The Iowa House has voted to require the state’s grocers to sell “conventional” eggs in addition to eggs marketed as coming from “free-range” or “cage free” operations. The requirement would be in force for stores that accept federal “Women, Infants and Children” or “WIC” food benefits. Representative Bruce Bearinger, a Democrat from Oelwein, backs the bill. “The egg is the most versatile, low-cost source of high-quality protein that we have and it is important that we ensure our most vulnerable citizens continue to have access to the best price and the lowest price they can for this commodity,” he said.

The legislator who introduced the bill said his concern was the pressure retailers are getting to sell only eggs that come from “cage free” operations. The bill as originally written would have simply forced Iowa grocers to always have conventional eggs for sale. It was adjusted, though, to link that requirement with participation in the WIC program. Bill backers say “conventional” eggs are significantly less expensive. Representative Bruce Hunter, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the market should dictate policy for grocers who might find a way to sell specialty eggs at a competitive price.  “And have that opportunity to serve what they think is the best interest of their store and of their customers,” Hunter said.

Hunter’s view was in the minority. The bill passed the House on an 81-to-17 vote. A similar bill is eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate.

(Radio Iowa)

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — The late-winter thawing of an eastern Iowa marina has left anglers and birds with a smelly surprise: thousands of tiny dead shad. Fish in Burlington’s Bluff Harbor Marina slowly ran out of oxygen during two months of freezing temperatures and ice build-up. Harbormaster Jon Billups tells the Hawk Eye that using bubblers to churn air and oxygen into the marina and keep ice down didn’t help this winter.

The ice thawing exposes the silvery fish, not much bigger than minnows, frozen where they were swimming. Billups says fishermen are invited to collect the shad to use as bait. Pelicans, gulls and eagles have already begun to make meals out of the dead fish.

The shad will likely flow into the Mississippi River as currents return to the marina.

If you like to camp during Memorial Day weekend, the three-month window to reserve a state park campsite for a Friday arrival opens today (Sunday).  Those weekend dates are Friday, May 25 through Monday, May 28.

New for the 2018 season, 75 percent of available campsites at each park can be reserved through the online reservation site; the remaining 25 percent are available first-come first-serve at the park.

When visiting the reservation site, please note any closures or renovations taking place at each park. Five campgrounds will be closed for the entire 2018 summer camping season for upgrades and renovations. Those parks will still be open for day-use visitors. The campgrounds that will be closed are at: Ledges State Park, Lacey-Keosauqua State Park, Geode State Park, Marble Beach State Recreation Area and Maquoketa Caves State Park.

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — Public safety officials are concerned about up to 500,000 bales of flammable stover that are stored across central Iowa and will be left over after a cellulosic ethanol plant is sold. The newly merged DowDuPont is selling its $225 million cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada because it no longer fits its strategic plan, leaving many residents asking what will happen to the remaining stover.

The plant’s corn cobs, husks and stalks are a fire liability for the city and county, the Des Moines Register reported . The plant’s stover is scattered around 23 storage sites in central Iowa. A few bales catching fire could turn into a major blaze, particularly at the plant’s main site where there are about 200,000 bales within about a half mile.
“Our concern is who will be responsible for the bales once the plant is sold,” said Ricardo Martinez, Nevada’s public safety director.

“What would be my worst nightmare is if DowDuPont shuffles its hands and says, ‘we’re out of here,’ and they walk away, and we still have the problem to deal with,” he said. Nevada firefighters faced two large stover fires two years ago. DuPont also has experienced between seven and eight lightning fires at stover storage areas, though some were believed to be arson.

“DuPont knows our concerns and has been working with us,” Martinez said.
Ray Reynolds, the city’s fire chief, believes a buyer will be interested in the stover, purchased under contracts with area farmers. Reynolds said that if a new plant owner doesn’t want the stover, the company said the crop residue could be ground up and used for livestock bedding or covering landfills.

DECORAH, Iowa (AP) — A famed Iowa bald eagle watched worldwide on the internet has laid its first egg of the year. The eagle named Mom Decorah laid the egg a little before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, as seen on the Raptor Resource Project eagle webcam . The nonprofit organization says it’s the 30th egg the eagle has dropped at a nest near the Decorah Trout Hatchery in northeast Iowa.

The quantity of corn and soybeans grown in the Midwest and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions have radically changed in the past century. A new report compares how the two impact climate change. Summers in the Corn Belt have had more rainfall and higher humidity, but a small decrease in temperature. Researchers at M-I-T looked at whether greenhouse gas emissions or more intensive farming played the bigger role in those changes. Ross Alter is the lead author of the study.

Alter says, “We provided very strong evidence that agricultural intensification is a stronger forcing of these observed changes than greenhouse gas emissions were.” More plants taking up water ultimately means more moisture in the air, increasing rain and moderating temperatures. Iowa State University agronomist Rick Cruse says irrigation specifically, not just crop expansion, may be the real culprit.

Cruse says, “This study suggests that there’s evidence that we might ought to be considering agricultural impacts, especially in areas that are having a new or a major or significant, different form of crop cover, or water -irrigation- occurring.”

Cruse says that’s because irrigation and the overall amount of water in the region affects plant activity that ultimately drives the changes. The research also indicates agriculture may have masked potential increases in temperature that the greenhouse gas emissions alone might have caused. Cruse, the director of the Iowa Water Center, was not involved with the research but has worked with climate scientists.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

w/Kate Olson.

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Up to half the campsites in state parks cannot be reserved in advance today and the Iowa Senate has voted to change that.Senator Tom Shipley, a Republican from Nodaway, says  “Fewer and fewer campers are willing to pack up the kids and the tents and the sleeping bags and the fishing poles and drive to the campground if there’s a chance there won’t be a site available when they get there.”

The bill would get rid of rules that now require at least a quarter of the campsites in each individual state park be held open, to be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Shipley says as a result, many campsites sit empty when they could have been reserved. “I think we all realize the camping business as an industry is a lively one in Iowa and a lot of Iowans participate in this and I think this is a good move on the part of the DNR to do this,” Shipley says. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources oversees more than 47-hundred campsites in the state’s parks, reserves and forests. The fee for one of those camping spots ranges from nine to 16 dollars per night from May 1st through September 30th.

(Radio Iowa)

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — Archer Daniels Midland plans to invest $196 million in its grain processing plant in Clinton, Iowa. The Quad-City Times reports the project will update the machinery inside the plant and expand the facility.

ADM spokeswoman Jackie Anderson says the mill produces a variety of corn products, including corn sweeteners, beverage alcohol, ethanol and animal feed.
The plant employs more than 750. The project will receive more than $8 million in state and local tax credits.

Work on the expansion is expected to begin this year and continue into 2022.

Iowans who live on farms that’ve been in the family for ten decades or more are invited to apply for the Century and Heritage Farm program. Becky Lorenz is the coordinator of the program for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. “Our requirements are at least 40 acres of the original piece of ground,” Lorenz says. “We include any kind of relationship, aunts, uncles, cousins, besides the traditional grandfather, father, son, daughter, that type of relationship.”

For family farms that have even more history in Iowa, there’s a step beyond Century Farms. “We have Heritage Farm Awards also for 150 years of continuous ownership in the same family,” Lorenz says. “Applications are due June 1st to qualify for the program which will be August 16th at the fair.”

Last year, 354 Century Farms and 119 Heritage Farms were recognized at the Iowa State Fair. Since the inception of the Century Farm program in 1976, more than 19,000 farms statewide have received the recognition. The Heritage Farm program was started in 2006 on the 30th anniversary of the Century Farm program and more than 1,000 farms have been recognized. For details, contact Lorenz by phone at 515-281-3645 or by e-mail at Becky.Lorenz@IowaAgriculture.gov.

(Radio Iowa)