CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
Officials with Connections Area Agency have announced that the state is continuing the Farmers Market voucher program for older Iowans. With this program, seniors meeting income requirements can obtain vouchers that they can use at participating area Farmers Markets to buy $30.00 worth of fresh, locally grown produce. This year since senior centers and offices are currently closed to the public, officials will be asking individuals to call-in beginning June 1st, to 800-432-9209 x8888 and leave a message with their name and phone number.
All calls will be returned within five business days. The staff person who returns your call will then fill out your application on the phone and vouchers will be assigned and mailed out on Thursdays of each week.
Program Criteria:
$23,828 Single
$32,227 Married
Outline of Process:
The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association is set to host four educational, on-farm events, in June. “BeefMeets” feature educational sessions on policy and production, industry updates, a farm tour, trade show and meal. This year’s focus is climate and environmental sustainability. Well-respected professionals will share how beef cattle producers can further enhance their reputation as the original stewards of the land and natural resources at the meetings, one of which is set to take place in Lewis, on June 10th. (see details below)
Thursday, June 10: Southwest Region BeefMeet at the Euken-Myers Farm (67242 610th St.) Lewis, IA.
“Beef Sustainability – A Paradigm Shift” presented by Ashley McDonald, NCBA senior director of sustainability . There is more and more going on around beef sustainability, but the good news is the world is beginning to see U.S. beef production as part of the solution to their environmental challenges. Find out what the landscape of goals, commitments and initiatives looks like and how the cattle industry can further enhance its reputation as the planet’s original stewards, driving demand for our product.
Other event dates and locations can be found here. In addition to the educational sessions, a full trade show and networking opportunities, cattlemen will have the opportunity to share policy and industry concerns with ICA leaders. The evening will conclude with a tour of the hosting beef operation.The regional BeefMeets will take place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Registration is encouraged, but walk-ins are always welcome. The price is $25 for members, $35 for non-members and free for students.
Come see how the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association is working for you at the 2021 BeefMeets! Register today at https://www.iacattlemen.org/events-meetings/beefmeets-regional-conventions or call 515-296-2266. Payment will be taken at the door, the day of the event.
(Radio Iowa) – Favorable conditions for planting continued again last week. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says the dry weather kept things moving.Naig says the dry weather allowed planting to move ahead quickly — so 86 percent of the corn crop is now planted and 67 percent of the soybean crop is done — with corn 10 days ahead of the five-year average and soybeans are 15 days ahead of the five-year average. The Monday crop report shows central Iowa farmers have less than 10percent of their corn crop remaining to be planted. Corn emergence improved to 22 percent — up from two percent last week — and Naig says it’s hope the emergence can continue to improve.
“We’ve seen some cooler and drier conditions that have certainly caused that corn to lay in the ground a little longer than maybe normal. But with a much-needed rain, a drink of water will get that corn growing. And some sunshine of course — we need heat to get things going,” according to Naig. He says the recent rise in corn and bean prices adds to the excitement for farmers getting into the fields. “Farmers are feeling a lot better about prices this spring versus the last couple of years. And certainly that’s good when you can look at the marketplace and know that you can lock in a profit for the year,” Naig says. “Now with that, some of the input costs have been going up and certainly livestock products have been experiencing some increases in feed costs as well.”
Naig says farmers are always optimistic as the planting season moves ahead — but also know conditions often change. “Weather and markets are two things where the only constant is change, and folks are used to dealing with that,” Naig says. Naig says the optimism is high that the year will go well and farmers will have a good result when it comes to the harvest. He says a strong demand right now has resulted in much higher prices.
(Radio Iowa) – It has been too cool and dry for mosquitoes to get very active so far this year — but you may have noticed another insect flying around. I-S-U entomologist, Donald Stewart, says wasps have been active. “Most of these are paper wasps with an elongated, about an in long, brownish color. It’s the wasp that makes a nest up under the eaves of your house. It looks like a little upside down umbrella hanging there,” Lewis says. He says the wasps right now are looking for a place to live.
“Those nests are started by a single queen,” Lewis explains,”and they are quite active on the warm days of spring as they look for a sheltered location where they can build that nest.” But Lewis says they shouldn’t be very aggressive. “They aren’t interested in stinging, they’re interested in finding a place to make a nest — build a little nest, catch a little food, lay a few eggs,” according to Lewis. “Later in the summer when the population increases, then the wasps will be a little bit more aggressive, but right now they are not quite as threatening as people expect.”
Lewis says they shouldn’t pose much of a concern.
(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has introduced a bill with a bipartisan group of senators that would force meatpackers to buy at least half of their weekly beef supply on the open market. The vast majority of cattle sales today are private sales, and Grassley says he met with independent farmers this week who can’t gauge the fair market price for their cattle. “I met in Jones County, Iowa with 150 cattlemen that were very irate about the dominance of these four big packers having 80% of the slaughter and 80% of each daily slaughter is either pre-contracted or by the company-owned cattle,” Grassley says, “so the independent producer can’t get a market.”
Grassley says lawmakers need to intervene, because the cattle market isn’t working. “We’ve got to pass this legislation so the independent producer can negotiate a price and know when he can deliver,” Grassley says. Grassley says he began talking about this issue in 2002, but abandoned the effort in 2007 when he could not muster the votes to get a bill passed in the U.S. Senate. “And then a year ago, the cattle people came back to me from Iowa came back to me and said: ‘Would you resurrect your bill?’ I thought: ‘Ye gods, we’re going to go through the same thing again and not get any support?’ You’d be surprised the number of people that signed up for my bill almost immediately,” Grassley says. “We have good, bipartisan support now and I think it’s got no problem getting out of the agriculture committee.”
Grassley made his comments during taping of “Iowa Press,” which airs this weekend on Iowa P-B-S. According to the U-S-D-A, Iowa ranks fourth among the states in the number of cattle destined for slaughter at a meatpacker.
(Radio Iowa) – When you hear the average temperature or rainfall during the weather, that’s typically based on the past three decades of information, and this week the National Weather Service updated that temperature and precipitation data. Doug Kluck, the weather service’s Central Region climate services director, says they roll the averages forward every ten years.
“We’re taking 1991 through 2020 compared to 1981 through 2010, so that’s a ten-year adjustment forward in a 30-year full period,” Kluck says. “We’re going to see how much the climate has changed in those ten years.” Kluck says the new numbers show a cooling trend across the Northern Plains states, which includes Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas. “Guess what happened in the last ten years across the Northern Plains, what have we seen up there? An abundance of what? Not necessarily cold air, but an abundance of moisture, right?” Kluck says.
“We’ve had some pretty wet years, let’s say, in the last ten across the Northern Plains, thus, the temperatures are dampened a little bit.” While most of the nation is trending warmer with the shift in the decades of averages, Iowa and its neighbors are seeing a cooling trend. “Other parts of the country, not so much,” he says. “If you go to the West, especially in the Southwest, you’re going to see a lot more increases in temperature when you compare the last 30-year period to the new 30-year period.”
As for the Northern Plains, Kluck says they’re seeing cooler temperatures lingering longer in the spring, with warmer temperatures pushing further into the fall.
(Radio Iowa) – A study from the Environmental Working Group says Iowa needs to monitor more bodies of water for a toxin that’s produced by a microscopic organism called blue-green algae. The report says Iowa does routine weekly monitoring for microcystins on state park beaches, but it’s missing other locations like lakes, ponds and reservoirs. E-W-G’s Anne Schechinger says the state should do more monitoring to keep people from getting sick as the microcystins can cause cancer or liver failure, among other things. “Since they have such potentially serious public health impacts,” Schechinger says, “it’s really important to monitor so we can warn people to stay away from affected water bodies.”
A water quality supervisor with the Iowa D-N-R says the state tests for microcystins in lakes too, but it’s a fairly new program. The state tests about 130 lakes up to three times a year. Schechinger says it’s a step in the right direction, but wants to see more frequent testing, while ponds and reservoirs should be included too. “You can’t tell if a blue-green algae bloom is toxic unless you test,” she says. “You can’t just look at it and tell it’s toxic. So you need to do testing in any body of water that people are going to recreate in or near to really keep people safe.”
Schechinger says Iowa tests for microcystins more often than Minnesota and Wisconsin, which don’t test every year.
(reporting by Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)
(Radio Iowa) – A new online map can be used to educate Iowans about the air quality around them with a few mouse clicks. Brian Hutchins, the air quality supervisor at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the colorful map is called simply, AirNow, and it’s focused on fires and smoke. “What you can find there is the Air Quality Index (AQI),” Hutchins says. “It’s easy to read and essentially the higher the number on that chart, the worse the air quality is. It’s a great tool for those with underlying health conditions, like asthma, to keep an eye on.”
The first time you log in, you’ll see a map of North America, with a series of green, yellow, orange and red dots stretching across Canada, the U-S and Mexico. “You can zoom in on Iowa and you can see the monitoring sites that we have in the state, and the AQI is represented by a dot on the map,” Hutchins says. “It’s a colored dot and you can compare that to the AQI number.” In recent years, Iowa’s air has been polluted by wildfires as far away as Canada. The next time it happens, Hutchins says the map will come in handy, as there are things Iowans can do to stay safe.
“It’s a good idea to limit outdoor activity, especially physical activity like exercising, that sort of thing,” Hutchins says, “if you are an individual that is susceptible to that type of impact.” He also suggests limiting your time near pollution sources — like busy roads. This is National Clean Air Week.
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