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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!
The Iowa Supreme Court has issued a key ruling on the constitutionality of Iowa’s embattled right-to-farm law. The director of the Center for Ag Law at Iowa State University, Kristine Tidgren, says – in one respect – the decision is a victory for livestock producers. “The plaintiffs really wanted the court to say that the right-to-farm statute was just unconstitutional and they wanted the court to basically eliminate that protection for ag producers,” Tidgren said. “The court did not do that.”
The Iowa Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that found the statute protecting producers from nuisance lawsuits was unconstitutional. But, the decision does not prevent ag nuisance lawsuits from being filed in the future and, according to Tidgren, livestock producers may still have to prove they are operating within the law. “This does give (producers) more protection because the court did affirm that the statute can be valid, but it’s not something that can be decided on someone’s judgement, it’s going to have to be after some fact-finding, which is costly,” Tidgren said.
By requiring plaintiffs to provide more proof of negligence or a violation of the law, Tidgren said the ruling may help deter the filing of unsupported claims. The court ruling stems from a case in southeast Iowa’s Wapello County, where three families complained of the odor from two nearby hog farms.
(Radio Iowa)
The U-S Senate is expected to vote this week on the Farm Bill, though Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the Senate version will -not- include a controversial element. Republicans in the House passed a Farm Bill that includes a work requirement for food stamp recipients, something Democrats are rallying against. “I support work requirements for people that can work,” Grassley says. “That would leave out disabled, families with children, elderly people, but if you’re an able-bodied person, I support work requirements.”
Under the House plan, recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits would be required to work or do job-training for at least 20 hours a week, unless they are pregnant or caring for a young child or for a person with significant health issues. Grassley says those requirements have been a big sticking point between the parties. “They are not in the Senate bill,” Grassley says, “and they won’t be in the final bill that goes to the president of the United States because we have to get a bipartisan bill in the Senate and we can’t get a bipartisan bill with work requirements in it.”
The House needs to “back down,” according to Grassley, or the Farm Bill may need to be extended into 2019. One amendment Grassley is adding to the Farm Bill aims to close the loophole which he says enables Wall Street bankers to get federal farm dollars, even if they’ve never had dirt under their fingernails. Grassley says, “Allowing these types of non-farmers to milk the farm safety net for millions of dollars in subsidies each year is ridiculous.” The Senate will be working on Farm Bill amendments today (Tuesday), Wednesday and Thursday and Grassley predicts it’ll go to a vote either Thursday evening or Friday. “The leader of the Senate wants to get it done before we go home for 4th of July and I do, too, want to get it through,” Grassley says. “The extent to which we can give farmers certainty five years ahead of time is really the best farm policy.”
The current five-year Farm Bill, which expires this fall, is worth some 489-billion dollars, though nutrition programs account for about 80-percent of that total.
(Radio Iowa)
The U-S Department of Agriculture’s weekly update on Iowa crops is usually strictly business and released after the grain markets close for the day. Monday’s report had a bit of tongue-in-cheek message. It noted Iowa farmers had only two-days suitable for field work during the past week and says activities included “checking rain gauges and assessing flood damage.” Iowa State University Agronomist, Paul Kassel, says many north and central Iowa corn and soybean fields are under water. “It’s getting kind of serious really. People have had eight-ten–twelve inches of rain in the last ten, twelve days. Kind of the north-central area really,” Kassel says, ” There’s a lot drowned out. So the corn and soybean crop will die from that.”
Once the crops die, the farmers have a decision to make. “And people will be faced with replanting parts of fields and that kind of thing,” Kassel says. He says if things don’t dry out soon, there may not be any option to salvage any kind of crop. “We’re not out of time, but by the time it dries out, it might be too late for that. So, there you’re faced with zero production from those drowned out areas,” Kassel says.
Despite that extensive crop flooding — Monday’s U-S-D-A update continues listing about 80 percent of Iowa’s corn and soybean acreage in good-to-excellent condition.
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The World Food Prize will be awarded this year to two men who have dedicated their careers to improving the availability of nutritious food for pregnant women and children in an effort to reduce the effects of malnutrition in developing countries. Lawrence Haddad, who is a British economist and food policy researcher, and Dr. David Nabarro, who has worked with the World Health Organization and United Nations on health and hunger issues, were named the 2018 prize recipients in a ceremony Monday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington. The World Food Prize was created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize scientists and others who have improved the quality and availability of food.
Haddad and Nabarro were recognized for their work to improve nutrition for mothers and children from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday — the most critical time for proper nutrition in a child’s development. Their leadership and advocacy is credited with helping to reduce the world’s number of children stunted from malnourishment between 2012 and 2017. Haddad lives in England and is executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, a Swiss-based nonprofit launched at the United Nations to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. He is credited with using economic and medical research to persuade development leaders to make child nutrition a priority.
Nabarro retired from the United Nations a year ago and is now a professor at the Institute of Global Health Innovation at London’s Imperial College. He is also setting up 4SD, a social enterprise in Switzerland focused on mentoring the next generation of leaders in global sustainable development. His work over 17 years at the UN fluctuated between focusing on expanding nutrition programs to underdeveloped countries and tacking health crises including outbreaks of malaria, bird flu, Ebola and other diseases. Through UN organizations — including the High Level Task Force on Global Food Security and the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement — he pulled together representatives from the UN, government agencies, donor groups and nongovernment organizations to help impress upon leaders in developing countries that children malnourished from the start suffer permanent damage that reduces their ability to reach their best potential, he said. Nabarro said he applied lessons learned in Nepal, India, Iraq and Africa.
The foundation that awards the $250,000 World Food Prize is based in Des Moines, Iowa. Haddad and Nabarro will receive the prize at an Oct. 18 award ceremony at the Iowa Capitol.
A series of farmer roundtable meetings opens today (Monday) for members of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Lisa Cassady, spokeswoman for the Johnston-based organization, says the grassroots meetings are important so farmers’ concerns can be heard at all levels.
“They are one of the key parts of our policy development process,” Cassady says. “They’re happening in locations throughout the state.” Roundtable meetings are being held today in Le Mars, Ogden and Sheffield, and tomorrow (Tuesday) in Grinnell, Red Oak and Oxford Junction. More talks are planned July 11th in Mount Pleasant, Emmetsburg and Denison and July 12th in Albia, Creston and Fayette. At the gatherings, Cassady says growers can bring up any issues that are impacting their operations.
“Those policies will be brought forward and approved at the roundtable meetings and then they’ll go on to the annual ICGA Grassroots Summit which will be held on August 24th and 25th,” she says. That summit will be held in Des Moines.
www.iowacorn.org
(Radio Iowa)
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The excess methane that Dubuque officials used to just burn at the city’s wastewater treatment plant is now being converted into natural gas. The Telegraph Herald reports Dubuque was already using about 75 percent of the methane produced at the plant that was built in 2016 to power and heat the facility.
The new equipment will convert the remaining methane into natural gas. Dubuque City Council member Ric Jones says this project will help reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions while also generating energy.
After the methane is converted by some of BioResource Development’s equipment, the natural gas is sent to Black Hills Energy to be distributed.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three Iowa families who say the stench from two hog farms makes it difficult for them to emerge from their homes won’t get immediate help from the Iowa Supreme Court, which reversed a lower court decision that found a law protecting producers was unconstitutional. The court ruled Friday that Iowa’s right-to-farm law was constitutional in its aim, but it upheld a previous ruling that says the protection for producers can be overcome by showing “sustained significant hardship” and meeting other conditions.
The Wapello County neighbors will return to a lower court to determine if their case meets those requirements. Justice Bruce Zager wrote in the opinion that all 50 states have similar right-to-farm laws and the law wasn’t clearly unconstitutional because it seeks to promote the development of animal agriculture.
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