(Radio Iowa) – A top U-S-D-A official who’s visiting Iowa says containment is key now that highly-contagious bird flu has been detected at six poultry sites in Iowa. Jenny Lester Moffitt is the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“So far the data shows that we’re really not seeing spread between producers, but we’re always reminding producers about biosecurity.” Moffitt spoke with reporters earlier today (Friday), right after she and Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne of West Des Moines met with Iowa meat locker owners and others connected to the industry. Moffitt says the U-S-D-A is releasing more than 23-and-a-half million dollars, in a second round of grants for existing meat lockers. The grants can be used for things like equipment and marketing.

“We need more and better markets for producers,” Moffitt says. “Producers need more places to be able to bring their cattle, their sheep, their swine, their bison to market — all sorts of different animals.” The agency has signed contracts with three firms that will help meat locker owners complete the grant applications. Moffitt says grants can be used to help lockers get certified to sell meat across state lines — and she heard from Iowans at the event who lobbied for more U-S-D-A meat inspectors.

A few participants mentioned ethanol promotion, too. Axne says she spoke last week with the E-P-A Administrator about ensuring E-15 — gasoline with 15 percent ethanol — can be sold year round in every part of the country. “I’m going to hit some people over the head pretty soon because they’re not understanding the logic here,” Axne said, laughing along with the group, “and we need them to just be logical and help us get ethanol out the door.” The vast majority of gasoline sold in the U.S. is E-10 — a 10 percent ethanol blend. E-15 sales are banned from June 1st through mid-September in many areas of the country, however.

Axne says expanding E-15 sales year-round means consumers would have access to a less expensive fuel.  “There’s a war with Russia and Ukraine. We are seeing prices go up at the gas pumps, so let’s put our own product out there across the country,” Axne says. “We have the capacity to do it.” A federal appeals court tossed out a 2019 Trump Administration move to allow E15 sales year round. The ethanol industry has asked for a panel of judges to review the case.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig reports the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has awarded nearly $250,000 in grants to help 13 Iowa farmers, businesses and non-profits increase or diversify their agricultural product offerings. Among the grant recipients, was Brun Ko Farm, owned and managed by Emily and Nathan Paulsen. The farm, located near Exira, is being awarded $15,000 toward a total project cost of $30,000, to increase vegetable production by increasing washing and storage capacity.

Naig said “Iowa agriculture is the envy of the world as our farmers continue to lead the way in producing healthy, high-quality, affordable food. It is essential that consumers have access to the Iowa-grown products they know and love. The Choose Iowa grant program makes this possible through value-added projects that help Iowans grow their businesses and access new markets. I am proud to invest in these projects that continue to position Iowa as a top place to grow, today and in the future.”

To view the entire list of Choose Iowa Marketing and Promotion grant recipients, click HERE.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has endorsed a temporary measure in response to landowner complaints about proposed carbon pipelines. Under the proposal, developers wouldn’t be able to apply for eminent domain authority to seize property for the carbon pipelines before February 1st of next year. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, says it’s about ensuring the negotiation process between the pipeline companies and landowners is fair.

“This is a moratorium on the ability to schedule a hearing where condemnation authority can be granted,” Kaufman says. “…It sends a message that we’re watching. It sends a message that we have expectations of how you treat landowners.” Representative Steven Hansen, a Democrat from Sioux City, says this doesn’t respond to landowners who have no desire to have the pipelines on their properties.

“We could have addressed this head on and I don’t think we are,” Hansen says. “I think people were under the impression that we were going to deal with this, this year.” House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights says this should be the start of the legislature’s hard conversation about these kind of projects. “Land owner rights, public good definition, what kind of pipelines we want, what are the environment implications — all of the issues around this are critically important,” Konfrst says, “and we need to talk about them.”

Representative Kaufmann says current regulations are too vague. “Comprehensive eminent domain reform, which entails decisions and parameters set around the Iowa Utilities Board has been a priority of mine since I started here,” Kaufmann says. “…The IUB’s job is to follow what we prescribe and I’m open to changing that prescription and making it better.” Representative Chris Hall, a Democrat from Sioux City, says legislators should examine proposals now that would protect landowners.

“This is pushing the issue to next year specifically to, from my vantage point, avoid the politics and the passions that will come out on this issue prior to an election,” Hall says. On a voice vote, the House attached the temporary moratorium to a far larger budget bill that now goes to the Senate for consideration.

(Radio Iowa) – The new map from the U-S Drought Monitor shows soil conditions in Iowa are improving, slightly, thanks to rain and snow in the past week. The broader picture for the Midwest is worsening, however, with drought conditions expanding over much of the Northern Plains. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says some crops in the region are already stressed. “We have, obviously, great concerns for winter wheat right now because that area that is in drought and has been in drought extending is much of that winter wheat area from the Central Plains south,” Todey says. “Still a lot can happen but there’s been damage done to it because of drought and some other things.”

The worst of the drought in our state is isolated in far west-central Iowa, and for the region, the driest areas are also to the west. “Most of the major drought areas are just west of the major corn and soybean growing areas but it’s right on the edge,” Todey says, “and the areas that are dry and hot are on the western part of the Corn Belt, so we do have risk there.”

Todey notes much of South Dakota and Nebraska saw less than half of the normal snowfall for the winter. He says there is a big contrast in conditions across the Midwestern crop production areas. “You have a two sides issue with crop production: potential for it being too dry in the far west and the potential for it being too wet — at least as we get started — in the east,” Todey says. “In between is kind of an ‘unknown’ area, Iowa, Illinois, we have some dry areas but we can work with those if we get rainfall.”

The latest map from the U-S Drought Monitor shows roughly 41 Iowa counties are in the category of “abnormally dry,” improving from 45 counties last week. The new map shows 34 counties are in “moderate drought,” versus 36 a week ago. Large sections of Monona and Woodbury counties are listed as “severe drought,” that’s unchanged, while there are around 22 counties where soil moisture levels are considered “normal,” an improvement from 16 counties last week.

(Radio Iowa) – Morningside University is buying more than 70 acres of farmland in Sioux City from Woodbury County that will be used to expand agricultural opportunities for the college’s students. Tom Paulsen heads the agricultural and food studies department at Morningside and says hands-on learning is vital for agricultural careers. Paulsen says, “A lot of our students go back to family farming operations and having the opportunity to work in the agronomy sector, the crop production sector, as well as all the other opportunities we have for them is going to be critical for their future success.”

Lessons like crop-scouting or hybrid analysis will move out of the classroom and onto the farm. Paulsen says the land will give students the opportunity to learn everything from budgeting to hybrid selection.  “When the students have the opportunity to be engaged, and to actually manage something themselves and make decisions that are meaningful, not just theoretical, it’s a whole different aspect to the quality of their educational experience,” he says.

The farm sits just five miles down the road from the university. Paulsen says students could start using the land as early as next year. He hopes the addition can help expand the department’s offerings.

(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Agriculture has issued an order canceling all live bird exhibitions in response to the bird flu outbreak. The order prevents bird exhibitions at fairs and other gatherings and also prohibits live birds from being sold or transferred at livestock auction markets, swap meets, or exotic sales. The Department’s order begins immediately and lasts until 30 days have passed without confirmation of a new infection in domestic poultry in the state.

The Ag Department says Iowa currently has more than six million birds impacted by the bird flu across five commercial and backyard poultry flocks.

(Lewis, Iowa) – ISU Field Agronomist and Extension Outreach Aaron Saeugling, Wednesday (March 23rd), provided the latest answer to the questions of “How dry are we,” and “Is there a lack of subsoil moisture this spring?” Saeugling says he wants to put into perspective where we are, related to past and current conditions in southwest Iowa. (See the chart below for monthly precipitation dating back to 2014).

Saeugling says “If we look at last year 2020 as a record breaking crop year we notice a few things that spring was abnormally dry with just enough moisture in July to produce a crop. We also notice the October precipitation in 2020m was dramatically lower causing a poor sub soil moisture going into the 2021 crop year.”

“This current crop year,” he says, “We have adequate subsoil moisture based on good October rains in excess of 4 inches. While yes January and February were a record low levels of precipitation the amount so far in march will more than make up for the dry winter.” Saeugling said also, “No  knows what the future holds,  but we are in a better place now for subsoil moisture than in past springs.”

(Radio Iowa) – Page County Conservation and Public Health officials confirmed today (Wednesday) that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was discovered in snow geese at Rapp Park north of Shenandoah. County Conservation Director John Schwab says his office was first contacted two weeks ago after dead geese were discovered at the park. “We collected a number of dead birds last Monday — I think the total number was around 70. They were all snow geese that we collected, and the D-N-R tested 10 of them, and send them out to the lab. Then, we got reports back this week that they were positive for the avian flu virus,” Schwab says.

Schwab says it’s not uncommon for wild birds to have the bird flu. “The avian flu is always present in the wild bird population,” he says. “It’s just this is the strain that crosses over to domesticated flocks very quickly. So, from the guidelines we were getting, have individuals watch their flocks. A big way that it’s transmitted is through the feces of the wild birds. So, there are a lot of wild birds around domesticated flocks. Just watch for the symptoms in the domesticated animals.”

Symptoms include decreased water consumption, lack of energy and appetite, soft or thin-shelled or misshapen eggs, swelling of the head, eyelids, comb, wattles and hocks, difficulty breathing, and coughing, sneezing and nasal discharge, among others. Though health experts say bird flu is highly contagious and often fatal to domestic bird populations, no human cases of avian viruses have been confirmed in the U-S. Schwab encourages residents to enjoy outdoor wildlife–with caution.”We’re still telling people to definitely go out and enjoy it,” Schwab says. “Just kind of use common sense when dealing with wild animals. Stay a good distance from them, and definitely, if you see a dead wild animal, if it’s in the parks, contact my office and definitely stay away from it.”

He adds hunters and others should use extra precautions when handling wild game–especially during processing. Anyone suspecting signs of H-P-A-I in their flocks should contact their local veterinarian, or the Iowa Department of Agriculture. This would be the sixth case of bird flu confirmed in the state.

• KJAN, Atlantic  .37″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .43″
• Massena  .49″
• Elk Horn  .43″
• Audubon  .3″
• Manning  .27″
• Oakland  .39″
• Corning  .29″
• Carroll  .33″
• Creston  .23″
• Shenandoah  .42″
• Clarinda  .43″
• Underwood  .12″
• Red Oak  .35″

w/Kate Olson.

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