CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A defense lawyer says three Nebraska farmers charged in an organic grain fraud scheme were working under a Missouri businessman who marketed ordinary corn and soybeans as organic. Tom Brennan, James Brennan and Michael Potter are expected to appear this (Friday) afternoon in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to plead guilty to wire fraud. Prosecutors say each received $2.5 million from 2010 to 2017 from sales of corn and soybeans falsely marketed as certified organic.

Potter’s attorney Clarence Mock says the scheme was led by Randy Constant, president of Jericho Solutions, Inc., who bought and sold their crops. Constant, of Chillicothe, Missouri, hasn’t been charged but the investigation is ongoing. Court documents refer to the owner of a company initialed “J.S.” as a co-conspirator. Constant didn’t immediately return phone messages.

The Cass County Conservation Board is asking you…When do you think the first Trumpeter Swans will arrive at the Schildberg Quarry? You can call-in your prediction (by November 12^th) to the Conservation Board at 712-769-2372, leave a message and return phone number if the staff is not in. Duplicate dates will not be allowed. For example, if a caller predicts November 25th, no one else will be allowed to predict that arrival date. So, call anytime until November 12th to make your prediction! One prediction per family, please.

The sponsors of this contest will determine the official arrival of more than 6 trumpeter swans to Lake 4. The winner will receive a Trumpeter Swan 8×10 print from the Cass County Conservation Board. This contest is only for residents of Cass County.

Trumpeter Swans have visited the Schildberg Quarry for, at least, seventeen out of the last eighteen winters. Arrival and departure dates of the swans have been as follows:

1997/1998 December 18 – January 2

1998/1999 Nothing on record

1999/2000 December 25 – February 15

2000/2001 November 23 – March 6

2001/2002 December 25 – February 24

2002/2003 November 23 – March 15

2003/2004 November 26 – March 21

2004/2005 November 25 – March 18

2005/2006 November 17 – March 5

2006/2007 October 30 – March 9

2007/2008 November 22- February 14

2008/2009 November 18- March 12

2009-2010 November 19 – January 5

2010-2011 November 5 – February 10

2011/2012 November 17 – February 21

2012/2013 November 24– March 4

2013/2014 November 12- April 7

2014/2015 November 11- April 6

2015/2016 November 22- March 24

2016/2017 November 19- March 9

2017/2018 November 9- March 20

(Radio Iowa) — Many Iowa growers will be storing — not selling — their soybeans this harvest season, given low commodity prices and troubles with international trade. Iowa State University Extension ag engineer Kris Kohl recommends farmers cool down the storage bin and make sure the moisture level isn’t too high when the beans are harvested. “We need to aerate the bin and get the temperature down to refrigerator temperatures which would be 40-degrees or below,” Kohl says. “Soybeans in general, it’s hard to harvest them when they’re above the 13%.”

For soybeans with a higher moisture content, it’s sometimes best to dry them using natural air and to avoid firing up the heaters. “A lot of people say that soybeans don’t dry like corn or they don’t dry normally,” Kohl says, “but all of the calculations show the rate of speed is what you’d expect it to be.” Precautions need to be taken when drying soybeans. “The really scary thing about soybeans is, being an oil seed, they have a lot of energy in them and if you ever get them to catch fire, they will burn up everything,” Kohl says. “I really encourage people to just use natural air.”

Some growers might want to take their soybeans to a commercial elevator and run them through a corn dryer, but he says the risk of fire is far too great.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Three farmers have agreed to plead guilty to fraudulently marketing non-organic corn and soybeans as certified organic as part of a lengthy, multi-million-dollar scheme. Documents filed in federal court in Iowa show that Tom Brennan, James Brennan and Michael Potter each intend to plead guilty to wire fraud. All three are identified in court papers as farmers from Nebraska, but additional information about them wasn’t immediately available. Their attorneys didn’t immediately reply to phone messages.

Prosecutors allege that the three sold non-organic grains to an Iowa company that marketed them nationwide with an organic label. In particular, they allegedly used unapproved substances such as pesticides and nitrogen to grow the crops. The scheme allegedly lasted from 2010 until 2017 and netted at least $10.8 million.

(Radio Iowa) — Federal officials are considering a plan to move two divisions of the U-S Department of Agriculture out of the nation’s capitol. It could mean Iowa has a shot to become the new home to the Economic Research Service or the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Iowa Rural Development Council executive director Bill Menner says it would be a tremendous lift for the state to land either division, or both. “In my mind, as someone who’s involved in economic development, that makes perfect sense,” Menner says. “The reasons for the decision to want to move the agencies out of Washington D.C. not withstanding, any time you have a chance to find a good fit when you’re looking for businesses and creating jobs, you take advantage of it.”

Menner, who used to work at U-S-D-A Rural Development, says Iowa would be a good fit for both offices and the state’s in a good position to compete. “The resources that exist at Iowa State University and, to some degree, at the University of Iowa are a good fit for what these two agencies do,” Menner says. “Iowa State’s a land grant institution and they have folks who study these things and do this kind of work every day.” He notes, it won’t be a slam-dunk for Iowa. “There would be a number of other states that would also be competitive because they have institutions similar to Iowa State and Iowa and that have strong land grant histories,” Menner says, “but Iowa certainly has to be in the running, if this indeed is going to happen.”

He says the National Animal Disease Center and Veterinary Diagnostic Lab located in Ames are a good demonstration of the fit that exists between Iowa and the U-S-D-A. He says those should be considered in any possible relocation efforts.

w/Kate Olson.

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• KJAN, Atlantic  .53″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .54″
• Elk Horn  .52″
• Massena  1.13″
• Audubon  .55″
• Avoca  1″
• Oakland  .72″
• Corning  .81″
• Villisca  .96″
• Bridgewater  1.3″
• Red Oak  .69″
• Underwood  .67″
• Missouri Valley  .67″
• Clarinda  .89″
• Manning  .55″
• Irwin  .54″
• Carroll  .47″
• Creston  1.26″

(Radio Iowa) — The wet weather slowed the harvest again this week. The latest U-S-D-A report shows there were about two suitable days for fieldwork last week. The corn harvest is now 15 percent complete — which compares to 11 percent last week. The corn harvest got started early — and is still 10 days ahead of last year despite the weather. Southeast Iowa leads the state with 39 percent of its corn harvested. Eighteen percent of the soybeans are now in the bin — that’s an increase of just three percent from last week’s total. The bean harvest is now five days behind the average.

• KJAN, Atlantic  1.32″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  1.29″
• Massena  1.02″
• Elk Horn  1.14″
• Avoca  1.3″
• Oakland  1.5″
• Neola  .8″
• Underwood  1″
• Irwin  1.12″
• Bridgewater  1.5″
• Corning  .78″
• Missouri Valley  .56″
• Clarinda  .82″

(Radio Iowa) — Advocates of corn-based ethanol expect President Trump to make a major announcement about the fuel additive tomorrow (Tuesday). “This is something we’ve literally been working on for seven years. If all goes as we think it will, this is going to be a very good day.” That’s Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. Shaw and others expect Trump to announce the E-P-A is preparing a waiver that will allow the year-round sale of E-15 — that’s gasoline with a 15 percent ethanol blend.

“We do think that rule-making can be done in time for June which is when the restriction would come back into play,” Shaw says, “so by taking action tomorrow, President Trump is setting us up to have E15 available across the United States next summer.” Shaw predicts the oil industry will go to court to try to block the waiver for E-15, so legal wrangling may commence soon. In the meantime, Shaw says tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) announcement should provide a psychological boost to the ag economy.

“And it’s a market boost,” Shaw says, “a little bit at first, but definitely growing over time, so we’ve very excited here.” A number of media outlets are reporting Trump will make the E-15 announcement in Washington before he departs for his rally tomorrow (Tuesday) night in Council Bluffs.