DES MOINES, Iowa (Jan. 21, 2021) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig has extended the deadline for farmers who planted fall cover crops to sign up for a $5 per acre reduction on their 2021 crop insurance premiums. Farmers and landowners now have through January 27 to sign up online at apply.cleanwateriowa.org. Fall 2020 cover crop acres enrolled in other state or federal cover crop cost-share programs are not eligible. Farmers who received prevent plant payments in 2020 are still eligible for the discounted insurance premiums.

The insurance premium reductions will be available for fall-planted cover crops with a spring-planted cash crop. Some insurance policies may be excluded, like Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, or those covered through written agreements. Participants must follow all existing farming practices required by their policy and work with their insurance agents to maintain eligibility. For questions regarding the application process, call 515-281-5851 or email covercropdemo@iowaagriculture.gov.

This is the fourth year the crop insurance discount program is being administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA). Interest in the program continues to grow and new farmers and fields join each year. To date, about 1,700 farmers have enrolled nearly 500,000 acres of cover crops in the program. Farmers are encouraged to visit their local USDA service center offices to learn more about other cost-share funding available to support the implementation of conservation practices.

w/Brandon Scheuring.

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(Radio Iowa) – On the last night of the Trump Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency granted three waivers to oil refiners, exempting them from the obligation to blend corn-based ethanol into fuel. Leaders in the biofuels industry say the last minute waivers flout federal law and recent court rulings. Two of the waivers are for ethanol blending requirements in 2019 and one is for 2018. The Reuters wire service is reporting 45 waiver applications are still on file for review by the Biden Administration.

The president of the Renewable Fuels Association says the industry is hopeful that Biden’s E-P-A will clarify that “this nonsense with giving out these small refinery exemptions is done.”

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An owner of a large pork production company that disproportionately benefited from an Iowa coronavirus aid program donated $25,000 to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ campaign last month. Mary Ann Christensen is a board member of Christensen Farms, one of the nation’s largest family-owned pork producers. The $25,000 campaign donation she gave Reynolds was among the largest that Reynolds received in 2020 and far more than the $1,000 that Christensen gave the governor in 2017.

Christensen Farms received $1.86 million in 2020 through the Iowa Disposal Assistance Program, which was 72% of the pandemic aid awarded in its first rounds. The program reimbursed farmers who euthanized their hogs after COVID-19 disrupted their supply chain.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – An Iowan who served nearly three years in the Trump Administration is heading home. Bill Northey resigned as Iowa Ag Secretary in March of 2018 to become Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “It’ll be different waking up now every day not thinking about all the things we need to do at USDA,” Northey says. “There’s other folks that’ll work on that. Now I can start thinking about what I might do next.”

Northey helped draft the agency’s rules for implementing the 2018 Farm Bill and he helped set up the payments to farmers impacted by trade disputes and the pandemic. “Those were all in addition to the Farm Bill programs and the disaster programs that are there to respond in case of weather programs,” Northey says. Northey oversaw a division of the U-S-D-A with 21-thousand employees, operating out of about three-thousand locations and Northey traveled extensively. He visited U-S-D-A offices in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as well as in 48 of the 50 states — he didn’t make it to Hawaii or Alaska.

Northey says he got to see massive cattle ranches, blackberry farms and other types agriculture he wasn’t familiar with before. “It was very interesting to realize the breadth of agriculture in this country,” Northey says. The biggest surprise for Northey was the intensity of internal agency activity to implement and support U-S-D-A programs. Northey cites the pandemic relief fund as an example.

As the former state ag secretary exits the U-S-D-A, a former Iowa governor is returning. Tom Vilsack served as President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture for eight years. “It’s really nice to have somebody who knows how the place works and probably has had a little bit of time to think about what he might want to do the next time around, if there was a next time around,” Northey says, “so he’ll hit the ground running.” Northey says he has no idea if his service in the Trump Administration will impact his future prospects.

“It’s kind of interesting in my time in Washington, D.C., sometimes I almost felt farther from politics than I did when I was secretary of ag in Iowa,” Northey says. “There I need to keep track of it when I was out and around. When I got out and around as Under Secretary of USDA, they just asked me about programs.” Northey says he paid less attention to politics — and to Twitter — than he had during his 11 year tenure as state agriculture secretary and he had no comment on Trump’s actions on January 6th.

“I’m probably not the best person to understand either the pieces that happened or the consequences of those,” Northey says. “We’ll see what time brings.” Northey was in the U.S.D.A’s D.C. office building when rioters breached the U.S. Capitol. Northey says the building is at the opposite end of the National Mall from the Capitol and he never felt threatened. Northey’s sister and brother-in-law took over his farming operation near Spirit Lake when Northey left for D.C. in 2018. Northey and his wife are moving back to a townhouse in the Des Moines area with a U-Haul this weekend. Northey says he’s not coming back to retire.

“Not ready to rock on a front porch some place,” Northey says. “Certainly interested in being able to do some other things and we’ll figure those out.” Northey, who is 61, graduated from Iowa State University with an agri-business degree and earned an M-B-A from Southwest Minnesota State. Northey served as president of the National Corn Growers Association in the mid-1990s and won his first term as Iowa Secretary of Agriculture in 2006.

(Radio Iowa) – The world’s third-richest man is now reportedly the biggest farmland owner in America and he’s also among the largest in Iowa. Billionaire Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, now holds claim on some 269-thousand acres of land across the country, including 242-thousand acres of farmland in 19 states. A story in The Land Report magazine says Gates owns more than 500 acres of farmland in Iowa, though most of his tracts are in Arkansas and Louisiana.

The most expensive purchase was reportedly of 14-thousand-500 acres in Washington state for almost 171-million dollars. Not a biggie for Gates though, as his net worth is pegged at 132-billion.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa is among the top states when it comes to the number of organic farms in operation, but producers have long struggled to obtain crop insurance that can better protect them from losses. A new initiative aims to help close these gaps. Last summer’s derecho storm left many Iowa farm fields flattened. Kate Hansen, policy assistant at the Center for Rural Affairs, said these situations can be especially devastating for small to mid-size producers who don’t have the right crop insurance that can soften the blow. She noted about a decade ago, when more organic farms came into existence, there weren’t many coverage plans that matched up with their products. But that’s changed.  “Now, there are over 80 certified organic crops that can be insured at higher organic prices,” Hansen explained. “And so, they’re just kind of more effectively insuring what they have out there in the field.”

Ripe carrots growing in soil, closeup with space for text. Organic farming

Despite the expansion of coverage, Hansen acknowledged there’s still a disconnect in getting these farmers and ranchers to navigate newer plans. That leaves many organic crops under-protected. Her group is out with a new resource guide that covers everything from contract prices to the claims process. The guide also features feedback from crop-insurance agents across the Midwest. Joshua Manske, an Iowa-based agent, said with the effects of climate change resulting in more extreme weather events, making connections with these producers can mitigate a lot of trouble. “You know, I can’t imagine somebody who’s dreamed of farming their whole life, and worked hard every single day of their life to be able to do what they love… and some sort of event comes along and wipes out your crop,” Manske remarked.

Hansen added helping these producers with the process not only reduces the effects they can feel from such an event, but can also benefit their communities.  “Small family operations are sort of the backbone of rural communities,” Hansen maintained. “And crop insurance is a way to help them continue farming next year if they have a really bad year.” According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Iowa had nearly 800 organic farms in 2019. That ranks the Hawkeye State sixth in the nation.

Meanwhile, the deadline to purchase insurance for most spring crops is March 15.

(Mike Moen/Iowa News Service)

The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will meet Monday evening, via Zoom, beginning at 5:15.  On the agenda, is action on, updates and-or new business, with regard to:

• The Dog Park (an update)
• Native Landscaping
•  Schildberg Rec Area signage
• Campground Registration
• Shelter Reservations
• Playground Inspections
• and Eagle Scout Bluebird Houses Project.

In his report to the Board, Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen will talk about:

• Walkability Maps
• Winter Recreation
• Recreation Equipment
• and continued parks maintenance matters.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The federal government faces a second lawsuit over flooding along the Missouri River after it was ordered last month to pay some landowners for damages. R. Dan Boulware, of the Polsinelli law firm, filed the new class-action lawsuit on behalf of 60 plaintiffs who experienced damages during flooding in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014. The St. Joseph News-Press reports that Boulware successfully argued in the earlier case that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers knowingly flooded some farmland when it made changes to protect endangered species.

Boulware currently is waiting for the class-action lawsuit to be certified. If that occurs there could be additional plaintiffs added to the case. He estimates that the current claim of damages exceeds $50 million.