After more than a decade of displaying an extensive collection of tractors, trucks, farm machinery and more, the owners of the Farmall Land USA Museum, near Avoca, are retiring. Jerry and Joyce Mez own and operate the museum. They plan to close the doors near the end of the harvest season, in late September. The museum, which started out as an Avoca implement dealership that was purchase by Jerry’s father Max, in 1943, has more than 225 pieces in the collection, including various ag-related toys and advertising.

Picture via KNOD

The museum will open for the season on April 4th. Its last day of operation is September 27th. Farmall Land USA…located on Highway 59, north of Avoca near Interstate 80… is open Tuesday-Saturday 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday from noon to 5.

The Washington G.E.M. 4H Club (in Cass County, IA) is turning 100 years old this year (2020)!  Spokesperson Melanie Petty says the current club, which consists of 23 members, has been busy planning ways to celebrate the milestone.  More information will be made available in the coming months.  Petty says “Right now the club would like to get the word out to all past members with the help of the public.  If you are a past member [of the Washington G.E.M Club] or know of a past member, please contact LaNette Freund at 712-254-2572 or Melanie Petty at 712-249-3696.”

Washington G.E.M. will have a table set up at the 4H Endowment Pancake Supper that takes place tomorrow (Thursday, March 5th) from 5-7:30pm at the Cass County Community Building, to gather member information.

(9-a.m. News, 3/4/20)

w/Kate Olson.

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WASHINGTON, Mar. 2, 2020 — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has designated Taylor County, Iowa, as a primary natural disaster area. Producers who suffered losses due to excessive rain, flash flooding, flooding, and high winds that occurred March 1, 2019, through June 15, 2019, may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans. The natural disaster designation allows FSA to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.

Producers in the contiguous Iowa counties of Adams, Montgomery, Page, Ringgold, and Union, along with Nodaway and Worth counties in Missouri, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans. The deadline to apply for the emergency loans is Oct. 19, 2020. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

FSA has a variety of additional programs to help farmers recover from the impacts of this disaster. FSA programs that do not require a disaster declaration include: Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program; Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; and the Tree Assistance Program.

Farmers may contact their local USDA service center for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at farmers.gov/recover.

(Radio Iowa) — Researchers say tiny pieces of plastic are polluting the shores of some northwest Iowa beaches. Students at Buena Vista University teamed up with Storm Lake High School students to collect baggies of sand along three of the city’s beaches. They found small chunks of tires, fleece threads and parking lot paint mixed in the sand. B-V-U senior Mel Graf says their findings really bring home the environmental issue. “When we go walking on those beaches, we’re walking on sand but we’re also walking on microplastics, we’re walking on pollution,” Graf says. “Hopefully that’s something we can start to figure out ways to go about fixing.”

B-V-U environmental science professor Ben Maas says this is just the first in a series of planned studies of microplastics pollution. “We don’t really know where it is going,” Maas says. “Is it getting deposited in the lake itself, or the mud, the lake bed, or is it getting deposited on the beaches?” One big concern about microplastics is that they can harm marine life that ingest them.

Researchers hope to look more into how far this pollution goes, by studying more beaches and even the water itself.

(Reporting by Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) — Local governments in northwest Iowa are discussing an agreement that would launch a study of the entire Iowa Great Lakes watershed. Milford Mayor Steve Anderson says Lower Gar Lake is on the state list of “impaired” waters due to the amount of algae bloom and the level of turbidity or cloudiness of the water. “It’s due to the sediments that keep building up in Lower Gar Lake and those sediments during low water times are causing issues,” he says. “I know there are navigation concerns and what not, but when you look at it from a water quality standpoint that’s what’s causing algae blooms, that’s what’s causing water quality concerns of that lake.”

Lower Gar covers 250 acres and is the lowest lake in the Iowa Great Lakes chain. Anderson says Iowa State University professors conducted a study of the Great Lakes watershed in the 1970s and that really helped push things forward. “The reason why we see water quality in East (Okoboji) Lake like we do today versus what we saw in the ’60s is because of that study,” Anderson says. Seven major lakes lie within the watershed, including West and East Okoboji as well as Big Spirit Lake. The I-S-U study concluded each of the lakes was overly enriched with minerals and nutrients. Anderson says it’s time to take steps to slow down or contain sedimentation in Lower Gar — because that lake has an impact on the other six in the chain.

“Part of this is putting together a coalition, this resolution of the cities and the lake associations with DNR to put a coalition together to keep focus on what we can do to get Lower Gar off the impaired waters list,” Anderson says, “and if we can do that, that means we’ve fixed the rest of the lake systems.” Anderson is sending a letter from the City of Milford to other cities in the Iowa Great Lakes Watershed, hoping to get all parties to express their support of a study. The Iowa Great Lakes were carved out by glaciers and among the 34 “natural” lakes in the state. The other 65 percent of Iowa lakes were constructed by humans.

WATERLOO, Iowa (The Des Moines Register) — Deere & Co. plans to lay off 42 workers in Waterloo — the latest round of layoffs in the state the farm equipment maker has announced in recent months. The Des Moines Register reports that the company told Waterloo workers Friday that the layoffs will take effect May 4.

It would be the fifth round of layoffs at Iowa offices and plants since November, including 113 workers in Davenport in November, 23 Des Moines workers in December, and 57 more workers in Davenport in January. The company also announced earlier this month that 105 Dubuque workers will be laid off in April.

The Cass County Local Food Policy Council and Cass County ISU Extension encourage those considering vending at Cass County farmers markets in 2020 to attend the Farmers Market Pre-Season Vendor Workshop. The free workshop will be held at the Cass County Community Center on March 16 from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM.

The pre-season workshop has been designed to cover topics of interest to both experienced vendors and those just starting to consider participating in farmers markets. Experts in the areas of food safety and market licensing requirements, farmers market insurance, and resources from the Iowa Department of Ag and Land Stewardship will present at the workshop.

During the last 30 minutes of the workshop vendor information will be provided for Cass County Farmers Markets, including the Anita Farmers Market, the Atlantic Farmers Market, and Produce in the Park.

While there is no cost to attend, those interested in attending the workshop are asked to RSVP by March 15 to Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at 712-249-5870 or by email at bhoegh@iastate.edu, or to the County Extension Office at 712-243-1132.

The Audubon County Board of Supervisors this week, approved $200,000 in future TIF (Tax Increment Financing) funds to be used for T-Bone Trail maintenance and resurfacing. Their action on Tuesday, allows the Audubon County Conservation Board to obtain matching funds.

Officials say while the trail in Audubon County is currently in good shape, the funds will help keep it from falling into disrepair. The 21-mile long T-Bone Trail mostly parallels Highway 71, and extends from the City of Audubon south into Cass County.

w/Kate Olson.

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