(Radio Iowa) – A series of classes are underway in northeast Iowa that focus on Chronic Wasting Disease in deer. Iowa State University wildlife specialist, Adam Janke is leading the program called C-W-D Ambassadors  “What we hope with C-W-D Ambassadors is that we will train up some people who are connected in their communities as hunters or landowners or community leaders to sort of understand the complex science of chronic wasting disease,” he says. Janke says the ambassadors can share their knowledge once they finish the program. He says they can help wildlife biologists with the D-N-R and I-S-U Extension to spread the word of how they are managing the disease and some of the key behaviors to keep it from spreading.

C-W-D is always fatal to deer and has been found in ten of Iowa’s 99 counties. Janke says they hope to keep the spread limited. “By doing things like avoiding conditions that concentrate deer. Like mineral supplements or artificial feeding that concentrate deer in certain places, and that creates conditions favorable for spreading chronic wasting disease,” Janke explained.  He says they will also learn the importance of identifying deer who might be infected. “Many deer with chronic wasting disease could be asymptomatic. And so it isn’t necessarily that we are looking for sick deer,” Janke says. “And if we do see sick deer on the landscape — we want to report those to conservation officers, or wildlife biologists.”

Several border states around Iowa have seen more C-W-D cases in more of their counties. “I don’t know that it necessarily has spread faster in some of those border states. But what we see there is it has actually been in that landscape longer,” he says. Janke the outbreaks in other states have helped Iowa do a better job of managing the disease. “Because we get to learn frankly from some of the mistakes that were made in some of those other states. And we know a lot more about this disease now — and we think we can be a little more proactive and precise in our management practices,” Janke says.

The C-W-D Ambassador training is starting in northeast Iowa because those are the counties where the state has seen the positive C-W-D cases. The classes are taking place in Waukon throughout this month.

(Article by Atlantic FFA Reporter  Aspen Niklasen) – Each year, the Southwest District and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for FFA members in the Southwest District. The workshops were leadership focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning high school students These workshops are geared toward engaging members into FFA as the year kicks up. Atlantic welcomed 29 FFA chapters and 247 from all over the Southwest District on Wednesday, October 13th.

Atlantic FFA member Dylan Comes and Atlantic FFA Alumni member Tyler Comes helped facilitate the event. Dylan, the Southwest State Treasurer for the Iowa FFA Association, helped with other officers prepare and facilitated workshops of: authenticity, balancing priorities, communication, and FFA opportunities – in order to provide the first-year FFA members with skills they would use both within and outside of FFA. Comes said “It was great to see all of the younger members interacting with each other from a facilitators point of view.”

Front Row left to right: Mackenzie Brown, Charli Goff, Rylie Vandevanter, Aubrey Graham, Claire Schoder, Lilly Johnson, Mia, Kloewer, Lola Comes
Back Row left to right
Hudson Goff, DJ Shepperd, Daniel Freund, Parker Brock, Jace Mcintryre, Wyatt Simons, Keegan Kemp, Josie Handlos. (Photo submitted)

The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond. The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond. Rylie Vandvanter, a member from the Atlantic chapter that attended the event, said that “I had a lot of fun and met several new people.” Lola Comes said, “The Greenhand Fireup Camp gave me the opportunity to meet new people from other chapters, learn leadership skills, and increase my knowledge about FFA. This camp helped push me out of my comfort zone.”

(Atlantic FFA News) –  Atlantic FFA member Bryan York presented a paper virtually to the Global Youth Institute on Tuesday, October 18th. York’s paper was on sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania and provided several options to help solve this issue that affects 60 million Tanzanians every year. Bryan’s solutions included additional education for school-age students with an emphasis on soil health practices instead of repetitive usage of chemicals.

York said, “I enjoyed connecting with other students and experts from around the world. I thought it was interesting hearing how similar our solutions were, and how we could build off of one another. In addition to this experience, Bryan earned 2 scholarships for Iowa State University. The first was for $1,000 for participating in the Iowa Youth Institute in April and the second was for $2,500 for participating in the Global Youth Institute this week.

Bryan York

Bryan had 7 other students in her roundtable discussion from 4 different states and 1 student from Canada. Each of these individuals provided a presentation on various other issues ranging from corrupt governments, weather patterns, climatology, conflict, and renewable energy.

Not only did Bryan present to a group of students, but he also spoke to and was given feedback from 3 disgusted experts in a variety of different fields. Nicollette Caste, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, Emma Casavecchia, a program manager with the World Food Prize, and Hailey Hampton a researcher on Plant Sciences at the University of Idaho.

York was also able to listen to many world leaders and hunger fighters talk about the problems they are facing and how these issues need to be addressed. Some of these individuals include: Jeffrey Giauque, U.S. Department of State, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Tom Vilsack, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and Jocelyn Brown Hall, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE: The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. The Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the World Food Prize has honored 50 outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions throughout the world. The World Food Prize annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium and a variety of youth education programs to help further the discussion on cutting-edge global food security issues and inspire the next generation to end hunger.

(Article courtesy Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller)

INDIANAPOLIS (National FFA Organization) – Each year, the National FFA Organization honors FFA members who show the utmost dedication to the organization through their desire to develop their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

The American FFA Degree is bestowed upon a select group of students in recognition of their years of academic and professional excellence. This year 3,863 American Degrees were be awarded. Tate Den Beste, a member of the Atlantic FFA chapter was awarded the American FFA Degree at the 94th National FFA Convention & Expo Oct. 27-30. Den Beste said, “It was an honor to be able to walk across stage and receive this award. It is something that I will remember and I am very grateful for everyone who helped me along the way”.

Tate D. American Degree

To be eligible, FFA members must have earned and productively invested $10,000 through a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program in which they own their own business or hold a professional position as an employee. Recipients must also complete 50 hours community service and demonstrate outstanding leadership abilities and civic involvement through completion of a long list of FFA and community activities. Less than one percent of FFA members achieve the American FFA Degree.

Tate began with 2 SAE Projects that included working at Atlantic Golf and Country Club to pick up range balls and Sunny Side Putt Um Up where Tate would work the counter and helping to manage the goat herd. As Tate progressed through high school he began to work at Gavin Lynn Farms where he would manage and feed the cattle herd, as well as help with harvest.

Mr Eric Miller, the Atlantic FFA Advisor said, “Tate might have grown more than any student I have ever had. To begin as a shy freshman in the back of the classroom to running for District and State FFA Office and then reaching the highest award an FFA member can achieve. Tate has shown all of our FFA members that anything is possible and they should reach for the stars”.

Each recipient of the American FFA Degree receives a gold American FFA Degree key and certificate after being recognized at the national convention. The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 760,000 student members as part of 8,700 local FFA chapters in all 50 states Puerto Rico.

(Article submitted by Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller)

(By Atlantic FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen) – The Atlantic FFA chapter competed in the Southwest Iowa District Soils Judging Contest at the Armstrong Research Farm in Lewis on Monday September 27th. Atlantic FFA had 7 individuals compete in 2 teams. Team 1 which consisted of Bryan York, Cooper Jipsen, DJ Shepperd and Malena Woodward, got 6th place overall and earned a gold rating and were selected as the Alternate for the Iowa FFA State Soils CDE. There were 139 FFA members from 25 schools at the Contest. Bryan York placed 24th, Malena Woodward 26th,DJ Shepperd 30th and Cooper Jipsen placed 44th overall. “I met a lot of new people and learned alot about competing and soils judging,” said team member DJ Shepperd.

Team 2 placed 12th with team members Charli Goff placing 31st, Daniel Freund placing 49th and Brett Dreager placing 79th. Brett Dreager said, “Soils judging was a lot of fun. I learned it is more than just looking at dirt. There are a lot of factors that go into soil quality.“

Team members from left to right are:
Charli Goff, Malena Woodward, Bryan York, Cooper Jipsen, DJ Shepperd, Brett Dreager, Daniel Freund.

The Soils Judging Career Development Event is designed towards motivating students to gain knowledge on surface features, the soil profile, land capability and productivity, evaluation of land use and management practices, and suitability of soils for nonagricultural uses. Students also develop the ability to observe selected soil properties, and use these observations to interpret and evaluate these properties for recommendations for land use. Bryan York said, “With the information I learned by participating in this contest, I was able to make new connections to the soil health measures I was using inside my garden. I would recommend this contest to any new members who are looking to get involved or anyone interested in learning more about how the quality of soil affects your crops.”

After the contest took place, Mr. Miller, the Atlantic FFA advisor, felt good about the day’s competition. “I was impressed with the way our students performed. They made a lot of improvement in a very short amount of time.”

(By Atlantic FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen) – On Thursday October 7, 2021, Atlantic FFA members attended numerous fall contests at Northwest Missouri State University. This year, the chapter had seven members compete in the Livestock Evaluation contest, placing 9th out of 31 teams. In this contest, members had the opportunity to display their agricultural knowledge of various livestock breeds. Those who competed had to place breeding and market classes of beef, swine, and sheep, while also doing three classes of oral reasons.

(Left to right) Livestock Judging
Andrew Derby, Cooper Jipsen, Dylan Comes, Logan Eilts, McKenna Sonntag, Malena Woodward, Maddie Richter

(Left to right) FFA Knowledge
Haley Hansen, Sofia Mendez, Kate Ottechen, Keith Archibald

Individually, Dylan Comes placed 30th, Malena Woodward placed 32nd, Cooper Jipsen 34th, McKenna Sonntag 40th, Logan Eilts 52nd, Maddie Richter 137th and Andrew Derby 138th out of 175 contestants from Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. Cooper Jipsen said, “It was a very fun experience and it was a lot different than every other livestock judging I have participated in. All in all a great learning experience”.

(Left to right) Dairy
Charles Klemmensen, Charli Goff, Daniel Freund, Colton Rudy, Brett Dreager, DJ Shepperd

In the Horse Evaluation contest, Atlantic FFA members did not get a chance to complete the event but still placed 14th out of 34 teams. The event gave students the opportunity to learn agricultural knowledge and skills in the area of equine science. Competing FFA members evaluated halter and performance equine classes. Aspen Niklasen placed 40th, Lola Comes placed 57th, Callee Pellett placed 58th and Colton Becker 80th placed out of 120 contestants. FFA Advisor Eric Miller said, “Its a shame these kids did not get a chance to compete oral reasons. They got docked up to 100 points each because we needed to leave to come back for after school events. I would like to see what this team could have scored if we had more time.”

(Left to right) Agronomy
Torrie Steinhoff and Kaitlin Jensen

In the Dairy Cattle Evaluation contest, the chapter placed 11th out of 26 teams overall. The purpose of the District Dairy Cattle CDE is to enable students to develop skills in dairy animal selection and dairy herd management. They evaluated and ranked dairy animals based on visual factors of selection. Daniel Freund placed 52nd, Charles Klemmensen placed 68th, Colton Rudy 72nd, Brett Dreager 76th, Charli Goff 78th and DJ Shepperd 80th out of 121 individuals. Daniel Fruend said, “it was a fun experience and I had the opportunity to meet lots of new people. The contest was also more challenging this year, so that was fun. ”

At the Farm Business contest the Atlantic team of Bryan York and Wyatt Redinbaugh competed individually. Bryan was 3rd and Wyatt placed 11th. This contest is designed to stimulate instruction of economic and agricultural business management principles in the secondary agriculture curriculum. These principles include the following: the ability to apply the economic principles and concepts listed in analyzing the farm business and making farm business management decisions, the ability to analyze and select the most appropriate type of farm business organization for a given farm situation, the ability to develop the ability to use records and manage resources for optimum returns to resources.

In the Advanced FFA Knowledge test, Atlantic FFA finished 3rd overall out of 16 teams. Haley Hansen placed 8th, Keith Archibald placed 11th, Sofia Mendez placed 16th and Kate Ottechen placed 20th out of 48 individuals. The contest consisted of a 100 question written examination covering general FFA knowledge. Keith Archibald said, “I really enjoyed being on campus. I had a fun time seeing people I already know and meeting new people. We all did pretty good on our test and I hope Atlantic FFA can continue their success at the fall contest. ”.

Finally in the Agronomy contest individuals Torrie Steinhoff placed 53rd and Kaitlin Jensen placed 58th out of 68 individuals. The Agronomy CDE is designed to motivate students to learn about crop production and factors that influence the quality of seed and forage crops. Students participating in the Agronomy CDE should develop the following skills and abilities: To identify weeds and crops by the seed or plant parts. To evaluate the quality of crop seed and hay samples for feeding, planting, or processing for food. To identify weeds as prohibited, noxious, or common, and length of life cycle. Finally be able to develop an understanding of the biological principles underlying production practices of major crops and of their handling for further marketing.

(All photos submitted by Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller)

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Organizers with the “Festival of Trees,” report the longstanding tradition is returning to Cass County this holiday season. The multi-day event, sponsored by the Cass County Unit of the American Cancer Society, is set for December 2nd-5th of this year and will again be held at the Catholic Parish Center,105 West 5th Street in Atlantic. Cancelled last year due to the pandemic, co-chairs Deb Schuler and Vicki Nordskog say they are looking forward to welcoming back decorators and visitors alike when doors open on Thursday December 2nd at 10 AM. The last event, held in 2019, featured 52 trees, decorated in a variety of themes, as well as 10 other holiday themed displays such as a tribute to 100 years of Women’s Voting Rights, a sleigh collection in all sizes and varieties, and an operational Christmas train and village display.

In addition to helping spread holiday cheer, the festival serves as a fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. Admission to the festival is a free will donation, and raffle tickets are also sold for attendees to win a chance at a variety of seasonal home and gift items. A special feature for this year’s raffle is a quilt hand-made by local youth Paige Baier, in addition to donated items such as wreaths, gift baskets and more!

New this year, a separate raffle is being held for a vintage, life-sized mechanical Santa. This Santa, most recently housed at the now-closed Coca-Cola museum in downtown Atlantic, has graced many downtown windows as early as the 1950s. This raffle kicked off at the 2021 Coca-Cola Days celebration in Atlantic, and Santa has been traveling to store-fronts around the downtown ever since. Tickets for this unique raffle can be purchased at any time prior to the drawing on December 5th- either at Santa’s current downtown location, the Atlantic Chamber, or at Festival of Trees where he will be on display.

Festival organizers are still accepting entries for display at the 2021 Festival of Trees. Any individual, group, business, or organization interested in contributing a tree or display for this year’s Festival of Trees should contact Schuler (debschuler4@gmail.com) or Nordskog (vjnbob@icloud.com) via email for more information. All displays must be pre-registered by November 12th so the committee can assign spaces in the floor plan. No ‘drop ins’ will be able to be accommodated.

The dates to set up a tree or display are Tuesday, November 30th, from 9 AM to 8 PM and Wednesday, December 1st, from 9 AM to 3 PM. Light refreshments will be provided during decorating. Trees and displays will be open to the public for viewing Thursday, December 2nd, through Sunday, December 5th, and tear down of displays will be on Sunday, December 5th, starting at 3 PM. Additional information about setup, teardown, and registering a display can be obtained by contacting organizers using the emails mentioned.

For those interested in attending the Festival of Trees, currently planned hours for visitors are Thursday, December 2nd from 10:00 A.M to 8:00 P.M., Friday, December 3rd from 10:00 A.M. to 6:30 P.M., Saturday, December 4th from 10:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M., and Sunday, December 5th from 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.

DES MOINES – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and six other Midwest Governors, today (Thursday) sent a joint letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan requesting immediate guidance on how Iowa and other states can continue to sell year-round E-15 without restriction. (The Governors’ letter can be found HERE.)

In a statement, the Governor says “The disappointing DC Circuit Court ruling earlier this year again shows the inconsistency we continue to see from Washington, DC and the EPA on renewable fuels, and it is time for states to stand up and take action. As the Governor of the top renewable fuel-producing state, I am proud to lead a letter with my colleagues to send a clear message that we will pursue every avenue to ensure that consumers can have unrestricted and increased access to less expensive, cleaner-burning E-15.”

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said “We all hope either Congress or EPA will take action to preserve nationwide access to E15 on a year-round basis. But if no timely national solution is found, governors have the authority to implement a state-by-state solution. We heartily applaud the Midwest governors for putting oil refiners on notice that their market obstructionism will not stand. The oil refiners may have created this problem, but all 50 governors can fix it”

(Radio Iowa) – Deere and Company says the second contract offer just rejected by union workers is the company’s last and final offer and representatives of Deere will not return to the negotiating table. Jennifer Hartmann, a spokesman for the company, says Deere listened to production and maintenance employees after the first tentative agreement was overwhelmingly rejected a month ago. “What is in this agreement now meets those concerns and issues that were brought to our attention,” Hartmann says.

Ninety percent of union workers rejected Deere’s first contract offer. The second offer, which included immediate 10 percent raises and a bonus of 85-hundred dollars, was rejected by 55 percent of U-A-W members. “We’re encouraged by the fact that seven out of the 11 units voted to ratify the contract,” Hartmann says.

According to social media posts, a majority of the U-A-W members at Deere plants in Ankeny, Davenport and Ottumwa voted to approve the deal, but it was rejected by workers at plants in Dubuque and Waterloo as well as two Deere facilities in Illinois. The tallies at other union locals out of state have not been made public. According to a statement from Deere, the company’s contract offer would provide workers with an additional three-and-a-half billion dollars over the next six years. The U-A-W issued a brief statement after the tentative agreement was voted down, saying the strike against Deere would continue as the union discusses next steps with the company.

The surging price of fertilizer is putting pressure on farmers as they look to the next planting season and what crops might they may grow come spring. Prices are two-to-three times higher than normal because of global supply chain problems. Plus, demand is up as farmers who are finishing up harvest prepare to fertilize their fields for next year. Iowa State University ag economist Chad Hart says the spike in prices will affect the choices farmers make for next year’s crop.

Dave Holm, with the Iowa Institute for Cooperatives, says co-ops are the middlemen between farmers and fertilizer manufacturers. They buy fertilizer several months in advance so farmers can have it by the time they need it in the fall. Shipping problems are reducing co-ops’ confidence that they’re able to get enough fertilizer meet demand.

Hart, meanwhile, says fertilizer prices haven’t been this high since 2009 and 2010. He expects the prices to remain high until after planting season in the spring.