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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!
You’re invited to join Cass County Conservation (CCC) Staff at Atlantic’s Schildberg Recreation Area- Lake number 4 on Saturday, January 9th, for “Soiree with the Swans.” CCC Staff will be giving ten-minute presentations regarding the Trumpeter Swans every half-hour beginning at 11:00 a.m., with the last one being presented at 2:00 p.m. There will also be time to view the swans through spotting scopes and witness random swan feeding sessions.
Hot chocolate, cookies, and other snacks will be provided free of charge with donations being accepted (for swan care). The Schildberg Recreation Area is located on the northwest edge of Atlantic, Lake 4 is on the north side of Highway 83. Atlantic is celebrating 21 winters of the Trumpeter Swans wintering here.
IF THE WEATHER IS “BAD” OR THE SWANS ARE NOT AT THE PARK…the program will be CANCELLED. This event is being sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board, Atlantic Parks and Recreation, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa has moderate vulnerability to the health impacts of climate change, according to a study from a non-profit, non-partisan health policy, research and advocacy group. Matt McKillop, senior researcher at Trust for America’s Health, says the report found many states are woefully unprepared to protect their residents. “Iowa is in the middle of the pack,” McKillop says, “both from the standpoint of its level of vulnerability and the extent to which it is prepared for the public health impacts of climate change.”
McKillop says climate change is not something looming in the distant future — it’s already here and is a current threat to the health of people in all 50 states. While Iowa is less vulnerable than many other places, he says there are still concerns here. “The impact that residents feel from flooding stood out to us as something the state has to continuously work to prioritize and prepare for,” McKillop says, “and the state has taken a number of steps related to identifying threats that will be felt most acutely in the populations and communities at highest risk.”
The report says Iowa has not laid out specifics on how any intervention methods could be put in place to keep people safe. That’s an area of improvement McKillop says state leaders should focus on. In addition to the derecho that hit Iowa with winds up to 140 miles an hour in August, he notes wide sections of the state were also suffering from drought – both of which likely stem from climate change. “Certainly the extreme heat is a major threat from climate change. That is something that Iowa needs to focus on,” McKillop says. “Other types of impacts include record-breaking storms and wildfires as well as mental illness that can come from these impacts.”
The full report, “Climate Change & Health: Assessing State Preparedness,” is online at https://www.tfah.org/
(Atlantic) – The Cass County Conservation Board (CCCB) is holding a 120 Hours Outdoor Challenge all year long in 2021. The program starts January 1st, 2021 and concludes Jan. 1st, 2022. Explore the natural features Cass county has to offer and more! Outside activities do not have to be done in Cass county, but participants need to be Cass county residents to sign up.
The CCCB encourages you to explore Nature by hiking, birding, walking, but also through meditation or sitting in spots outside. Everything you do outside counts! Why 120 hours? There are studies that show benefits to spending around 2-3 hours outside per week. These benefits include lowering stress levels, decreasing blood pressure, and boosting mental health.
To register, call 769-2372, email to sign up lkanning@casscoia.us, or visit Cass County Conservation on Facebook to register via google form. Please register each person in your household individually, entering the same email for multiple individuals if needed. After you register, you will be emailed a time tracking sheet for each person you’ve registered.
Individuals who reach milestones of 30, 60, 90, and/or 120 hours will be entered into drawings for prizes over the course of the year. In order to be entered for prizes, a photo of your tracker is due on the check-in dates of May 1, September 1, and Jan 1, 2022. Photos of progress at these dates should be emailed to lkanning@casscoia.us. All three check-ins must be completed for grand prize!
Follow Cass County Conservation on social media (Facebook and Instagram @CassCCBIA) for ideas about how to get your house outside every week. You may also use #120hrsCassCoIA as a hashtag for your adventures.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. farmers are expected to end the year with higher profits than last year and the best net farm income in seven years thanks to the government paying nearly 40% of their income. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest farm income forecast. Farmer challenges in 2020 included the impact of trade disputes, drought and wind damage, and low prices for corn, cotton, wheat, chicken, cattle and hogs.
Farm cash receipts are forecast to be the lowest in more than a decade. But farmers are expected to receive $46.5 billion from the U.S. government. That’s the largest direct-to-farm payment ever. It lifts net farm income to $119.6 billion. And that’s the highest profitability since 2013.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state House ethics committee has dismissed an ethics complaint against a Scott County lawmaker. The panel found on Tuesday that a complaint against Republican state Rep. Ross Paustian of Walcott did not meet content requirements and did not warrant further investigation. The panel voted unanimously with little discussion.
The Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund had argued that Paustian, a crop and livestock farmer, used his position as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee to block legislation to strengthen regulation of livestock confinement operations.
They alleged Paustian also promoted support for legislation that protects factory farms. Paustian called the ethics complaint a “political stunt” by a “rogue group.”
(Radio Iowa) – The recently released Iowa State University Land Value Survey found a modest one-point-seven percent statewide increase in the value of farmland. Survey leader Wendong Zhang says one of the factors in the increase is the lack of available land. He says when you look at ownership — half of the land is owned by the same owner for more than 20 years. “So, it stays in the family for a fairly long time,” Zhang says.
He says land that is sold often is bought by someone who lives nearby. “Even when it comes to transfer, it tends to be sold to local existing farmers, if it ever goes to the market. Another channel would be a will or gift or sale within the family,” he says.
That average price of an acre of ground in the survey this year was seven-thousand-559 dollars ($7,559).
(Radio Iowa) – Two-thirds of Iowa counties are considered to be abnormally dry or in some stage of drought, with far northwest Iowa the driest of all. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says that makes this month’s snowfall particularly welcome. “We had precipitation deficits starting to stack up in western Iowa, especially west central Iowa, going back last fall and then drying creeping into much of western Iowa moving into April, May and especially June, where we saw drought conditions expand across western Iowa,” Glisan says.
The lack of adequate subsoil moisture is a remarkable turn-around after recording flooding just a couple of years ago in several areas. “2018 was the second-wettest year on record. 2019 was the 12th wettest year on record,” Glisan says. “You put those two years together — the wettest two-year stretch for the state of Iowa going back 148 years.” Having snow drifts stick around for a while would be a good thing, according to Glisan, because it may help replenish moisture levels. “But of course drier soils freeze faster and they’ll freeze deeper,” Glisan says, “so we don’t want a really deep freeze in the subsoil because that will act like a concrete layer, no water infiltration getting into that deeper soil.”
The National Weather Service forecasts indicate more than half a foot of snow may fall in some areas of the state today (Tuesday).
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of the Tyson Foods managers fired for betting on how many workers would contract COVID-19 at their Iowa pork plant says the office pool was spontaneous and intended to boost morale. Don Merschbrock, former night manager at the plant in Waterloo, Iowa, said he was speaking out in an attempt to show that the seven fired supervisors are “not the evil people” that Tyson has portrayed.
Tyson announced the terminations of the Waterloo managers on Dec. 16, weeks after the betting allegation surfaced in wrongful death lawsuits filed by the families of four workers who died of COVID-19.
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