Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Friday) announced that Farmers Market Nutrition Program applications are now available for eligible WIC recipients and low-income older Iowans. The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs provide eligible Iowans with checks that can be redeemed for fresh, locally grown produce at authorized farmers markets and farm stands from June 1 through October 31, 2017.

The Farmers Market Nutrition Programs are administered through the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, in partnership with the Iowa Department of Public Health and Iowa Department on Aging.  For more information contact Stephanie Groom, Program Administrator, at 515-725-1179 (or at Stephanie.Groom@iowaagriculture.gov.)

WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program:

The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program provides eligible WIC recipients with nine checks valued at $3 each. WIC FMNP checks will be distributed statewide on a first-come, first-served basis.  Eligible individuals may pick up checks at arranged appointments or at regularly scheduled clinic appointments. A combination of state and federal funds will be used to make benefits available to more than 16,800 eligible WIC recipients this year.  Eligible individuals include children ages 9 months through 4 years, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and post-partum women that participate in Iowa’s WIC Program. The state’s twenty local WIC agencies have begun to distribute checks and nutritional education information.  WIC recipients interested in obtaining the benefits are encouraged to contact their local WIC clinic or visit https://idph.iowa.gov/wic/families  for more information.

Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program:

The Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program provides eligible seniors with ten checks for $3 each.  In addition to produce, locally produced honey can also be purchased with Senior FMNP checks.  Applicants throughout the state are offered the checks on a first-come first-served basis and the checks are available through Area Agency on Aging offices. A combination of state and federal funds will be used to make benefits available to more than 18,600 eligible seniors this year. Eligible seniors must be sixty years of age or older with a household income less than $22,311 if single or $30,044 for a married couple.  Iowa seniors will be asked to complete a one page application verifying their eligibility, by providing their birth dates and the last four digits of their social security numbers.

The Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) have begun to distribute checks and nutritional education information.   To find an Area Agency on Aging near you, contact the Iowa Association of Area Agencies on Aging (i4a) toll free at 866-468-7887 or at www.i4a.org.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Nearly 1,000 Iowa residents have contacted a state agency about sickly oak tree leaves, and officials say the problem was likely caused by farm chemicals and made worse by weather fluctuations.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources district forester Mark Vitosh tells The Des Moines Register that little can be done to stop the deterioration of the oak leaves besides stopping the use of herbicides. The condition, called leaf tatters, causes leaves to appear as if they’ve been eaten down to the veins.

Department forest health program leader Tivon Feeley says there have been more oak tatters this year because the leaves emerged at the same time chemicals were at peak ambient levels. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service officials say Iowa makes more reports about sickly oak trees than other Midwest states.

w/Denny Heflin.

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Officials with the U-S Army Corps of Engineers are predicting the above-normal runoff into the Missouri River basin will continue most of the summer. Kevin Stom, an engineer in the Corps’ Omaha office, says it will NOT mean any widespread flooding along the waterway. Stom says, “The 2017 calendar year runoff forecast for the Upper Missouri Basin above Sioux City, Iowa, is 29.9-million acre feet or 118-percent of average.”

Now that we’re into the much-warmer weather of June, Stom says the remaining mountain snowpack will melt off quickly. “During June, July and August, above-average runoff is forecast as a reflection of the above-average mountain snowpack and the increased chance for above-normal precipitation in the upper basin,” Stom says. “Runoff during the fall and winter months is forecast to be about normal.”

The Corps has adjusted releases from Gavins Point Dam to make up the difference, boosting the amount of water being released in cubic feet per second, or C-F-S.  Stom says, “Based on this runoff forecast, the June 1 system storage and the tributary projected storage, the service level adjustment of 5,000 CFS which was established after our April 1 runoff forecast will continue through June.”

The monthly report from the Corps says only localized flooding is possible along the Missouri River basin due to heavy rain, mostly in the downstream region.

(Radio Iowa)

w/Kate Olson.

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An environmental policy advisor with the Iowa Farm Bureau says a recent Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) report shows the number of “impaired waterbodies” in the state is leveling off. Rick Robinson says the report’s two percent increase in impaired waters indicates long-term progress is taking place. And Robinson says it showed other positive trends as well.

“Nitrate levels are trending steady to lower at 18 of 22 sites across the state for the last decade,” Robinson says. “Total nitrogen was lower at 19 of 22 sites the last decade. And phosphorus levels trended steady to lower at 23 of 25 sites over the last decade.”

Robinson credits record conservation practices and collaborative water quality work for the progress. He points to a 2016 Iowa State University poll of farmers in the state. “They found that farmers had invested 2.2 billion dollars in conservation the last 10 years. They found that there were modest to major increases in adopting precision ag, building conservation structure and fine-tuning nutrient management practices,” he says. “So all the things they’re doing are paying off in the long-run and trending the right direction.”

Robinson says it’s also worth noting that 75 percent of untreated water in Iowa streams meets or exceeds the EPA’s nitrate safety standard.

(Radio Iowa, w/reporting by Ken Anderson, Brownfield Ag News)

Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is touting its new product lines, which include an S-700 combine series. Randy Sergesketter, a senior vice president at Quad Cities-based John Deere, says the 2018 combines will help farmers “harvest smarter” as they’re designed to make it easier to set up and run the machines to get the best yield.

“Many customers I visit express their challenges in hiring combine operators who can capably adjust the combine during the harvest day, minimizing grain loss and maximizing grain quality,” Sergesketter says. “Our team has listened carefully and developed a new solution that will enable combine operators to optimize and automate and maintain machine settings and performance.”

Deere introduced a universal command center display and control arm in the cabs of combines, tractors and other machines. The goal is to minimize training time by giving operators the same, portable software and display to use in each different piece of equipment. Doug Roberts is Deere’s director of the Global Combine and Front End Equipment Product Line.

“Every time we move into a new model year such as model year 18, we make some changes to the assembly line and tooling but we’re heavily focused right now on improving quality and the safety of our employees,” Roberts says, “and then some moderate changes to the assembly lines due to the new products we’re manufacturing here, mostly related to the corn heads and the drapers.”

Deere also unveiled other 2018 products and services. For example, new front end equipment will be available, such as a more durable corn header and draper. Drapers are used to harvest smaller grains, like canola and wheat, which may require wind rows.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa DNR say some area State Parks have one or more cabins available to rent for this coming weekend. In the KJAN listening area, that includes:

• Lake of Three Fires State Park near Bedford (712-523-2700)
• Waubonsie State Park near Hamburg (712-382-2786)

The cabins, which normally rent for one-week minimums, are now available for two-night minimum stays, however they must be reserved through the individual park’s office.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) invite you to attend the 33rd Annual Lewis and Clark Festival, where you can see what life was like in the time of buckskinners and exploration. The celebration takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 9th through 11th, at Lewis and Clark State Park outside of Onawa.

The buckskinners’ rendezvous recreates the time period when explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark traveled the Missouri River on their expedition west. The park, named for the explorers, is site of their August 10th, 1804 encampment. The festival, hosted by the Friends of Lewis and Clark State Park, features buckskinners in frontier dress, historic demonstrations and activities, music and food.

The full-sized reproduction of Lewis and Clark’s keelboat, Discovery, constructed by local volunteers and park staff, will be on display. Keelboat rides will be given twice on Saturday, on a first-come first-served basis at 9:00 and 11:00 a.m., depending on weather.

The park’s visitors center, with its historical displays and replica boats, will be open to the public throughout the weekend. The Lewis and Clark festival is open to the public and activities are free. Food is available to purchase throughout the weekend, including a pancake feed on Sunday morning from 7:30-10:00 a.m.

For a full schedule of events and more information visit http://www.onawachamber.com/lewis–clark-festival.html

A dedication ceremony will be held at the Loess Hills State Forest Visitors’ Center this Thursday, June 8th, from 3-until 5-p.m. The center will be officially named the Brent S. Olson Memorial Visitor Center in recognition of Olson, forester for the area who died last December following a long battle with cancer.

The center is the gateway to the Loess Hills State Forest which was managed by Olson since 1991. Under Olson’s leadership, the forest area doubled in size to 11,600 acres. Paul Tauke, state forester for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says
“Brent took great pride in his work and loved this unique Loess Hills area. The success he had in growing the state forest is directly related not just to his dedication to the resource but also his involvement with our forestry partners and the western Iowa community.”

Olson served on both the state and national boards of the National Society of American Foresters and received the President’s Award Outstanding Field Forester in 2012. Olson also served on the West Harrison School Board for many years, most recently as the board president.

The visitors’ center is located at 206 Polk St. in Pisgah. The dedication ceremony is open to the public.