Montgomery County Extension and Outreach will offer the Commercial Ag Weed, Insect and Plant Disease Management Continuing Instruction Course (CIC) for commercial pesticide applicators Tuesday, February 13, 2018. The program will be shown at locations across Iowa through the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP). The local attendance site is 400 Bridge St. Ste 2, Red Oak, IA.  Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the course runs from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The registration fee is $35 on or before Feb. 6 and $45 after Feb. 6. To register or to obtain additional information about the CIC, contact Angela Silva at the ISU Extension and Outreach office in Montgomery County by phoning 712-623-2592.

The course will provide continuing instruction credit for commercial pesticide applicators certified in categories 1A, 1B, 1C, and 10. Topics covered will include information on equipment calibration and safe application techniques, pesticide drift reduction, phytotoxicity, pesticide stewardship, and pest management. Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in Integrated Pest Management will be offered at this program. Interested participants should bring their CCA number.

Additional information and registration forms for this and other courses offered by the PSEP program can be accessed at www.extension.iastate.edu/PSEP/ComAp.html.

(Clarification/correction)The City of Audubon will featured during a 15-second Cenex commercial during the Super Bowl. The spot was shown last Saturday night, during the annual Audubon Chamber of Commerce Banquet, auction and awards program. Filming the spot occurred in mid-November on location, in Audubon, and prominently features Albert the Bull, along with some local citizens.

Albert the Bull was spiffed-up prior to shooting the Cenex spot.

There is also a 5-minute tribute You Tube video for viewing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llKOk_AA02A

For the past nineteen years, the Cass County Master Gardeners have invited garden enthusiasts to learn about gardening through a daylong seminar of breakout sessions and hands on activities. 2018 marks the 20th year that the Cass County Master Gardeners will host a spring session on gardening, and the group is celebrating the milestone with a new format, new location and a prominent keynote presenter. This year’s event, “GROW-Weaving Plants Throughout Your Life” will feature celebrity author and award-winning speaker, J Schwanke.  Schwanke is a 4th generation florist, host and creator of “Fun with Flowers and J”, and a frequent guest on P. Allen Smith’s “Garden Home.” Regarded as the most trusted voice in the flower industry, J is the CEO of uBloom.com, the first online community for flower fans.

Cass County Master Gardener and event chairperson Lori Reid says “For our 20th year, we wanted to do something different that everyone would enjoy,” says . “J is just as entertaining as he is informative. J has two books published and his own show ‘Life in Bloom’ on PBS. Everyone will complete the day with a smile as he shares his passion for flowers.”

J. Schwanke

“GROW-Weaving Plants Throughout Your Life” will be held on Saturday, March 17th at the Cass County Community Center and will open with keynote “How to Create Your Own Life in Bloom” by J Schwanke.  Another new feature this year will be 80 minutes of “lightning learning” where attendees will have the opportunity to rotate between demonstrations on a variety of garden topics. A catered luncheon will be served while conference-goers enjoy a dessert demonstration by Janine Knop, aka “Miss Nini,” local baking celebrity and owner of Miss Nini’s Fine Desserts. Attendees will enjoy one of the featured desserts with their meal. A second presentation by J Schwanke entitled “Fun with Flowers” will complete the day.

Cost for the day, including continental breakfast, lunch and all session, will be $35. A schedule and registration form will be finalized soon, and available at the Cass County Extension office, or online at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass. Previous attendees who received a “save the date” postcard in the mail will also receive a brochure with registration form in the mail. For more information, call the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or email xcass@iastate.edu. Mark your calendars now for March 17th and plan to join the Cass County Master Gardeners for the 20th Annual Spring Garden Seminar- GROW!

After two major livestock diseases ravaged Iowa’s poultry and hog industries in recent years, state and federal officials are asking farmers to prepare for future outbreaks, even for viruses not yet found in North America. Three illnesses they’re most worried about wouldn’t sicken humans but could shut down meat exports, which Iowa producers depend on. Iowa State University veterinarian Jim Roth says farmers need to alert their vets as soon as animals get sick. He says early confirmation of a foreign, highly-contagious disease will be key. Roth says, “If we’re going to get it controlled, we have to do it in the first very few weeks to get it under control before it gets away from us.”

Officials have developed multi-step plans for farmers, veterinarians and government officials to prepare for and respond to a foreign animal disease. Foot and mouth disease, African swine fever and classical swine fever would not infect humans nor damage the food supply, but any of them could quickly spread through herds, causing massive economic impacts. While they keep an eye on where the diseases are in the world, Roth says there’s no way to know how a virus will get here. “It could come with people bringing in prohibited items, especially meat or meat products,” Roth says. “It could come from animals coming in or just trade. All of those containers that come in from all over the world could potentially be contaminated.”

Roth says feed was implicated but never confirmed as the source of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus several years ago. That one wasn’t as serious because it didn’t shut down export markets, but if one of these other diseases arrives, farmers could immediately see their overseas sales disappear. Roth recently presented a Secure Pork Supply Plan, developed over several years, to producers at the Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Dozens of tissue samples from hunted deer in Iowa have been turned over to be tested for chronic wasting disease. The samples are part of a nine-day collection effort by deer hunters and state officials that ends Sunday. The first weekend of the effort in Allamakee and Clayton counties provided 54 samples.

Chronic wasting disease is a neurologic disease of deer, moose and elk that is always fatal for the animals. The disease first appeared in Iowa’s wild deer herd in 2013 and each year since. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has placed extra emphasis on tracking the movement of the disease with the cooperation of hunters.

Last year, two deer tested positive for the disease as part of the effort in the same counties.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new report on the rapid expansion of hog farms in Iowa concludes the state’s regulatory system is failing to protect the environment and public health for the sake of profit by the politically powerful livestock industry.

The report released Thursday by retired University of Iowa professors James Merchant and David Osterberg recommends a moratorium on new construction until an improved permitting process can be implemented. The pork industry acknowledges rapid growth but considers it good for farmers and the economy.

Eldon McAfee, an agriculture law attorney for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, says environmental and health concerns are being addressed by the current system. He says a moratorium would devastate the industry and Iowa’s economy, adding it’s unneeded because the current permit system has worked for 16 years.

One of the investors in the popular television show “Shark Tank” is in Iowa today (Friday) to give they keynote speech at the Land Investment Expo in West Des Moines. Kevin O’Leary is a billionaire business man who is one of the “Sharks” on the show who listen to pitches from entrepreneurs and then decide if they want to invest their business. In an interview with Radio Iowa, O’Leary says he plans to share some of his business knowledge with the attendees. “It’s a land conference and we’ll be discussing real estate for sure — but there’s a lot of entrepreneurs in that room and they’re interested in the trends that are going on in terms of management of businesses now,” O’Leary says, ” I’m going to bring a lot of that data with me, because I have over 44 of them now. So, I am able to identify good management practices versus weak ones.”

O’Leary says the big ag companies he invests in that supply fertilizer and seed to farmers have seen their margins go up every year while farmers are seeing their margins go down. He says farmers need to adapt some of the methods of those big companies. “If you don’t know what the price of a bag of seed is in upstate New York and you’re buying it in Iowa, why don’t you know? Because those companies are playing a beautiful arbitrage on different pricing and they are taking advantage of every single algorithm they can with computer technology. There’s no reason farmers can’t do the same thing,” O’Leary says.

Kevin O’Leary

He says farmers could bring input prices down by sharing information. “If there was total transparency on pricing — in other words you knew what your competitor bought corn seed for in Champaign-Urbana for example — why wouldn’t you get the same price here. You wouldn’t because you don’t know,” O’Leary says. “They’ve got to be more cooperative in getting transparency in pricing, and that’s what I am going to talk about.”  He says getting farmers to adapt would help them make more on their operations. “I want every entrepreneur in America to succeed and every other large company is taking advantage of technology and farmers are not, and that makes not sense to me,” O’Leary says.

O’Leary — who is also known on the show as Mr. Wonderful — says this is not his first trip to Iowa and he is excited to be able to talk with landowners at the conference. “This is a remarkable place, this is the most expensive acreage for farming in the world, the most productive. This is a very interesting place. There’s a lot of tremendous quiet wealth here tied up in land — and I’m happy to be a part of it,” O’Leary says.

The 11th Annual Land Investment Expo begins this morning (Friday) and runs throughout the day.

(Radio Iowa)

Des Moines – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hosting public meetings on February 21st from 6 to 9 p.m., to listen to the public’s thoughts on the hunting and trapping regulations for this fall.  The meetings are part of the process for making rules in state government. Todd Bishop, chief of the wildlife bureau, said “Any rule changes must be discussed with Iowa’s citizens who might be impacted by the changes before the rule changes are proposed. The process helps ensure that rule changes serve the public’s wishes and do not impact Iowa’s economy.”  At each meeting DNR staff will facilitate a discussion about what went well last fall, what didn’t, and what changes hunters and trappers would like to see for this fall.

The discussions along with the data that the wildlife bureau collects on harvest and population numbers will be used to develop recommendations for any rule changes. Any changes must be approved by the Natural Resource Commission and then go back to the public for further comment before taking effect next fall. Meetings will be held locally:

• In Atlantic, at the Iowa DNR Office (1401 Sunnyside Lane)
• In Council Bluffs, at the Fish and Game Club (531 Comanche St.)
• and in Creston, at Southwestern Community College (1501 W. Townline), Room 180.

Any person attending the public meeting and has special requirements such as those related to mobility or hearing impairments should contact the DNR or ADA Coordinator at 515-725-8200, Relay Iowa TTY Service 800-735-7942, or Webmaster@dnr.iowa.gov, and advise of specific needs.

As Iowans begin the task of filling out their state tax returns, they’re encouraged to make a donation to what’s nicknamed the “Chickadee Checkoff” to support wildlife conservation statewide. Stephanie Shepherd, a wildlife biologist at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the amount collected last year for the Fish and Wildlife Fund rose from the year before, but still, very few Iowans donate to the cause. “We were really excited to see that the numbers went up to about $147,000,” Shepherd says. “That was up by roughly $15,000 from the year before. That was a really nice increase and we were really happy to see it, but in its heyday, it brought in over $200,000.”

Iowa has one-point-six million taxpayers and last year about 78-hundred donated to the fund, an increase of about 300 from the year before. “Less than half of one percent of taxpayers actually donate to the checkoff,” Shepherd says. “If every taxpayer in Iowa, for example, gave one dollar to the checkoff, that would mean $1.5 million for wildlife conservation.” Of the Iowans who donated last year, they averaged about 19-dollars each. The fund benefits a wide array of Iowa’s most vulnerable creatures — more than a thousand species, including eagles, songbirds, turtles, lizards and butterflies. Avenues include education, research and habitat management. “The money from the Chickade Checkoff is used to support non-game wildlife or wildlife that you can’t hunt, fish or trap,” Shepherd says. “It was instrumental in developing the Wildlife Diversity Program here at the Iowa DNR where we focus entirely on non-game species.”

The Fish and Wildlife Fund was created by the Iowa Legislature in the 1980s as a way for citizens to donate to wildlife conservation on the state tax form. Before that, non-game wildlife had no dedicated funding. Shepherd says donating on the tax form is easy: simply write the amount next to the Fish and Wildlife Check-Off, line 57 on Form 1040. The sum is either automatically deducted from the refund or added to the amount owed. Plus, it’s deductible from next year’s taxes.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Denny Heflin

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