(Radio Iowa) – The chairman of a key committee says a complicated proposal to expand use of ethanol and biodiesel in Iowa hasn’t been killed for the year, but Senator Dan Dawson says it’s not greased for passage either. “What the future looks like, I cannot tell,” Dawson said. “…There’s a lot more work to be done on this before we find any consensus.” Dawson was among a handful of Senators who listened to feedback on the plan for about an hour yesterday (Thursday). It began with Logan Shine, an advisor to Governor Kim Reynolds, suggesting critics were spreading misinformation about what Reynolds has called a Renewable Fuels Standard for Iowa.

“I know we’ve all heard this is a mandate,” Shine said. “At this point, we’re disagreeing on the semantics of whether it’s a mandate, a standard — it simply doesn’t matter because this is a pro-Iowa bill.” A major pipeline company, truck stops, convenience stores and other retailers who sell fuel oppose the bill. Jason McDermott is president of McDermott Oil Company in Cascade, which operates five gas stations in eastern Iowa. McDermott says bill backers are misleading legislators about the significant expense of installing equipment that can pump higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel.

“For us as retailers, we’re not going to sell any more gas,” McDermott said. “We’re moving from one product to another. There’s absolutely no return on this investment and we’re the only ones being asked to invest in this.” Tom Brooks, general manager of Western Dubuque Biodiesel in Farley, says it’s time for legislators to take a stand in favor of the renewable fuels industry.

“Frankly we’re overdue for biodiesel and ethanol blends to be the standard here rather than the alternative,” he said. “This industry is way too important to Iowa. This really should’t be a difficult question.” Ken Kleemeier, vice president of fuels for Kum & Go stores, says while retailers have major concerns, the real victims of the bill will be drivers who’ll wind up paying more for gas and diesel. “The mandates and government overreach contained in this bill are a step too far,” he said.

Michael Walz of POET, which operates seven ethanol plants in Iowa, says the most important part of the bill ensures consumers have access to E-15 by 2026. “We believe every Iowan should have the freedom to fuel up with E15,” he said. “More than a decade ago, Minnesota led the way in making E10 America’s fuel standard. We believe Iowa should lead the way to shift to E15 with passage of this bill.”

Tom Cope, a lobbyist for Casey’s General Stores, says a proposed tweak in the bill designed to address retailer’s concerns is worthless. “This new version continues to have restrictions and things in place that are really going to upend the fuel market in the state of Iowa,” Cope said. Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley says there’s been hard work to try to find a satisfactory compromise, but it’s unlikely the legislature will pass an Iowa renewable fuel standard this year.  “I can’t tell you the exact outcome of it, but it’s a difficult push,” Grassley said. The push toward adjourning the 2021 session has begun.

Today (Friday) is the last day legislators get a stipend to cover daily expenses, but it is common for the legislature to meet for days, even weeks, past that mark.

The latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows worsening drought conditions in Iowa. On Thursday, new data showed a nearly 35% increase in areas considered abnormally dry, including much of central Iowa in the last week. Two areas of northern Iowa counties are considered to be in moderate drought, while a pocket of northwest Iowa counties is in severe drought. Those areas grew by nearly 7%.

Counties in far southeast and far southwest Iowa show normal conditions as farmers are working to plant crops. The U.S. Drought Monitor releases new information on soil conditions each Thursday.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Pork Producers held several events in Sioux City and the surrounding area Wednesday. Aaron Juergens, of Sunburst Family Farms near Carroll, is the southwest director of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. He says the past 12 months have reminded them of the importance of community, and he says there are still challenging months ahead, and everyone must continue working together to keep people safe. Juergens also thanked Sioux City for supporting pig farmers.

The Pork Producers gave away 11-hundred pork loins in the parking lot of the Sioux City Explorers baseball team.”That’s approximately five-thousand-500 servings of pork. Each pound of pork is four servings of protein — so that’s nearly 22-thousand meals for this area’s residents,” Juergens says. He says they are also providing pork coupons at local grocery stores and pork appreciation baskets to some of the first responders.

The Food Bank of Siouxland and the Sunnybrook Church of Hope Center Pantry also received pork donations. Sioux City’s Seaboard Triumph pork plant is one of the largest pork processing plants in the country.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s not giving up on her plan to boost the sale of corn-based ethanol and biodiesel, which is made with soybeans.  “We’re going to continue to do everything we can to drive renewable fuels,” Reynolds says. “We lead the country in renewable fuel energy. We’re the leading producer of corn, one or two in soybeans and so it’s a really important industry to the state.”

A bill requiring gas stations and convenience stores to offer fuel with a 15 percent ethanol blend by 2026 has been discussed in the legislature and there’s a senate subcommittee hearing on the concept today (Thursday). However, time is running out for a plan to clear all hurdles in the legislature and reach the governor’s desk this year.”Unfortunately, I don’t get everything I want. I try my hardest, but it’s just a reality of the legislative process,” Reynolds said, “so we won’t give up on it, but if I can’t get it through, we’ll continue to look for ways that we can continue to build the industry.”

If the bill falters, Reynolds says this summer and fall she will convene meetings of the stakeholders in the debate. That would include the Corn Growers and biofuel producers that back the bill and representatives of gas stations and convenience stores that have lobbied against it.  “We should be partners in this…I’ve already talked to different stakeholders and have indicated this is my intent,” Reynolds says, “and let’s see what we can do and maybe come back next year and come back in a unified position.”

Retailers say they’d have to spend as much as a billion dollars to meet the state ethanol mandate and those costs would be passed along to consumers. Corn growers say expanding access to E-15 would increase demand for corn by 23 million bushels and provide a 140-million dollar boost to the economy.

(Radio Iowa) – The state’s biofuel industry is urging Iowa lawmakers to take action on an ethanol bill that has stalled in the legislature. Earlier this year, Governor Kim Reynolds proposed requiring gas stations and convenience stores to offer E-15, the fuel with a 15 percent blend of ethanol. Supporters of the concept in the legislature have crafted a bill that requires E-15 access at every fueling station in Iowa by 2028. The bill hasn’t passed the full House or the Senate.

The Iowa Corn Growers and Iowa Ethanol Producers Associations along with ethanol plant operators Growth Energy and POET have issued a joint statement, saying every Iowa driver should have the freedom to choose E-15. According to the group’s calculations, increased availability and use of E-15 would save Iowa drivers 72 million dollars a year on fuel costs.

FuelIowa, a group representing the state’s fuel industry, says the mandate will eliminate choice and the cost of installing new gas pumps will raise prices for consumers.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – There’s some concern about the slow seed development for corn that’s already planted due to the recent cooler conditions. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Crops Specialist, Joel DeJong, covers northwest Iowa. He says some fields have been planted for three weeks. “We had a really nice spell the first five or six days of April where it was nice and warm every day, and everybody got jumpy and itchy about getting some fieldwork done,” DeJong says. “Not many people planted, but a few people did and we haven’t had enough growing degree days since then to actually get any of those seeds out of the ground. Right now they are still below the surface.”

He says the worry is the seeds will never come up. “The longer it is in the ground before emerging does create higher risk, and sometimes it is a negative thing,” according to DeJong. “We might’ve been dry enough that perhaps it didn’t cause a big risk for us. It’s a watch and see thing,” he says. Dejong recently got into a field and check the seed in the ground. “It was about a quarter-inch shoot on it. So it has not moved very much. It’s still got almost two inches before it hits the surface. We’ve got a long way to go before we are going to see those crops — unless it stays really warm every day — then we might see it go quicker,” DeJong says.

He says there weren’t any other problems he noticed other than the lack of growth. “The few seeds that I dug out of the thousands that are out there — they all looked good – so hopefully the rest are looking good and hanging in there,” DeJong says. DeJong says farmers are still within the window of opportunity for ideal crop development with maximum yields, but he says we do need some warmer weather.

The weekly crop condition report out Monday showed farmers statewide have planted 20 percent of their intended corn crop.

(Radio Iowa) – Snow and cold didn’t keep all farmers from pulling out the planter last week. The weekly U-S-D-A crop report shows despite the weather delays 20 percent of Iowa’s corn crop has been planted — that’s one day behind the five-year average. Last week’s report showed just four percent of the corn in the ground.

Some farmers did plant soybeans this past week and six percent of that crop is now planted — that’s three days ahead of normal. There were only scattered reports of beans planted in the previous report.

(Radio Iowa) – Temperatures are predicted to warm up this week after a couple of hard frost nights last week. Iowa State University horticulture specialist, Cindy Haynes, says most plants will probably recover from the cold snaps. “Some things that were hit by a really hard freeze — like temperatures in the 20s — you might see a little bit of damage on the new tip growth or the flowers. That might impact things that are supposed to fruit, like fruit trees. But most things, it’s not going to impact,” Haynes says.

The plant damage depends on where you live. She says northern Iowa was a little colder and there may be more damage there than in central and southern Iowa as temperatures there only dropped into the 30s. If you’re itching to get out and plant your garden — Haynes says don’t let the warm temperatures fool you. “Most of the warm season crops like tomatoes and peppers should not really be planted outside until early to mid May. Early may maybe in southern Iowa and more mid-May for northern Iowa,” according to Haynes.

She says one date usually signals things are safe from a late frost. “After Mother’s Day it’s usually pretty safe to plant those outside,” she says. Haynes says everyone has been anxious to get outside — but the recent up and down weather patterns should be a good reminder that temperatures can change a lot this time of year. “It’s actually been a pretty nice spring for most flowering things — because we’ve had the daffodils longer than normal. So, enjoy what’ here now, because it could change tomorrow,” Haynes says.

Haynes says some people may have already gotten their tomatoes and pepper plants and are just itching to get them in the ground.

(Radio Iowa) – More than 50 agricultural groups, including the American Farm Bureau, are backing a measure now before the U-S Senate called the Growing Climate Solutions Act. Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman says it’s solid legislation that will help farmers to address climate change.  “It is designed to lead us to real changes on the ground so that farmers can use climate-smart practices,” Lehman says, “and have some assurances that they’re going to be rewarded for those practices.”

Lehman says the bill calls for a U-S-D-A-led certification program to assist farmers and ranchers in identifying reliable carbon credit programs. “It’s extremely important to know we have reliable partners in this,” he says. “If we have uncertainty about who farmers can work with reliably, that will set us back years in trying to develop this process.” At least 17 Republicans have joined 17 Democrats in signing onto the legislation. Lehman says having bipartisan backing is essential in getting anything accomplished. “Congress is fairly evenly divided and really, to pass good legislation regarding climate change, you have to have broad support both in agriculture as a whole, and when your talking about individual representatives and senators.”

A companion measure is being introduced in the House.