CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
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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 Wellmark Foundation has awarded 12 Iowa organizations Matching Assets to Community Health (MATCH) grants. Organizations were able to request up to $100,000 in grant funding. To ensure community support for the grant project, communities were challenged to match this grant amount dollar-for-dollar. Each of the grant recipients submitted projects that can help individuals, families and communities achieve better health through safe and healthy environments that encourage physical activity and access to and consumption of nutritious foods.
“The Wellmark Foundation is proud to award a cumulative total of $1,020,000 to these grant recipients,” said Becky Wampler, The Wellmark Foundation executive director. “These organizations are focused on sustainable initiatives that will improve the well-being of citizens in the communities they serve for years to come.”
Among the 12 Iowa organizations that were able to successfully raise matching funds and were awarded grants, was the Dallas County Conservation Foundation, which received $90,000 for Phase 1 of the Raccoon River Valley Trail to High Trestle Trail Connector. Officials say the trail project is a significant link between two major statewide trails: the Raccoon River Valley Trail and the High Trestle Trail. The connector, which is nine miles overall, starts in Perry and follows a former railroad right-of-way to the east until it connects to 130th Street.
This is National Farm Safety Week. It is designed to call attention to the dangers of farming, especially during harvest season. Iowa State University Extension Agricultural Engineer and Safety Specialist Chuck Schwab says agriculture ranks as one of the most dangerous and deadliest. He says agriculture has roughly two-point-two deaths for every 100-thousand workers, which is a highest rate in the U-S, surpassing mining, construction, manufacturing and transportation. He puts the issue in perspective. “It really means that a lot of people leave for the day to go to work and got out there in the fields and do something, and don’t come home,”Schwab says.
Schwab says the most common accidents involving agriculture include: tractor roll-overs, A-T-V roll-overs, roadway collisions with farm equipment, grain suffocation, electrocution, and machine entanglement. He says one reason for the high rate of agriculture injuries and deaths is the wide age demographic of the people involved with agriculture, from the young to the old. “Agriculture doesn’t have that cap where you get to 65 and you stop farming,” Schwab says, “and so we see a lot of older farmers out there. And what happens with older farmers — you tend to have different reaction times, you have balance issues, hearing issues, sight, and so all these issues play a role in how you make good safe decisions.”
The Iowa State University Safety Specialist says the same is true with the younger generation, those 18 and younger. He says they should be given more supervision until they gain experience. Schwab says farmers need to be in shape for the physical demands of the business, and he says the best thing you can do is to take a break from the action and have a moment of rest. He says it’s important to be in top condition, and taking the break allows you to get away from the operation and make sure your mind is thinking clearly.
Schwab says it’s similar to athletes who keep themselves in shape, stay hydrated, and then rest when needed so they stay sharp and focused. Schwab says that helps prevent mistakes on the playing field and can do the same in the farm fields too.
(Radio Iowa)
The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission is recommending that the general operating budget for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for NEXT year be the same as THIS year’s budget. That recommendation now goes to Governor Reynolds and she’ll submit her proposed budget to legislators in January. D-N-R director Chuck Gipp expects the hiring freeze in his agency will stay in place. He’s been shifting staff around to deal with vacancies and retirements in the state park system.
“A perfect example was a park in southwest Iowa,” Gipp says. “It was a two-person park. One of those people transferred up to Prairie Rose State Park, where there was a vacancy. That person left at Waubonsie said: “I don’t want to be a one person park,’ so he retired — so we are currently operating that park with a temporary transfer.”
Waubonsie State Park is near Hamburg in the southwest corner of Iowa. It has seven miles of hiking trails and eight miles of trails for horseback riders, plus a small, seven-acre lake. The Environmental Protection Commission is recommending a one-million dollar increase in state spending on state park INFRASTRUCTURE. However, that money would come from the separate “Environment First” fund where state gambling taxes are deposited.
(Radio Iowa)
State regulators have unanimously rejected a petition seeking tougher environmental standards for livestock confinements. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement sought the changes. Members of the group voiced their anger after the Environmental Protection Commission’s vote. Regulators determined they lacked the authority to adjust the so-called “master matrix.” Those are the rules that govern where livestock confinements may be built.
Commission member Joe Riding of Altoona — a former legislator — says the law establishing those standards was passed 15 years ago and it’s time for the legislature to revisit the issue. “Bringing the stakeholders together,” Riding says. “I don’t care how messy it might be.” Commissioner Barbara Hovland of Mason City says it’s up to legislators to review the law.
“I am a firm believer that they created it and they need to start discussing it,” Hovland said. A lengthy period of public comment came before the commission’s eight-to-zero vote. Farm groups like the Pork Producers argued the proposed changes would create a moratorium on new construction of livestock confinements. Farm Bureau member Brianne Streck of Moville says she and her husband “work hard to raise livestock the right way.”
“The supporters of this petition would like to make you think that I am the face of evil,” Streck said. “…Changing the master matrix to give others the ability to pick and choose where and how we can raise livestock would be detrimental to young farmers like me and, more importantly, the rural communities that live and thrive on us.” Backers of the petition argued Iowa is making little progress in cleaning up polluted waterways and it’s time for tougher rules on livestock manure. John Lichty of West Des Moines is a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
“Why is there even a question? Why is it farmers first, the rest of us go to hell — excuse my language,” he said. “I’m not against farmers, but…it’s all about profit. Money first, the heck with the rest of us. That’s all I’ve got. This is disgusting.” In 2002, the Iowa legislature passed statewide standards for livestock confinements, including the required distance between a confinement and a neighbor’s house.
A state construction permit is required for confinements of a certain size. The Des Moines Register recently reported the Department of Natural Resources reviewed images from satellites and found five-thousand previously unknown confinements in Iowa. About 13-hundred of them were large enough to require some form of state oversight.
(Radio Iowa)
(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation Monday allowing the transportation of overweight loads of corn, soybeans, haw, straw, silage and stover. The proclamation will expire Nov. 17, 2017. Gov. Reynolds said she is “Pleased to sign this proclamation allowing Iowa farmers to move their crops in an effective and efficient manner.Farmers are a critical component of our state’s economy, and this proclamation ensures they’re able to transport their crops ahead of deteriorating weather conditions.”
The proclamation allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage and stover to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit, but only for the duration of this proclamation. The action is intended to allow loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (5) (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.
The Iowa Department of Transportation is directed to monitor the operation of this proclamation to ensure the public’s safety and facilitate the movement of the trucks involved in our state’s harvest.
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is cautiously optimistic that China’s ethanol goals will positively impact producers in the U.S. The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission and energy administration recently announced a plan to extend the use of biofuels throughout the country by 2020. RFA president Bob Dinneen calls the move a step in the right direction, but says some important questions need to be answered.
“Right now, all they’ve really done is said that there’s a plan in place that would allow the use of higher level blends. But, they have not yet removed their barriers to U.S. ethanol that could help them meet such a lofty target,” Dinneen says.
He projects Chinese ethanol demand could exceed four billion gallons. Dinneen says China – the world’s third largest ethanol producer behind the U.S. and Brazil – can’t achieve that objective alone.
“And yet, they’ve got a huge tariff in place that really makes U.S. ethanol impossible to get into the country. So, we hope to work with them, and we certainly hope that they will work with us to open up free and fair trade on ethanol, as well as distillers feed,” Dinneen said.
Iowa is the top ethanol producing state in the U.S. Dinneen points out having former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as Ambassador to China should prove beneficial, given his longtime support of renewable fuels.
(Radio Iowa w/thanks to Mark Dorenkamp, Brownfield Ag News)
MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (AP) – Monarch butterflies will be the focus of a workshop at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near the Iowa-Nebraska border. The workshop will be held at the refuge on Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. After learning about the butterflies, participants will help catch and tag the butterflies.
The refuge is located north of Omaha, Nebraska, along on U.S. Highway 30 near Missouri Valley, Iowa. An entrance permit is required for all vehicles. Participants must register ahead of time by calling (712) 388-4800. More details about the refuge are available online at www.fws.gov/refuge/Desoto .
A hearing is scheduled for this (Monday) morning on a request by environmental advocates to toughen the state’s rules on the placement of large-scale livestock lots. Members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement say the Department of Natural Resources is urging the Environmental Protection Commission to deny the petition. I-C-C-I organizer Erica Blair says the D-N-R is flat-out rejecting their request.
“They essentially have cherry-picked certain things in the petition and are using those items to justify denying it outright, which is not something that they necessarily need to do,” Blair says. “They could still take up the petition, they have that option. They can propose alternatives if they don’t agree with everything, but instead, they’ve just decided to kick the can down the road.”
The E-P-C will make the final decision on the so-called “master matrix” rules which govern the siting of livestock operations. Blair says, “The Department of Natural Resources has made a recommendation to the EPC and so they are going to be the ones that ultimately take a vote whether or not to move forward with our petition to strengthen the master matrix.”
Many of the state’s residents want these rules tightened, according to Blair, and I-C-C-I members will be weighing in at the E-P-C hearing. “They need to take up this petition,” Blair says. “We really can’t afford to wait any longer with strengthening the master matrix. This is something that thousands of Iowans are calling for. The EPC really needs to stand with the people of Iowa, not the industry.”
The E-P-C meets this morning at the Iowa state capitol starting at 10 a.m.
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa farmland values have increased this year, reversing several years of declines, but industry experts say the change likely isn’t a signal that the agricultural economy is improving. Steve Bruere is president of Peoples Co., a farm management and brokerage firm. He tells The Des Moines Register that a lack of farms on the market has driven up the value.
The Realtors Land Institute’s Iowa chapter says farmland values climbed nearly 3 percent to almost $6,700 an acre for the year ending in September. Farm prices dropped in 2011 after a drought increased corn and soybean prices. Iowa agricultural income has dropped nearly 70 percent since 2013, bringing in $2.6 billion last year.
Bruere says if a downturn in the farm economy continues, farm sales may increase and values would be reduced.
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