(Radio Iowa) – The non-profit group Practical Farmers of Iowa is launching a new smartphone application designed to make it easy for farmers to make decisions about cover crops in time for fall planting. Sarah Carlson, P-F-I’s strategic initiatives director, says the free app, called Find Cover Crops, aims to be a helpful resource and a time-saver. “Farmers can search with geolocation cover crop business services that are nearby their farm,” Carlson says. “So if you need somebody to custom drill, if you need to find an aerial applicator, or if you need to find seed or any other cover crop services, you can find those locations, find those businesses, reach out to them and hire their services.”

The app also offers embedded how-to videos for seeding, grazing and terminating cover crops, in addition to showing farmers how to precisely identify the boundaries of fields to be cover cropped. The app is free to download via the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Perhaps one in ten Iowa farmers have planted cover crops in the past decade, and Carlson says many more need to — but don’t — due to time management issues and logistics. “The number-one reason why we need to use them in the state is to improve our water quality so that we can avoid potential future regulation and hold that nitrogen on our fields,” Carlson says. “And then we see other farmers finding a lot of weed control benefits from cover crops, some are even able to cut herbicides which then basically pays for the cover crop.”

All sorts of things can be planted as cover crops, but Carlson says cereal rye is the most popular and versatile, as it can be planted into late December. “And then normally putting cereal rye ahead of that next year’s soybean crop, that’s the most common use of cover crops today,” Carlson says. “Honestly, it’s the least risk, it’s the best benefit because soybeans benefit yieldwise after that rye cover crop, and we get improved weed control, reduced erosion, better water quality.”

Privately-funded cost share programs for cover crops are available through the Practical Farmers’ website which Carlson says may bring between ten and 40 dollar per acre, making the practice essentially risk-free. Learn more at: practicalfarmers.org.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Iowa DNR News) – Conservation Officers in Iowa have concluded a six-month-long investigation into felony weapons charges and wildlife poaching violations involving a deer hunting party in Johnson and Linn counties. The case began with a TIP (Turn in Poachers) call to conservation officers about a buck deer that was unlawfully shot from the roadway onto private property in northern Johnson County in December 2020. The ensuing investigation uncovered a variety of deer poaching violations that occurred over several years. Multiple violations occurred in 2020 including: hunting out of season, hunting without proper licenses, wanton waste of wildlife, overlimiting, unlawful method of take, tagging and reporting violations, illegal waterfowl hunting, and felon in possession of a firearm.

The case resulted in a total of one felony weapons charge, 57 hunting related charges, and multiple written warnings to a hunting group made up of four individuals.

Larry Jones (of Cedar Rapids), a convicted felon, pleaded guilty to 10 hunting related charges and is awaiting trial for a felony weapons charge in Linn County. Jones faces 30 additional hunting related charges in Johnson County and is currently awaiting trial. Steve Sinnett (of Swisher), pleaded guilty to 13 hunting related charges in Johnson County. Tania Holdren (of Cedar Rapids) pleaded guilty to four deer hunting charges in Johnson County. Shane Yarrington (Cedar Rapids) pleaded guilty to one deer hunting charge in Johnson County.

Iowa DNR conservation officers encourage the public to continue to use the Turn In Poachers hotline (1-800-532-2020) and website (https://programs.iowadnr.gov/tip/) to report fish and wildlife crimes.

(Radio Iowa) – The Farm Bureau estimates last year’s derecho caused nearly half a billion dollars in damage to Iowa crops. Rod Pierce, who farms near Woodward, is still working on repairing some of his grain bins and two of the bins will be replaced in the next few weeks. “One of the things my wife did — we had never heard of a derecho and so she basically renamed it ‘Gone with the Wind’ so that seems to fit the name of what happened better than, I think, derecho,” he says.

Pierce says he’s lucky to have had not only good crop insurance, but insurance on structures and vehicles that covered the replacement value of the property. Trees were tipped over and snapped off and he still has toppled trees to clear away. “I knew we’d lost trees, but I never thought that’d be one of the things I’d miss a lot is the nice shade and the beauty of some of the trees that got damaged and insurance didn’t pay me for anything, but my insurance did a good job,” Pierce says. “I was very, very blessed to have good insurance.”

Pierce says his operation suffered 750-thousand dollars in crop damage.  Unfortunately, Pierce had to submit a new claim last month. A storm with tennis-ball-sized hail ripped through four of his corn fields, shattered skylights in his house and damaged vehicles. “Luckly, God was with me and I did have some hail insurance,” Pierce says, “but we are experiencing weather at this location, I guess.” Wind speeds from LAST year’s derecho reached 131 miles an hour as the storm passed over Pierce’s farm.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal report on the so-called “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico finds it’s much larger than initially forecast earlier this year. The report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration blames runoff from Midwestern farm fields for the massive area where there’s too little oxygen to support marine life. Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman (LAY-mun) says the state’s been working to address the growing problem. “It certainly is alarming,” Lehman says, “and I would argue that many of the strategies in Iowa’s nutrient reduction plan simply are not incentivized enough to get enough practices put in place on the farm.”

The NOAA report is concerning, Lehman says, and could lead to more regulations on agriculture. He’s hopeful that won’t happen and that government will work -with- farmers on their environmental practices. “We know that there’s some real difficult decisions that will be ahead,” Lehman says. “I’d much rather us make that investment with farmers, many, many of whom are doing exactly the right things, rather than jump towards a regulatory-only system that many others will recommend.”

Because there will likely be more regulatory pressures put on agriculture following this report, Lehman says it’s even more important the incentive fixes are made to the nutrient reduction strategy. “I think we’re going to see more and more calls for a peer regulatory approach rather than a mixed approach that’s built on investments for farmers,” he says, “which is all the more reason to start now, making those investments with farmers, because largely, we’ve done a good job on the farm.”

The NOAA report says the dead zone is ten times the size of New Orleans’ Lake Ponchartrain. The area off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas now covers more than 63-hundred square miles, about a thousand square miles larger than it’s been the past five years.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board has two programs coming up later this month for nature lovers: the “Breakfast with the Birds” Program, and “Raptor Identification” Program. Both will be held August 21st in the Camblin’s Addition Shelter at Sunnyside Park. The  “Breakfast with the Birds” Program begins at 9-a.m.  For a free-will donation, you can enjoy a light breakfast. During the program, Cassie Wendl, will show and discuss live birds.  Raptor Identification Program

You can learn about different raptors (birds of prey) and tips about how to increase your birding knowledge, during the “Raptor Identification” Program, which will be held at 10-a.m. on August 21st. You can bring along your own pair of binoculars, or some will be provided. Funding for the program is provided by the Resource Enhancement and Protection – Conservation Education Program (REAP – CEP).

The Raptor workshop will be conducted by Kelly McKay (BioEco Research and Monitoring Center), with assistance from Mark Roberts (Clinton County Conservation) and Brian Ritter (Nahant Marsh Education Center). It’s the third of the CCCB’s “Building a Better Birder Workshop Series,” and is brought to you through aResource Enhancement and Protection (REAP-CEP) grant.

Pre-Registration is appreciated. Call  769-2372 or email to sign up lkanning@casscoia.us Of course this qualifies for our 120hrs Outdoor Challenge don’t forget to use #120hrsCassCoIA as a hashtag for your adventures.

(Radio Iowa) – While forecasters say Iowa’s high temperatures will be back in the 80s and 90s for the next several summer days, it’s hard to think about the foul, frigid winter that’s ahead — but we all know, it’s coming.

Peter Geiger, editor of the Farmers’ Almanac, says the 2022 edition will be out next week and its winter weather outlook for Iowa and the Midwest isn’t pretty. “It’s going to be colder than normal and in terms of the snowfall, we talk about a foot of snow January 8th through the 11th,” Geiger says. “We talk about a big blizzard on the 20th through the 23rd. I think your average in Iowa is somewhere in the 30-inch range and I think you certainly will get that.”

It’s said if you don’t like the weather in Iowa, just wait five minutes and it’ll change, and Geiger predicts there will be a lot of back-and-forth. “I think you’re going to have a fairly rough winter,” Geiger says. “We’re also saying it’s going to be a bit of a flip-flop. So what’s going to happen, as we see it, is that you’re going to get a lot of snow, then it’s going to be mild, then you’re going to get really cold, and then it’s going to be mild.”

The Farmers’ Almanac forecast is detailed and Geiger says some dedicated readers plan their calendars around it. He says “numb’s the word” as for the bone-chilling predictions in the looming winter. “We talk about a real big storm December 1st through the 4th, a real blast of Arctic frigidity with temperatures minus-20 around Christmas, then we talk about a mild beginning of January, heavy snow in the middle of January, a big storm at the end of January and then, this is the flip-flop, in February, it’s going to be cold but we don’t talk about a lot of storms,” Geiger says. “Then in March, we talk about a big storm March 4th through the 7th that will hit you and then a late season storm on April 24th to the 27th.”

The Farmer’s Almanac winter forecast.

That late-season storm may just be rain, not snow, he adds. While some meteorologists on TV may not be comfortable predicting the weather farther out than several days, Geiger says the Farmers’ Almanac has been working on forecasts up to 24 months out — and they’ve been doing so for more than 200 years.

“There’s a mathematical formula that was devised by our first editor, David Young back in the 1800s, because farmers needed to know about the weather,” Geiger says. “We apply sunspot activity, planet positions, the effect the Moon has on the Earth, and that allows us to do our weather two years in advance. Some weather people pooh-pooh it, but last year, when Texas had that cold spell, that was in the Almanac.”

The 2022 edition of the Farmers’ Almanac includes specifics about the many predictions it got right for the past year. Geiger admits, they don’t hit every single storm on every single date, but says if you give him a few days of leeway, it’s remarkably reliable.

Founded in 1818 and still based in Lewiston, Maine, the Farmers’ Almanac contains weather predictions for the entire four seasons of 2022 as well as all sorts of information on gardening, cooking, home remedies, folklore, managing your household, living in harmony with nature, and more.

(Radio Iowa) – The biofuels industry is casting doubt on the idea liquid fuel will be phased out anytime soon, but it’s also lobbying for ethanol and biodiesel to be included in carbon reduction plans. President Biden was joined by Ford and G-M executives yesterday (Thursday) as he announced a set of fuel efficiency standards, with the goal of having up to half of the vehicles sold in the U.S. be electric by 2030. Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw calls those kind of goals aspirational.

“They aren’t all going to be purely EVs — electric vehicles,” Shaw says. “Some of them will be what are called hybrid, where they still do have a liquid-powered engine and no one you talk to thinks it can happen that fast.” Shaw suggests a vehicle in Iowa that’s burning gas with 85 percent ethanol today likely has a lower carbon footprint than an electric vehicle, because 25 percent of electricity in Iowa is generated from coal.

“The corn plant sucks carbon out of the air,” Shaw says. “An EV doesn’t do that so we actually have a pathway where in the next 10 years we think we can get…actually net negative carbon fuel.” Kelly Niewenhaus, a farmer from Primghar, is on the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. He says the other obstacle is there’s no nationwide grid to support electric vehicles.

“We’ve got the infrastructure today for more biofuels and to clean up our environment today and lower our greenhouse gas emissions and be the solution for climate change, so why not do that?” Niewenhaus asks. And Niewenhaus says another market for ethanol is jet fuel. Batteries are still so heavy it’s unlikely electric airplanes will replace fossil fuel-powered aircraft anytime soon.

Niewenhaus and Shaw made their comments on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S. Several Republican lawmakers from Iowa, including Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, are criticizing the Biden Administration for backing development of electric vehicles while failing to include biofuels infrastructure in the president’s plans. Meanwhile, MidAmerican Energy is offering a 500 dollar rebate to customers who purchase an electric vehicle, Hy-Vee has partnered with Tesla and another company to install charging stations and John Deere has unveiled a fully electric, autonomous tractor.

(Radio Iowa) – Updated national maps now show there are two areas of extreme drought in Iowa. The state climatologist says the areas in northwest and east central Iowa have missed out on widespread heavier rains. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, which produces the maps, conditions deteriorated significantly in several large patches in Iowa and Minnesota over the past week. Most of these areas have had up to six inches less than normal rainfall during the past 60 days and up to eight-and-a-half inches short of normal since early May.

All of Butler and Franklin Counties are now classified as in extreme drought, along with adjacent areas in Grundy, Hardin, Floyd, Bremer and Black Hawk Counties. In northwest Iowa, the extreme drought zone includes Dickinson, Emmett, Kossuth and Clay Counties.