(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa engineering professor says extreme drought poses concerns about water quality as well as the water supply. David Cwiertny is a professor of civil and environmental engineering. “Lots of communities are looking at how they can augment their existing supply or have alternative supplies,” he says, “which is why we really need to take good care of the resources that we have or have impaired supplies that can’t work.” Cwiertny is director of the University of Iowa’s Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination. The center was established in 1987 by the Iowa Groundwater Protection Act.

Des Moines Water Works CEO Ted Corrogan, left, and UI civil and environmental engineering professor David Cwiertny on the Iowa Press set. (Photo courtesy of Iowa PBS.)

“When we have a drought…we still have the same types/amounts of chemicals that we’re putting into that water, but less water there leads to higher concentrations and sometimes greater need for treatment,” Cwiertny says, “which also stresses how water systems need to provide for their communities.” Cwiertny says beyond regional water systems that serve communities and rural residents, 300-thousand Iowans rely solely on a private well for their water.

“Many of those are shallow inside, say, the alluvial plains near rivers and creeks. As those start to dry up, then you have homeowners on their own because those fall outside of most state and federal oversight –needing secure water supplies,” Cwiertny says. “We hear anecdotal tales of residents in northwest Iowa who’ve had their wells run dry and we’re just beginning to think about what that means for the quality and the reliability of well water for private well consumers.”

Cwiertney made his comments during a recent appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – Pottawattamie County officials have hired a private firm to inspect areas where the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would pass through eastern parts of the county. The contract calls for the county-hired inspectors to make sure land is restored to its prior condition and drainage tile systems are repaired and maintained. Supervisor Susan Miller of Carson voted to approve the contract, but suggests it may not go far enough.

Pottawattamie County’s planning and development director says there’s nothing the county can do after recent court decisions blocked other counties’ pipeline ordinances. County Engineer John Rasmussen says he can’t make an estimate on how much wear and tear county roads may sustain during pipeline construction.

Summit has applied for a state permit to build and operate the pipeline, but the Iowa Utilities Board has not indicated when it may decide on the application. The board hosted a public hearing about the project this summer. The hearing started in August and ended in November.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa state parks and forests invite you to enjoy the outdoors and take a hike on January 1, 2024! Visit state parks on your own, or join a guided hike at several parks and forests.  Hikers can expect to be surrounded by the quiet beauty of nature in winter, and experience spectacular views, beautiful settings and the cultural treasures offered by Iowa’s state parks.  Find a First Day Hike near you!

Get 20% off your stay with Promo Code Cabin2024 when you book now for the months of January or February 2024. Enjoy the pristine beauty and outdoor fun of winter in an Iowa state park.

This promo applies to the year-round cabins at:

• Backbone State Park (16 cabins, max occupancy from 4 to 9)
• Black Hawk State Park (1 cabin, max occupancy 11)
• Lake Darling State Park (6 cabins, max occupancy 6)
• Lake Wapello State Park (2 cabins, max occupancy from 6 to 10)
• Pine Lake State Park (4 cabins, max occupancy from 4 to 6)
• Springbrook State Park (1 cabin, max occupancy 14)
• Union Grove State Park (2 cabins, max occupancy 4 )
• Waubonsie State Park (2 cabins, max occupancy from 6 to 12)

Promo code only can be applied for online reservations for January 1 through February 29, 2024. Note that January 1, 2024 is not an allowed arrival date; reservations may have an arrival date before or after that day. Promo code is good only for the state parks listed. Two-night minimum. Last day to make a reservations is February 21, 2024. Rules and fees apply.

(Radio Iowa) – Senate G-O-P Leader Jack Whitver says there’s no consensus among Senate Republicans when it comes to regulating carbon pipelines. “We have some people that believe they need to happen. We have some people that really want to get a bill done to restrict them,” Whitver says. “It’s just really split.”

This past March, the Iowa House passed a bill that would have forced developers to get voluntary access to 90 percent of a carbon pipeline route before the Iowa Utilities Board could trigger eminent domain authority to acquire the rest. That proposal was never considered in the Senate. House Speaker Pat Grassley says prospects in 2024 haven’t changed much.

“I know we are having members that are having conversations with one another, but until we see a shift within this building it’s going to be really hard to move anything forward,” Grassley says. The pipelines have become an issue in the Republican presidential campaign and some state lawmakers have become outspoken critics of the use of eminent domain for the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.

Representative Ken Carlson, a Republican from Onawa, is a retired farmer. “I am one who benefited from ethanol plants, there’s no two ways about it, but I can’t handle the eminent domain thing,” Carlson says. “I just can’t handle that.”

This fall the Iowa Utilities Board held a public hearing on the proposed Summit pipeline that would transport liquefied carbon dioxide through 29 Iowa counties. The board has not indicated when it may decide on Summit’s construction permit. Developers of a pipeline that would take carbon from ethanol plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton to storage in Illinois have said they intend to get voluntary easements for the proposed Wolf pipeline. Navigator cited regulatory hurdles when it announced cancellation of its proposed carbon pipeline.

(Radio Iowa) – The updated Iowa Drought Monitor shows 97 percent of the state is in drought or near-drought conditions. Much of the state is in severe or extreme drought. The area of extreme drought in eastern Iowa goes from the border with Minnesota to the Missouri border. It includes the northeast Iowa cities of Cresco, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids and the areas around Mount Pleasant, Bloomfield and Ottumwa in southeast Iowa. The area of exceptional drought also sweeps through central Iowa and over to Aububon and Cass Counties in western Iowa.

Iowa Drought Monitor map issued on 12/28/23 (Image courtesy of NOAA/NCEI)

There are only three areas of the state that aren’t in some level of drought or exceptionally dry conditions. One area is in the eastern edges of Jackson, Clinton and Scott Counties that abut the Mississippi River. The others are in northwest Iowa in the parts of Plymouth and Woodbury Counties that border the Missouri River as well as where the four corners of Cherokee, O’Brien, Clay and Buena Vista Counties meet.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is third in the country among states for raising and milking goats. Extension Dairy specialist Fred Hall calls goats a gateway livestock enterprise, similar to chickens.  “People have chickens in a little barn on the back side of the property because they can,” he says, “they can afford to buy the hatch eggs and take care of them and they have table eggs and maybe sell it dozens of the neighbors. That’s a gateway to doing something else. Goats are the same thing.”
He says it allows people to get into the milk business at a much lower cost than buying cows.

“You can afford to get started. You can learn sanitation, you can have a healthy quality product. You can make cheese, you can drink the milk, you can make yogurt,” Hall says. Hall says he’s seen the goat gateway lead to bigger things. “I’ve seen several different families start out you know, Dad maybe was a carpenter or whatever. And now they’re milking ten does and you know, it’s a lifestyle for them,” he says.He says goats have another advantage over cows.

“Goat milk has a higher yield. If you are going to use it for cheese, make the cheese from goats’ milk, you’ll have more cheese from goats,” he says. Hall and I-S-U Extension recently held some information sessions for those interested in getting into goat milking.

(Lewis, Iowa) – You’re invited to join the Southwest Iowa Soil Health (SWISH) group for the second meeting of their winter meeting series. The meeting in Atlantic on Jan. 3, 2024 will feature T.J. Kartes with Saddle Butte Ag. T.J. will be talking about how cover crops can fit into every operation. He will discuss how to get started, how to move forward, and when and how to adapt the plan. Come prepared with all your cover crop questions. The event takes place at the Wallace Learning Center at the Armstrong Research and Demonstration Farm near Lewis (53020 Hitchcock Ave.), from 10-a.m. until Noon on Jan. 3rd.

The meeting is free and open to everyone, so feel free to bring guests. Reservations are not required to attend (note that lunch is not provided but light snacks may be available). If you have questions about the SWISH group, please reach out to Aaron Saeugling, ISU Extension and Outreach Field Agronomist for Southwest Iowa, at 712-243-1132 (or e-mail clonz5@iastate.edu) .

DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield has announced that the Agency is hiring two Climate Change Fellows in Iowa to help with the record number of applications from farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses seeking funding for clean energy projects under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). USDA is hiring a total of 40 Climate Change Fellows nationwide.

Greenfield says “Iowa ag producers and small business owners are investing in clean energy systems through the REAP program. Their investments are climate smart and will lower their energy costs. These non-partisan positions will help handle the renewable energy portfolio within Rural Development. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to lower energy costs for Iowans.”

The new positions are being funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, and they are part of the USDA Climate Change Fellows Program, which hires new staff with a range of skills to carry out USDA’s activities to address climate change and find solutions to agricultural challenges, enhance economic growth and create new streams of income for farmers, ranchers and producers.

Three of the new positions will report to USDA Rural Development’s national office. To apply, visit this USA Jobs posting.

Initial appointments may be for up to two years. Additional one-year extensions may be made up to four years. Most states will receive additional funds, announced at a later date, to provide REAP technical assistance in addition to these staffing positions.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Crop Advantage meeting to provide a solid foundation of current, research-based crop production information, will be held Jan. 18, 2024, in Atlantic. The meeting at the Cass County Community Building (805 W. 10th St.) is designed to help crop producers make smart, informed decisions for their farming operation. The event is hosted by ISU Extension and Outreach. Topics are selected for each meeting site pertaining to field and growing conditions in those areas. Visit www.cropadvantage.org for more information and to register.$75 early registration ends at midnight, Jan. 11th. Late, or on-site registration is $100.

Crop Advantage is supported in-part, by an Iowa Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program mini-grant. Other sponsors include the Iowa Corn and Soybean Associations.

The schedule for the Crop Advantage session in Atlantic is as follows:

8:30 Registration opens
8:55 Welcome – Aaron Saeugling, extension field agronomist
9:00 Grain bags in western Iowa: Bagging profit or storing problems? – Tony
Mensing, extension field agricultural engineer (CM)
10:00 Windbreak School: Establishment, management, and renovation – Billy
Beck, extension forestry specialist (SW)
10:50 Break
11:00 Soybean gall midge – Ashley Dean, extension education specialist,
Entomology (PM)
12:00 Lunch (provided)
12:50 Impacts of cereal rye on nitrogen cycling and crop production: Benefits,
challenges, and potential solutions and opportunities – Richard Roth,
extension nitrogen science specialist (NM)
1:50 Growing season 2024: Current conditions, a final 2023 summary, El Niño
implications and climatological outlooks – Justin Glisan, State Climatologist
of Iowa (CM)
2:50 Break
3:00 Crop markets in 2024: Can we get back to normal? – Chad Hart, extension
crop marketing specialist (CM)
4:00 Iowa Private Pesticide Applicator Continuing Instruction Course.
Additional fee applies. Applicators must attend the entire meeting
to receive recertification credit. – Aaron Saeugling, extension field
agronomist
5:00 Meeting adjourns

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa State University Farmland Value survey showed a shift this year in the county with the highest land value. I-S-U’s Rabail Chandio oversees the survey.  “O’Brien [County] was the was the highest value county last year, this year, it has switched to Sioux County, but still in the northwest,” she says. Scott County in eastern Iowa had held the top spot for farmland value for many years before it recently switched to the northwest. Chandio says another shift saw lower quality ground in southern Iowa top the list for increases in dollar value. “Some of the southern counties, although in value (land quality) they are the lowest, they saw the highest increase in land values,” Chandio says. She says the increase in the southern farmland value is tied to uses outside of farming.

“So a lot of demand, investor demand for southern land comes from recreational use from hunting from these kinds of factors. And if you’re going to buy land for hunting, the land quality, the grain prices or the commodity market or the farm sector is not really as big of a factor in your purchase or your pricing of land, ” she says. Chandio says the southern counties have lagged behind other counties in price increases because the normal land value issues don’t impact them as much.

“The northern counties are the rest of the state more so is more affected by the farm environment or the farm economy which is why it’s reacting first,” Chandio says. “But that’s always been the case that the South has a little bit of lag.” Chandio says the purchase of land for recreational uses like hunting hasn’t change the overall profile of land buyers. “The major buyers of farmland still remain the farmers. Last year this number was 68 percent. This number has it has increased even more at 70 percent,” she says. “So 70 percent of all farmland purchases are done by existing farmers, local or relocating. And then 24 percent of the purchases are attributable to investors, which include both local and non local investors.”

Chandio says the investor activity is higher in the southern part of the state and the investors say their primary reasons for buying land are more recreational.