muddy area, up a slope, across a railway bed, then down an embankment.

Because it doesn’t connect to another path, avid bicyclist Garrett Soldati, of Sioux City, says few people use the path.  That could change under a plan being studied by the Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council to build a trail from Le Mars along state Highway 75 to Sioux City. It would connect to the Floyd River Trail.

John R. Whitaker, State Executive Director for USDA’s Iowa Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) participants to schedule maintenance and management activities on CRP acres outside of the primary nesting season.  Iowa’s primary nesting season begins on May 15, 2013, and continues through August 1, 2013.

“Acres enrolled in CRP are not eligible for cosmetic or periodic mowing at any time.  Mowing or spraying weed infested areas is NOT allowed on CRP acreage during the primary nesting season without prior authorization from the County Committee in consultation with NRCS,” said Whitaker.

Participants with maintenance issues that require immediate attention should contact their local FSA office to file a written request for any spot spraying or mowing on CRP acres, with approval obtained prior to performing the activities.   

Whitaker added that CRP participants could refer to their completed conservation plan and NRCS Job Sheets provided during conservation plan development for guidance.Failure to contact the county FSA office prior to any maintenance on CRP acres during nesting season may result in payment reductions or possible contract termination.

For questions or more information about maintenance and management activities of CRP acres, please visit your local FSA county office or visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Farmers in the nation’s breadbasket who only recently were praying for an end to a withering drought are now pining for enough sunshine and heat to dry their muddy fields in time to plant their corn and other crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says only 12 percent of the nation’s cornfields have been planted. That’s about a quarter of the amount farmers had planted by this point in the season over the last five years. In Iowa, which is the nation’s biggest corn producer, only 8 percent of the corn crop is in the ground. That’s down from 62 percent at this point last year.