On Wednesday, February 6th, 2019, 21 members of the Atlantic FFA chapter competed in the Sub District Career Development Events with three advancing to District FFA Convention. FFA member Carli Henderson competed in the Job Interview category placing 1st earning a Gold and advancing to Districts. Tyler Comes competed in Extemporaneous Speaking earning a Silver placing 3rd and advancing to Districts. Bryan York competed in the FFA Creed Speaking CDE placing 3rd earning a Gold and advancing to Districts. Katie York competed in the Public Speaking CDE placing 4th earning a Silver and will be the alternate to Districts. Tate Den Beste competed in Ag Broadcasting earning a Silver placed 5th.

Bryan York FFA Creed

Tate Den Beste Ag Broadcasting

Katie York Public Speaking

Tyler Comes Extempt

Carli Henderson Job Interview

The Conduct of meetings team of Garrett Reynolds, Alyssa Derby, Skyler Handlos, Aspen Niklasen, Drey Newell, Taylor McCreedy, and Hannah Carlson placed 5th earning a Silver. Craig Becker competed in the Ag Sales CDE placing 5th earning a Silver. In the Farm Business Management Test Atlantic FFA had 2 members compete, Nathan Behrends and Drey Newell. Behrends placed 1st and Newell was 2nd.

In the FFA Freshman Greenhand Quiz, Atlantic FFA had 9 members participate. Andrew Engler placed 1st overall, Bryan York placed 8th and Aspen Niklasen placed 9th. Cooper Jipsen, Drew Skartvedt, Logan Eilts, Malena Woodward, Torie Steinhoff and Wyatt Redinbaugh also competed in the test and all placed with a Gold or Silver rating.

FFA advisor Eric Miller commented, “I was proud of all the hard work each member put into preparing for their event.”

Atlantic FFA Director Eric Miller reports that on February 6th 2019, six members of the Atlantic FFA Chapter participated in a variety of events at the Southwest District FFA Review night at Boyer Valley High School. Tyler Comes and Nathan Behrends had their Iowa FFA Degrees reviewed by a team of FFA Advisors. In order to receive this prestigious awards, FFA members must complete all of the following: be an FFA member for two years, complete two years of high school, invested at least $1,500 in their SAE or 300 hours in excess to class time work or a combo of the two.  Recipients must have committed 25 years to community service, performed 10 procedures of parliamentary procedure, given a six-minute speech relating to agriculture, served as an officer or other satisfactory position held by chapter, and had a strong enough school record, as deemed by their superintendent or principal. Both Comes and Behrends applications passed and they will receive their Iowa FFA Degree during the final session at the Iowa FFA Leadership Conference at Ames in April.

Tyler Comes and Taylor McCreedy applied for FFA Proficiency awards this year. Tyler’s proficiency area of Beef Production – Entrepreneurship earned a Gold and advanced to State. Tyler has a cow calf operation that he began in 8th grade and has continued throughout high school. Taylor’s Equine Science – Entrepreneurship earned a Silver and also advanced to State. Taylor has taken her love of animals and turned her passion into an opportunity to work with others as she trainers horses. Proficiency Award nominees have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Programs. These awards encourage members to develop specialized skills that will apply toward a future career. The district winners will advance to the State FFA competition where they will compete against winners from the other FFA Districts in Iowa.

The last part of Review Night is the District FFA Officer Interviews. This year Atlantic FFA had 3 members apply for the 2019-20 District FFA Officer team. Juniors Adriana Mendez, Corri Pelzer, and Tate Den Beste began the night with an FFA knowledge test. After waiting in the holding room with other candidates from various schools. The candidates then had an individual interview with the seven member nominating committee. The committee asked each candidate a few questions. Then the candidates had a one on one interview with four members of the committee. Each one-on-one interview was only one minute, so the candidate had to think on their feet.

After all the candidates were done the committee met and selected the ballot for the 2019 District FFA Convention. Adriana Mendez was balloted for the District FFA Reporter and Corri Pelzer was balloted for the District Sentinel. Adriana and Corri will each give a speech and answer 2 questions in front of the District FFA Delegates on Saturday March 2nd in Glenwood.

FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of two men accused of stealing around 150 pigs in northern Iowa has been sentenced. Winnebago County District Court records say 21-year-old Robert Morales, of Thompson, Iowa, on Tuesday was given 10 years in prison, suspended, and five years of probation and fined $1,000. He also was ordered to make restitution of nearly $22,000.

The pigs were reported stolen Nov. 4, 2017, from a Christensen Farms operation near Lake Mills. The other man charged, 35-year-old David Cortez Jr., has pleaded not guilty to theft and burglary. His trial is scheduled to begin April 10.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is appealing the district court ruling that threw out Iowa’s Ag Protection Fraud Law, the so-called “ag gag” law. Drew Mogler, public policy director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, says his organization thinks the state has an excellent argument to protect farmers from imposters and intruders from animal rights groups.

“When we look at some of the pressures our industry is facing with foreign animal diseases in other countries,” Mogler says, “I think we’re all aware of the issue of African swine fever moving around lots of countries in Asia, biosecurity and protecting biosecurity in this state is definitely in the state’s interest.”

Mogler says the state’s livestock producers need to be shielded from activists’ attacks, including the use of undercover videos on farms and ranches. “This law is designed to protect farmers from folks who are really driving an agenda to end meat production and meat consumption in this state and in this country,” Mogler says. “Farmers deserve that protection because they’re caring for their animals each and every day.”

Mogler says if the court of appeals rules in favor of the state, then the ag-gag law will be reinstated. “If this appeal gets overturned in the Eighth Circuit, then the Ag Protection Fraud Law is back on the books here in the state of Iowa,” he says, “and producers will have protection under that statute.”

Mogler says those who challenged the Iowa law originally claimed it was a violation of free speech rights, but he says that wasn’t the intention of the law, as it aimed to protect ag operations.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The nation’s farmers are struggling to pay back their loans after years of low crop prices, with nearly one out of five loans in a government farm program now delinquent for the worst January default rate in at least nine years. The bulk of the nation’s agricultural loans typically come due around Jan. 1 for seasonal and tax planning purposes. Figures recently compiled show an overall jump nationwide in delinquencies for producers with direct loans from the Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency. David Schemm, executive director of the Kansas Farm Service Agency, says 19.4 percent of FSA direct loans nationwide were delinquent in January, compared to 16.5 percent the same month a year ago.

(Radio Iowa) — It’s the snowiest February on record for several Iowa communities and it’s been a harsh winter, especially for wildlife. Todd Bogenschutz, an upland wildlife research biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says snowfall — just this month — equals what we often get from December through March. There were some warm-ups, he says, but not enough.

“We just melted the snow that was there but we didn’t melt it to the ground and then it got cold with the blizzard on top of it,” Bogenschutz says. “It turned it to ice and then we got the new snow on top, making it very difficult for the birds to dig through that now to get down to any waste grain on the ground.” Pheasant and quail populations will most certainly take a tumble this winter, he says, as it’s difficult for them to survive in these unforgiving conditions.

“The birds that have made it through now are relegated to eat what they can find above the frozen layer,” Bogenschutz says. “They’re probably out there searching but they’re having to go out there a long ways to find a meal.” Pheasant hunting seasons in Iowa run from late October through early January and this past season drew between 50- and 60-thousand hunters.  “Generally, getting the birds, even when they’re abundant, is challenging,” Bogenschutz says. “It seems like when we say the populations are better, we see an increase in hunter numbers and an increase in the harvest. Then, when we say bird numbers are down, it seems to make the hunting even tougher and we see even fewer hunters.”

As the birds scrounge for food farther from their nests, they’re facing longer exposure to the bitter cold, plus, the brown pheasants are against a white background, making them more obvious to predators. “A lot of folks are asking, ‘What can we do for the birds?’ and I say it’s really about providing good habitat. If you’ve got good winter cover and a good food plot, buy it. That’s where we’re going to see our best survival.”

While southwest Iowa has enjoyed a multi-year run of record quail populations, the heavy snow and ice will likely mark an end to that, he says. Bogenschutz predicts significant declines in the pheasant and quail populations this coming year, adding, this is easily the toughest winter in five years.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s cold and snowy winter has been especially difficult on livestock producers, who have often struggled just to reach their animals. State Climatologist Justin Glisan tells The Des Moines Register that Iowa so far has seen a February snowfall average of 21 inches. That’s just short of a record 22.2 inches set in 1962. Rancher Trent Thiele says he had to ride a snowmobile 50 miles Sunday to check on his pigs. He says blowing snow made the trip treacherous.

He says the heavy snow is causing an overwhelming amount of maintenance issues as farmers work to ensure machines in animal facilities are providing fresh air, food and water. Iowa has a $13.6 billion livestock industry and leads the nation in pig and egg production.

w/Kate Olson.

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The Cass County Conservation Board is holding a Snowshoes 101 Program at Cold Springs State Park in Lewis, this Saturday March 2nd at 1pm. The event will be held at the Beach Parking lot. Come out at learn all about snowshoes and try on a pair for yourself! FREE, and all ages welcome. Snow shoe sizes from 5 year olds to adult are available.

And, the Cass County Conservation Board is holding a Bluebird Nest Box Program at the Outdoor Educational Classroom Lodge near Massena, on Saturday March 9th at 4:00 PM. Come out to learn from Iowa Bluebird Conservationist President Chris Parks and you may win a door prize. Learn all about placing a bluebird box, and discussing on how to increase the success of your bluebird box. Discussion will focus on bluebird box design, correct placement, and maintenance practices that will increase the success of your efforts. The event is FREE, and all ages are welcome to attend.

A study finds an early tool of genetic engineering in crops shows benefits beyond its original intent. So-called B-T seeds are engineered with genetics from soil bacteria that kill specific insects. Researchers now say B-T seeds provide additional environmental benefits. Steve Naranjo, with the U-S-D-A Agricultural Research Service, is one of the paper’s authors. Naranjo says, “Because we can now control certain major pest insects in the crop through this gene being expressed in the plant, that eliminates -largely- the need to spray insecticides to do the same job.”

Naranjo cautions that insects are adaptable and can develop resistance to even the best tools, so he suggests farmers use technology alongside crop rotation and other strategies. Iowa State University entomologist Erin Hodgson, who was not involved with the study, says B-T has been fairly successful in corn. “Eventually, over time, I think the insects will win,” Hodgson says. “So, in some cases like corn borer, it’s worked really well. In other cases like corn rootworm, it hasn’t held up as strongly.”

The review of hundreds of studies shows B-T seeds offer protection even to adjoining fields where the seeds haven’t been planted. Globally, B-T crops have been grown on more than one-billion acres.

(Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)