(Radio Iowa) — Iowa’s quail population took the biggest hit of any of the game birds from the tough winter conditions. The annual roadside survey found their populations were down 36 percent from last year. D-N-R wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz says impact was greatest on quail because their range is only across the southern three tiers of counties.

“The got that kind of transition — the got freezing rain, they go sleet, ice several times — and that’s just brutal on quail. Because they are not big enough to get through it and they don’t venture as far as pheasants,” according to Bogenschtuz. “We kind of fully expected that they would take a hit. I was hoping maybe not as much as they did.” He says the number of quail taken last year increased by 45 percent from the previous year. Bogenschutz says the harvest would have been much higher if more hunters had been out.

“We had about 10-thousand quail hunters last year and they shot about 50-thousand quail — which was the highest we’d seen in more than a decade,” Bogenschutz says. “So quail numbers have been good the last four or five years just like pheasants — the highest we’ve seen since the late 90s.” Bogenschutz projects the take would have been as high as a quarter million quail if the hunter numbers had been comparable to the 90’s.

He says there were around 20-thousand quail hunters back then, so there weren’t as many hunters chasing quail last year. Bogenschutz says hunter numbers for pheasant and quail had dropped off during the period when bad weather hurt their populations. And he says they are working to get younger hunters more involved in all types of hunting.

Now through Nov. 1st, Iowa eligible farmers can enroll in the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program, sponsored by Bayer Fund, for a chance to direct a $2,500 donation to a local eligible nonprofit organization of their choice.  Since 2010, the Grow Communities program has awarded more than $33 million to thousands of nonprofits across rural America. In Iowa, $2.8 million has been awarded to a number of nonprofit organizations across the state thanks to the participation of local farmers.

The donations will provide support to a variety of rural nonprofit organizations that have made a positive impact on the health and vibrancy of their local communities, such as food banks, emergency response organizations, community enrichment and youth agriculture programs, among many others. Since its inception in 2010, the Grow Communities program has awarded more than $33 million in donations to thousands of nonprofits nationwide. In Iowa alone, more than 1,150 monetary donations have been made to local nonprofits that positively impact communal well-being in farming communities.

Iowa farmers who are at least 21 years or older and are actively engaged in farming at least 250 acres of any crop can easily enroll in the Grow Communities program now through Nov. 1, 2019. Online enrollment, eligibility information and official rules can be found at www.AmericasFarmers.com or by calling 1-877-267-3332 toll-free. Winning farmers will be announced January 2020.

(Radio Iowa) — Former Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey — now a top administrator in the U-S Department of Agriculture — says farmers “need more assurances” about ethanol, but Northey says he’s unaware of what’s in the “giant package” President Trump is promising farmers. “I know there have been meetings and I know some of the things they have talked about, but I don’t know what’s going to be part of it and certainly we’re all on the edge of seat to be able to look at what it is,” Northey says. “I don’t even know the timing necessarily.”

Trump Thursday, tweeted the ethanol waivers he okayed, saved small oil refineries “from certain closing,” and Trump told farmers to “get ready” for a pro-ethanol move that will make them happy. Northey spoke Thursday at a forum with Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from Des Moines. Axne says the waivers are “unacceptable.” “I think farmers’ patience is wearing thin,” Axne says.

Axne is pressing for the inspector general in the E-P-A to investigate the ethanol waivers. “The president can tweet out whatever he wants to tweet out about his next big thing,” Axne says. “…I am sick and tired of seeing hard-working farmers in Iowa being used as pawns in this administration whether it’s trade negotiation or whether it’s fulfilling the desires of rich shareholders of fossil fuel companies.” Northey says farmers were excited about the prospects of year-round E-15 sales, but that positive Trump Administration move “got lost” when the ethanol waivers were granted, plus farmers are facing weather and market challenges. “There’s as much nervousness around the economics of agriculture as I’ve seen in quite a while,” Northey told reporters.

On Wednesday, Northey attended a forum in La Porte City with Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer, a Democrat from Dubuque. Finkenauer also criticized Trump, saying this is a scary time for agriculture.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is applauding the tentative trade deal reached between the U-S and Japan, calling it a very “welcome development.” Grassley says, “It arrives at a time when farmers are hurting, in need of new market access opportunities and a chance to compete on a level playing field with agriculture all over the globe.” Strengthening ties with Japan, Grassley says, will help to also strengthen the United States’ position while negotiating with China. While only an overview of the agreement with Japan was released by the White House last weekend, Grassley says what he’s heard so far is very encouraging.

Grassley says, “Gaining agricultural market access to the world’s third-largest economy is a big win for President Trump, Iowa farmers and agriculture generally.” It’s possible, according to Grassley, the agreement can be signed without Congressional approval. He calls it “very positive news” and a “significant step” toward securing a comprehensive trade agreement with Japan which he says could benefit all sectors of the U-S economy. Grassley says, “It appears that the Japanese have agreed to provide new access for U.S. dairy, pork, ethanol, beef, wine and wheat in return for the elimination of U.S. tariffs on industrial goods.”

The agreement is expected to be signed at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in late September.

(Radio Iowa) — The air conditioners have been off in many homes and windows open, as we’ve been enjoying mild temperatures in the last several weeks. Iowa State University extension crop specialist, Joel DeJong says things are great for people — but the crops need some more heat to get things growing. “If you go back to the first of May we were 133 growing-degree days behind. In the middle of summer on the best scenarios we are going to add about 25 a day,” according to DeJong. “So under the best scenario you’d say we were probably five to six days behind. If you take a look at average temperatures this time of year — we had a high of 75 and a low of 55 — we’d accumulate 15 per day. So, we’d be closer to ten days behind normal with that.”

He says the soybeans are starting to mature. “We’re seeing pods really starting to fill right now in a lot of these fields. I put a lot of these fields well into the R-Five stage — which means in the top four nodes we’ve got a least one pod with beans at least more than an eighth of an inch long,” De Jong says. “In reality we’re starting to get some size to them and even in some of the later planted fields we are starting to see them get to the R-Six stage where there’s a pod up there with the beans filling the whole length of the pod.”

But the overall progress of the beans has them nowhere near getting ready to turn color. “We’ve still got quite a ways to go on the soybeans, because some years that last week of August you can start to see some of those early varieties start to turn. And I don’t think we are close to seeing any of that in this stage of the game yet,” he says. DeJong says the forecast for cooler than normal temperatures won’t help. “That’s not what we want we want to be at average and maybe slightly above average as we enter the month of September,” DeJong says.

DeJong says in his northwest Iowa area the corn needs more heat to get it to mature before the first hard freeze ends the growing season. “Corn will be okay with adequate water all the way up to 86 degrees high. We’d like to have some of that to kind of get it along and to speed the process — but we don’t see that in the cards,” DeJong says. “Normal frost date is about the 10th of October here. A lot of this corn is not going to be mature until we get to the first of October,” DeJong says.

He says corn in other areas will really have a tough time beating the frost. “Near the Minnesota border, all that June-planted corn right now, a lot of that corn is still in the milk stage. Milk stage tells me it’s going to be well into October before it hits maturity — especially with the forecast,” DeJong says. He expects to see mediocre yields in northwest Iowa for both corn and soybeans.

w/Denny Heflin.  *** Happy retirement Denny! ***

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LACONA, Iowa (AP) — When President Donald Trump ordered tariffs on China that scrambled global grain markets, many U.S. farmers were willing to absorb the financial hit. But the patience of Midwest farmers with a president they mostly supported in 2016 is being newly tested.

The administration has now granted waivers to 31 more oil refineries so they don’t have to blend ethanol into their gasoline. Given that roughly 40% of U.S. corn is processed into ethanol, that’s a fresh blow to producers struggling with low prices and potentially mediocre harvests.

Nebraska farmer Lynn Chrisp, president of the National Corn Growers Association, calls it “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in Illinois Wednesday that Trump will take action to soften the effects, but there are no details.

w/Kate Olson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a virus has killed hundreds of deer in south-central Iowa. The Iowa Natural Resources Department says the outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease is concentrated in and near Warren County. The disease is spread by female midges that feed on the dead animals. The disease causes high fever in deer. The cell membranes in their hearts, lungs and diaphragms weaken and burst. The department says the disease kills animals every year but not usually at the rate of this outbreak.

The disease outbreak remains active until rain disperses the deer, wind disperses the midges or a heavy frost kills them. Experts say epizootic hemorrhagic disease has not been shown to affect people.

(Radio Iowa) — The results of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources survey show there will be plenty of pheasants available when the season opens in October. D-N-R wildlife biologist Todd Bogenschutz, oversees the survey and says the numbers didn’t crater despite some rough winter and spring weather. “Yeah they are down a little — but I think it could have been a lot worse. I think we even had a couple regions that showed a slight uptick,” Bogenschutz says.

The August roadside survey showed an average of 17 pheasants per 30 mile route, down from 21 per route last year. But he says two areas caused the overall average to drop. “The south-central and south-east had a lot of ice down there last year and of course they had an abundance of rain in May. So the counts are way down in those two regions — 40 to 50 percent — and that kind of drove our overall statewide number,” Bogenschutz says. “The rest of the numbers are up a little, down a little, none of them significant.”

The west-central region saw an 18 percent increase in pheasants and the north-central region saw a 14 percent increase. He says seeing the roadside count numbers close to last year is a win for hunters. “Last year was our best year in ten years — so that’s pretty good I think,” Bogenschutz says. The pheasant numbers have been building back up after several years of decline brought on by bad weather. While the birds will be available, he says the hunting conditions are going to make it more difficult to find them. “Because crop planting was so late this year there it’s probably a high likelihood on our opener that most of the crops are going to be standing. And that’s going to make for a tougher opener because bills will have a lot of cropland they will be able to move off to and basically you won’t be able to hunt them,” Bogenschutz explains.

He says acres of standing corn make a great place for birds to hide. “All the birds — especially when the season opens at the end of October — I mean they are using the crop fields as things are maturing they are starting to use them as a food source and are in them anyway. And a little bit of hunting pressure and they are going to figure out quick that’s the place to be so they won’t be bothered,” Bogenschutz says. “I fully expect because of how far behind the planting season was this year we’re going to have a lot of crops the opener.”

He expects hunters to take around 200-thousand roosters again this year — but says that could be much higher if more hunters went out. “Fifteen years ago we had 100-thousand hunters and last year we barely broke 50 (thousand). Our harvest is partly driven by how many guys get out there and chase them. Our hunter numbers have been slowly creeping back up, they had gotten down into the 40-thousand range,” Bogenschutz says. He says the number of birds taken could more than double if more hunters hit the fields. “If we had the hunters we had 15 years ago I think our harvest last year would have been half a million. I think the birds were there,” Bogenschutz says.

The pheasant season will open up on October 26th.