Iowa beef producers will soon get to vote on a proposal to institute a state beef checkoff program. Iowa Cattlemen’s Association communications director, Katie Olthoff, says they submitted the required paperwork for the referendum earlier this month. She says they needed to get 500 signatures from cattle producers and worked throughout the summer at various events and turned in more than 700 signatures.

The voting will begin next month. “Producers can request an absentee ballot if they would like starting in October. Then they can mail in those ballots any time throughout the month of November,” Olthoff says. “or if they prefer, producers can vote in person at their county extension offices on November 30th.”

The results of the vote would be known in mid-December. The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has said they’ll be able to certify the vote on December 14th. “If it passes with a simple majority of 51 percent or more — collections will begin March 1st 2017. It will be a 50-cent per head state checkoff,” Olthoff explains.

She says the checkoff will be mandatory, but producers can request a refund. “We have really worked hard at the Cattleman’s Association to do our legwork and make sure that our producers have been able to give input into how the money would be spent,” according to Olthoff. “That includes a survey that we did last fall among our Cattlemen’s Association members. Eighty percent of the respondents were in support of a state beef checkoff and they outlined several uses for those funds.”

One use the survey supported is research. Olthoff says that is something that currently can’t be done with the federal checkoff, but they think it is important to help producers stay profitable into the future. Olthoff says the national fund has done a lot to promote the industry nationwide and this would be more state specific.

“Beef is What’s For Dinner is part the federal beef checkoff program. It’s been a great way to promote beef,” Olthoff says. “We want some more flexibility in our dollars and we want to enhance what the national programs are doing. That federal beef checkoff has been a-dollar-a-head since 1986. So adding an additional 50 cents at this point is something that several other states are doing. It’s something our Iowa cattle producers have been very interested in.”

The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association says it represents nearly 10-thousand beef-producing families and associated companies dedicated to the future of Iowa’s beef industry.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says she’s worried about the negative impact the E-P-A’s proposed rule on the herbicide atrazine could have on farmers. The agency proposes drastically cutting the amount of the chemical farmers could apply to fields. Ernst says science supports the safe use of atrazine in controlling broadleaf weeds, especially in corn crops. “For over 50 years, it has been proven as a safe and effective way of managing our cropland,” she says. “Over 7,000 studies that prove it is a safe and effective tool to keep in our toolbox.”

Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U-S, but it was banned in the European Union in 2004, when groundwater levels exceeded limits. If the E-P-A’s proposed use level becomes the standard, analysts say the herbicide could no longer be used effectively and it would essentially represent a ban on the use of atrazine. Ernst says Congress would oppose that move.

“We will continue to apply pressure to the EPA,” she says. “We can involve other organizations and get people to push those public comments back to the agency. If they go to far, we can look at how do we work around this legislatively.”

The deadline to submit comments to EPA is October 4th. Without atrazine, some estimate farm input costs could increase by 30-to-60 dollars per acre. Farmers would also lose a valuable tool for weed management and conservation.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has boosted the expected soybean crop to a new record. The agency’s monthly crop update, released Monday, says farmers are expected to produce 4.2 billion bushels of soybeans, an increase of 3 percent from last month’s estimate. It’s also a record for average bushels per acre at 50.6 and acres harvested at 83 million.

The estimated corn crop was reduced to 15.1 billion bushels as compared to last month’s estimate of 15.2 billion. But that still beats the previous high of 14.2 billion bushels in 2014. The huge harvest is still expected to suppress grain prices below farmers’ cost of production, causing most to lose money on corn and soybeans.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A coalition of agriculture, business and conservation leaders say they support a plan to increase Iowa’s sales tax to raise money for water quality and other natural resources programs. The Des Moines Register reports members of Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy Coalition on Monday proposed raising the sales tax by three-eighths of a cent. Organizers say they’ll push their plan at the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January.

The nearly two dozen members of the coalition include the Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Greater Des Moines Partnership and Iowa Ducks Unlimited. The poor quality of Iowa’s waterways has been receiving more attention, especially following a lawsuit filed by Des Moines Water Works against three northwest Iowa counties accusing them of wrongly allowing runoff from farms.

Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert today (Monday), said field and grassland Fire Danger updates will be provided on Monday’s and Thursday’s each week, through the harvest season. The purpose of the updates is to provide accurate data to Fire Chiefs, and the Public at large, regarding the current and expected Fire Danger for approximately 84 hours at a time.

Signs will be updated by 9-a.m. Monday and again by 9-a.m. Thursday, each week. Signs will also be placed in Shelby County communities that agree to change them on the days mentioned.  In rare events, such as vacations or during incidents, the EMS Coordinator may change the sign if requested.  Each community will be responsible for checking www.shelbycountyema.com on Monday, and Thursday mornings to get the current Fire Danger Rating.

Fire Danger rating will be a combination of the National Weather Service Grassland Fire Danger Index, as well as a review of the Probability of Ignition tables.  Based on these factors, the danger will be placed into one of the four categories: Low, Moderate, High and Extreme.

When the Fire Danger is….

• Low: You are asked to call in and report your burning projects to dispatch at 712-755-2124, and notify your local Fire Chief.
• Moderate: You are asked to call in and report your burning projects to dispatch at 712-755-2124, and notify your local Fire Chief. Timing for burns should be morning, or evening hours and extinguished by dark unless authorized by Fire Chief due to possible impacts to roads and health from smoke. Burns must be monitored at all times.
• High: Burning of any kind is restricted unless approval is received from local Fire Chief. Controlled burns that are not reported will result in Fire Department being dispatched, and Fires extinguished if determined to be un-safe. Please call 712-755-2124 with questions
• Extreme: – Burning is prohibited, unless you have a signed permit from the local Fire Chief. Fires on Extreme days can grow rapidly and pose a risk to the Health and Safety of the Community. If you have any questions please call 712-755-2124.

Seivert says they’re putting this information out to the public as an education tool, to lower the risk to responders and the public, of responding to controlled burns that are being properly carried out.  The importance of the program he says, is getting the Public to call in the burns to the Shelby County EMA, and getting the public in touch with the local Fire Chief who ultimately decides on how burning can be carried out under the published conditions.

An official with the University of Iowa says a meeting will be held this Wednesday morning in Oakland, with regard to flood protection efforts in the area. Richard Lewis, Senior Research Writer at the U-of-I, says watershed management authorities will be formally creating flood-protection and water quality plans for the East Nishnabotna and West Nishnabotna River watersheds. Planning groups will meet 9-a.m. Wednesday (Sept. 14th) at the Oakland Community Center (614 Dr. VanZee Road), in Oakland.

More details about the meeting can be found here: http://bit.ly/2cH6lvS

Lewis says the meeting is a key step in moving the flood protection planning forward. It comes after the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa announced last June at meetings in Sidney and Glenwood, that it had obtained $96.9-million to address issues associated with the devastating and dangerous floods Iowa communities experience year-after-year.

Nine watersheds across Iowa will serve as project sites, including the East and West Nishnabotna Rivers.

Bob Beebensee and DNR Conservation District Supervisor Brian Smith talk about conservation topics in Southwest Iowa.

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Delegates at this week’s Iowa Farm Bureau policy conference passed a resolution supporting the idea of finding existing or even NEW state tax revenue to finance water quality projects. The group had previously OPPOSED the idea of raising state taxes to finance soil and water conservation initiatives. Farm Bureau president Craig Hill says the group believes a VOLUNTARY approach that provides government incentives to farmers is the best approach.

“Every farm is unique. Every farm is diverse. Every farm is different in its slope or its topography or its drainage and so we need to develop plans that are uniquely qualified for that farm and you don’t do that through regulation,” Hill says. “You do that through voluntary, incentive-based action.” This spring, Iowa lawmakers deadlocked over how to best finance a massive increase in state funding for water quality projects.

For the past few years, the state has been under pressure from the federal government to reduce the amount of farm chemical runoff, then came the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit in 2015. It amounts to a legal challenge of the voluntary approach to water conservation on Iowa farms. “The lawsuit may be a way of bullying farmers in a way,” Hill says. “We don’t think that’s the right thing. We think we all should come together. We all should partner together. We all should figure out how to accomplish out goals and solve the problem together. It doesn’t need to be through a court.”

On Monday, a coalition of groups will hold a news conference to declare support for increasing the state sales tax to pay for water conservation efforts. The Iowa Soybean Association along with environmental groups, Iowa Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy are listed on a news release as part of the coalition.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Guthrie County Extension service report Palmer Amaranth was confirmed in Guthrie County this (Friday) morning. Guthrie County Extension & Outreach will host a meeting on Palmer Amaranth next 7-p.m. Wednesday, September 14th at the Extension Office in Guthrie Center (212 State Street).

Topics to be covered include:

• The recent discovery of Palmer Amaranth in Guthrie County
• P-A Identification
• Plant Biology
• Current levels of infestations across Iowa
• and Management possibilities in CRP Plantings and Row Crops.

The session will be presented by ISU Field Agronomist Mike Witt.

For more information on Palmer Amaranth, go to this link: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/stopping-spread-palmer-amaranth-aggressive-competitive-weed

The president of the Iowa Farm Bureau says it’s “vitally important” that congress pass the pending “T-P-P” trade deal before year’s end. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership. Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Hill says congress should act after the November election, before the new president takes office. “Every day that we delay is a day that we depreciate the value of the agreement,” Hill says. “It’s a multilateral, comprehensive trade agreement. It includes 12 countries which brings net farm income to the positive by about $4.4 billion a year.”

Hill says, unfortunately, the two major party presidential candidates have “poisoned the well” on the trade pact President Obama’s administration negotiated with 11 other “Pacific Rim” countries. “But we’re hopeful. We’re working on it every day. It’s important to America. It’s important to the world,” Hill says. “And after we get this one done, TTIP — which is the European trade deal — could be executed upon. It’s being negotiated now, but we can’t do that until we get TPP.”

The Trans Pacific Partnership involves a dozen countries with a border that touches the Pacific Ocean. Farm groups say the deal would stop countries from using “non-scientific” reasons for barring the import of U.S. commodities, like corn and soybeans as well as pork, beef and dairy products.

(Radio Iowa)