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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!
(Radio Iowa) — Farmers saw one of the driest weeks so far in the harvest season and they were able to get a lot done. The U-S-D-A crop report says there were five days suitable for fieldwork last week. The corn harvest more than doubled with 15 percent of the corn now out of the fields — compared to seven percent last week. That is still 11 days behind the average harvest. The biggest gain came in the soybean harvest — which went from 17 percent to 48 percent harvested in the last week. That is now four days ahead of last year and five days behind average. The corn condition is rated 66 percent good to excellent — with the soybeans rated at 65 percent good to excellent.
A University of Iowa professor who’s done extensive research on farmer suicide is applauding proposed new legislation in Congress to address the worsening issue. Corinne Peek-Asa, a U-I professor of occupational and environmental health, says she and her team studied a wealth of federal data and found suicide rates were 45-percent higher for people in rural areas, and farmers stood out as having even higher rates compared to the general population. “We looked at specifically Midwestern states and we found that between 1992 and 2010, some 230 farmers died from suicide,” Peek-Asa says. “When we look overall at the workforce and at work-related suicides, we see that’s three times the national average.”
Unlike someone who works in a bank, Peek-Asa says a farmer’s work is much more closely tied to their lives, making it harder to put stress away or to keep one’s work and personal lives separate. Peek-Asa says, “When we look at those circumstances in Iowa farmers, we do see that things like financial stress, personal isolation, symptoms of feeling anxious and depressed are things that we see in the review of cases of farmer suicides.”
One of the biggest challenges in suicide prevention, she says, is the stigma of talking about the topic, worries about seeking mental health care in general, and the availablity of such care in rural areas. “One of the pieces the legislation has written into it is a public campaign to talk about this issue, to bring it more into the light and to try to reduce the barriers to recognizing that it is okay, that there are stresses associated with farming,” Peek-Asa says. “I think that’s a very important component of the bill.”
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is one of the two primary co-sponsors of the bill, called of the Seeding Rural Resilience Act. A news release from Grassley’s office says the legislation aims to curb the rising rate of farmer suicides through a stress management training program.
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-tester-address-farmer-suicide
The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Board will meet 5:15-p.m. Monday in the City Council’s Chambers, at City Hall. On their agenda is discussion and/or action with regard to:
In his report to the Board, Parks & Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen will talk about efforts to mow while many parks are still saturated, the AMU Well Fields – with regard to seed collecting, and Parks Are Locally Special, or, “PALS.”
The 25th biannual Halloween Hike, will be held on Saturday, October 26th, in Atlantic. As you follow a trail, you will hear “Squeaks, Squawks and Screeches” along the way. The hike begins at at 7:00 p.m., with small groups departing from the Camblin Addition of Sunnyside Park every ten minutes. Kids twelve and under are encouraged to arrive early to get their faces painted! The last group will depart at 8:20 p.m. and all hikers are welcome to enjoy free tasty treats and warm drinks after their hike.
Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning says “It is not our intent to scare or frighten anyone, but to educate and entertain people of all ages!” Pre-registration is required for this FREE event. Please call 712-769-2372 or email lkanning@casscoia.us to make your reservations. If you leave a message please leave name, phone number, how many is in your group and what time you wish to depart on the hike! This hike is sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board.
(Radio Iowa) — It may be harvest season, but Iowa’s chestnut trees don’t have much to offer as a year of wet weather decimated the crop. Tom Wahl of Red Fern Farm in Louisa County has about a thousand chestnut trees which usually produce a lucrative crop on his diverse farm. This year, his chestnut trees produced nothing and a few of his trees, in the wettest soil, died. Wahl is confident things will average out next year. Wahl says, “Typically what chestnuts do when a weather event prevents them from producing a crop one year, they produce a double-crop the following year.”
That won’t quite make his business whole, but it will go a long way. Statewide, the Iowa State University Extension estimates a chestnut harvest of less than one-third normal. Weather events over the past 12 months caused havoc on many of Iowa’s tree crops. Heavy fall rains, an abrupt November freeze, another hard frost after an early thaw and then spring flooding threatened apple, peach and chestnut trees over and over again. Wahl grows dozens of different fruit and nut trees. “We have no chestnut harvest this year,” Wahl says. “We had one, out of approximately 1,000 bearing trees, we had one single tree that had what looked like more-or-less a normal crop on it.”
Wahl says another 15 trees had a few nuts, but most had none. A small number of peach trees in the state also lost almost everything, according to the I-S-U Extension, though many varieties of apples did okay.
(Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Farmers and biofuel industry officials are reacting angrily to a rule released by the Environmental Protection Agency that they say doesn’t uphold a promise President Donald Trump made to fulfill the intent of an ethanol law passed by Congress.
The Trump administration announced Oct. 4 plans to implement a rule requiring oil refineries to replace the ethanol gallons lost through exemptions the EPA has granted to small oil refineries.
The deal farmers say Trump agreed to would add about 1.3 billion gallons (2.5 billion imperial gallons) of waived ethanol back into the fuel supply next year. On Tuesday, the EPA released the proposed rule that would use a different calculation biofuels groups say would replace only 770 million gallons (641 million imperial gallons).
An EPA spokesman says the rule reflects the negotiated agreement.
(By Craig Alan Becker/Atlantic FFA Reporter) — The Atlantic High School welcomed Tyler Comes, Southwest State Vice President, and Carter Wagner, Southwest District Vice President, to a chapter visit on October 4th, 2019. While at the high school, Comes and Wagner lead interactive workshops for the agriculture education classes. Topics included the FFA brand, opportunities, leadership, and decision-making. The officers also talked with the agricultural education instructor, Mr. Miller, about what the future of Atlantic FFA looks like.
During a year of service to the organization, Iowa FFA officers serve as ambassadors for agriculture and the FFA. They travel to FFA chapters throughout the state to connect with members and talk about the many opportunities available to students enrolled in agricultural education. Brett Dreager said, I had a lot of fun. It was fun learning new communication strategies.”
Agricultural education incorporates three aspects of learning. These aspects include the classroom, FFA, and SAE. The classroom provides basic knowledge. FFA develops leadership and personal skills. A Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) provides hands-on learning while working on the job or in an agricultural business. DJ Shepperd, “ I like the workshops. You have to learn to slow down and explain things to people better. We all do not learn the same way. I had a lot of fun”
The Iowa FFA Association is comprised of 242 local chapters, preparing over 15,600 students for future career opportunities. FFA activities and award programs complement instruction in agricultural education by giving students practical experience in the application of agricultural skills and knowledge gained in classes. FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
(By Craig Alan Becker, Atlantic FFA Reporter) — On Thursday October 2, 2019, Atlantic FFA members attended numerous fall contests at Northwest Missouri State University. This year, the chapter had five members compete in the Livestock Evaluation contest, placing 33rd out of 60 teams. In this contest, members had the opportunity to display their agricultural knowledge of various livestock breeds. Those who competed had to place breeding and market classes of beef, swine, and sheep, while also doing three classes of oral reasons. Individually, Malena Woodward placed 40th, Wyatt Redinbaugh placed 94th, Sofia Mendez placed 141st, Kaitlin Jensen placed 182nd, and Kate Oettchen placed 200th out of the 223 contestants from Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. Sofia Mendez said, “I like judging livestock but I didn’t like giving reasons”. Kate Oettechen said “I thought it was really fun. That was a cool experience.”
Taylor MeCreedy and Hannah Carlson competed in the Horse Evaluation contest. The event gave students the opportunity to learn agricultural knowledge and skills in the area of equine science. Competing FFA members evaluated halter and performance equine classes. Taylor placed 5th and Hannah 40th placed out of 90 contestants.
Northwest Soils Team: Kate Oettchen, Sofia Mendez, Malena Woodward, Wyatt Redinbaugh, Kaitlin Jensen
Northwest Horse Team: Taylor McCreedy and Hannah Carlson
Northwest Derby Greenhand test: Alyssa Derby
Northwest Dairy Cattle Team: Jackson McLaren, Dylan Comes, Daniel Freund, Logan Eilts
Northwest Ag Business team (All photos in this series were submitted by the Atlantic FFA)
In the Dairy Cattle Evaluation contest, the chapter placed 1st out of the Iowa teams and 8th overall. The purpose of the District Dairy Cattle CDE is to enable students to develop skills in dairy animal selection and dairy herd management. They evaluated and ranked dairy animals based on visual factors of selection. Daniel Freund placed 11th, Dylan Comes placed 24th, Jackson McLaren placed 40th and Logan Eilts placed 70th out of 100 individuals. Jackson Mclaren said, “I thought it was fun. My favorite part was just trying new things”.
At the Farm Business contest the Atlantic team of Tate Den Beste, Drey Newell, Adriana Mendez, and Gunner Kirchoff placed 1st out of the Iowa teams and 5th overall. Individually Drey was 15th, Tate placed 17th, Gunner placed 18th, and Adriana placed 44th. The contest is designed to stimulate instruction of economic and agricultural business management principles in the secondary agriculture curriculum. These principles include the following: the ability to apply the economic principles and concepts listed in analyzing the farm business and making farm business management decisions, the ability to analyze and select the most appropriate type of farm business organization for a given farm situation, the ability to develop the ability to use records and manage resources for optimum returns to resources.
In the FFA Knowledge test, Atlantic member Alyssa Derby placed 6th out of 132 individuals. The contest consisted of a 100 question written examination covering general FFA knowledge. After the contest, Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller commented, “I was very happy with the results. Each team placed in the top 3 for the Iowa teams. Most of our students use this contest as a way to see if they will be interested in trying this at the State Level for the Iowa FFA Association. ”
(Radio Iowa) — The weather was drier — but the latest U-S-D-A crop report doesn’t show a lot of progress with the harvest. The report says field conditions remained wet and that limited farmers to around three working days last week. Seven percent of the corn crop has been harvested — compared to three percent the week before. It’s still two weeks behind the average harvest. The soybean harvest advanced a little faster — with 17 percent now harvested — compared to five percent last week. That’s still 11 days behind the average.
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