Officials with the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development, located at the Armstrong Research Farm near Lewis, say they intend to establish teams to identify research/education needs in southwest Iowa, and propose projects to be
conducted at the Armstrong Research Farm, the Neely-Kinyon Research
Farm, or on private farms in the Wallace Foundation southwest Iowa area.

Eligible projects must be consistent with the Wallace Foundation mission:To provide a framework for local people to accelerate agricultural research, technology transfer, and rural development in southwest Iowa.

Proposed team focal areas include: fruits and vegetables; crops and soils; livestock; niche markets, farm business management, and local foods; and, resources, membership and youth involvement in the Wallace Foundation.

Applications for participation on a team will be received through calendar year 2016.

If interested, contact the Wallace Foundation, 53020 Hitchcock Avenue, Lewis, IA 51544.

The Cass County Extension Master Gardeners group is excited to announce that they will be offering a $500 scholarship to encourage local youth with an interest in horticulture to pursue it as a career. The purpose of this scholarship is to provide post-secondary tuition funds to Cass County youth who are studying, or intend to pursue a career in, a horticulture-related field.

This scholarship is available to students from Cass County who are currently enrolled in their second year or higher of a college or trade school, studying in a horticulture related field. Applications are due December 30 to the Cass County Extension Office. Selection will be made by a Cass County Master Gardeners committee, and winners will be notified in January. Scholarship checks will be written to the college or trade school in the student’s name following the first semester of the recipient’s sophomore (or subsequent) year.

The goal of the Master Gardener program is to support horticulture education and community service. To this end, scholarship winners will be selected based on their academic success, history of community service, and career goals after graduation. Quality and completeness of application will also be taken into consideration. Application forms and further details can be found on the Cass County Extension web site at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass. For more information, call the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or email Kate Olson, Master Gardener Coordinator, at keolson@iastate.edu.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say two hunters were injured by gunshot wounds in separate incidents while deer hunting, Sunday. 47-year old Walter Freeman, of Winfield, was struck in the abdomen by a deer slug believed to have been fired by another member of his hunting party shortly after 2 p.m. northeast of Winfield. He was transported by helicopter to University of Iowa hospitals where he was undergoing surgery Sunday evening for internal injuries.

28-year old Travis E. Myers, of Dundee, was in a group of 11 hunters pushing deer on private property approximately one mile northeast of Backbone State Park in Delaware County when he was struck a deer slug in the upper right shoulder by shot fired from another member of the hunting party shortly after 8 a.m. He was transported to Manchester Regional Medical Center in Manchester where he was expected to be treated and released for a flesh wound.

Both incidents remain under investigation by conservation officers for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Megan Wisecup who coordinates hunter safety programs for the DNR, said both of the incidents Sunday occurred when shots were being taken at moving deer. “It is especially important from a safety standpoint while party hunting for deer that people plan their hunt and hunt their plan so everyone is where they should be at all times,” said Wisecup.

She said also, “Hunters should also be sure to identify the target and what is beyond it and avoid target fixation and shooting at running deer. Wait until you have a clear shot with a safe backstop before pulling the trigger. Know where members of your hunting party are at, at all times.”

Officials with the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) say the passion Stacie Euken has for agriculture is clear from her countless leadership positions with various organizations and dedicated work to help tell the story of Iowa agriculture. Euken’s commitment to youth interested in agriculture and contributions to the local community has earned her the 2015 Bob Joslin Excellence in Agriculture Award from the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

Stacie Euken

Euken received the award at the 97th IFBF annual meeting in Des Moines on Dec. 2nd. The award honors a young farmer who demonstrates outstanding leadership qualities in Farm Bureau, agriculture, and his/her community. Euken and her husband Eric own and operate a diversified farm operation near Wiota, consisting of corn, soybeans, alfalfa, a cow/calf herd, beef feedlot, and a small farrow-to-finish niche swine operation.

Euken has been an active leader in Iowa agriculture for many years, first joining the Cass County Farm Bureau board of directors in 2008. While serving on the county board, Euken has twice been elected membership chair, served as vice president, and is currently in her third year as the county president.

Stacie’s passion is sharing the story of Iowa agriculture with as many people as possible, and that includes helping others share that message. Euken was instrumental in helping organize a Teachers Academy through the Iowa Ag Literacy Foundation to provide farm tours to teachers and share ways to incorporate agriculture education into their classrooms. Additionally, Euken volunteers for the Cass County 4-H, Atlantic FFA Alumni Chapter, Iowa Pork Producers Association, and is a member of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association, and Iowa Cattlemen’s Association.

As the Joslin Award winner, Euken receives a $1,500 Home and Workshop certificate
from John Deere, the award sponsor, a 90-day no-principle and no-interest (NPNI)
John Deere Financial Certificate up to $5,000, a $750 FAST STOP gift card from
GROWMARK, and expense-paid trips to the 2016 American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Annual Convention in Orlando, and the 2016 GROWMARK annual meeting in Chicago in August.

The Excellence in Ag Award is given in memory of Bob Joslin, who served as IFBF
president from January 1986 to December 1987 and was known for his support and
encouragement of young farmers.

The first shotgun deer season opens this weekend on the heels of what has been a successful bow season. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife research technician, Jim Coffey, says hunters have already reported taking more than 27-thousand deer. “We’ve had an excellent fall with weather conditions and the crops came out early, and the hunters have had some great days to be out there. So, I think that has helped increase the number of people in the field and also increase license sales,” Coffey says. Coffey says he doesn’t expect any drop in hunters taking to the field this season.

He says the license sales for the shotgun season have been right on track to be about the same amount as last year. With license sales doing well, he expects the harvest numbers to be right around last year too. “Reported harvest last year was right at about 100-thousand deer and that’s what we would expect this year — unless there’s some major phenomenon in the weather — we should track pretty similarly,” according to Coffey. The weather is expected to warm up this weekend and Coffey says the weather conditions can really dictate the success of the hunt.

“Weather impacts the hunters as much or more than it does the deer. And sometimes warmer weather is just a little more difficult because the deer can spread themselves out,” Coffey explains. “It’ll be an interesting weekend, it will be a little muddy in some places. It should be nice weather, but that can actually make it more difficult to deer hunt.” The D-N-R surveys the deer population to try and keep it under control. Coffey though doesn’t talk about deer numbers in specific areas.

“Populations are something that are very difficult to talk about across the entire state because there is so much difference in the habitat from north to south and east and west. So we talk about trends more than anything,” Coffey says. He says if you saw deer last year in the places you normally hunt, there should be plenty of deer in those areas again this year.

This first shotgun deer season begins Saturday and runs through next Wednesday. The second shotgun season is December 12th through the 20th. The archery season closes Saturday to allow for the shotgun season and will re-open on December 21st. The late muzzleloader season opens at the same time and both will run through January 10th.

(Radio Iowa)

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The Cass County Extension office is once again hosting continuing instructional courses (C-CICs) for local commercial pesticide applicators, but wants to remind anyone who has yet to attend the training that all CIC training must be completed by the end of December. To avoid conflicts with year-end scheduling, Cass County Extension is requesting that all training dates be scheduled by Tuesday, December 15th.

“We know year end is a busy time for all, but we don’t want anyone to miss the opportunity to attend their annual required training, as time to meet those annual requirements is getting short.” shared Kate Olson, Extension Program Coordinator in Cass County. “We do offer trainings on a first-come, first-served basis, and our hours will be slightly different during the holidays, so we’d like to remind folks to call and get their classes scheduled before our year-end calendar fills up!”

According to Olson, reshow dates can occur after December 15th, but they must be on the calendar before then to be honored. To ensure a spot on the training schedule, applicators needing to complete CIC for the year are asked to call prior to December 15th. Training dates can be scheduled locally by calling the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or emailing lander@iastate.edu. For more information on the Commercial Pesticide Applicator program or the CIC classes, please visit www.extension.iastate.edu/psep/ComAp.html.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released the results of a special checkpoint held earlier this month at the southbound Interstate 29 weigh station south of Sioux City. D-N-R Conservation officer Chad Morrow set up the checkpoint. Morrow says there are a lot of hunters and fishermen traveling at this time of year and they tried to do as many compliance checks that they could for proper licenses and game limits. The 60 state and county officers involved interviewed 620 people traveling on the interstate between noon and 5 p-m. Morrow says they ended up with 35 wildlife citations and one traffic citation.

“But we also addressed probably hundreds of other violations with written warnings, verbal warnings, along with citations as well,” Morrow says. He says one issue stood out. “Probably being the transportation of pheasants without the attached foot, wing or head so we can I-D for sex and wether they are a rooster or not. That was probably the most common violation,” according to Morrow. There were a variety of other violations too.

“Firearms uncased, loaded, we had some illegal deer cases that we investigated and turned over to other state,” Morrow says. Morrow says the results of the operation are good reminder for all hunters and fishermen to read up on the rules and regulations before going out. He says you should know the transportation and license requirements along with the bag limits and daily possession limits. “There’s quite a few details to know there, so you have to be prepared before you take a trip to another state or go out on a hunting trip or on any hunting, fishing, trapping type activity,” Morrow says.

The citations issued carry a fine and court costs totaling 195 dollars. Officials seized 166 pheasants and nine ducks during the operation which was held on November 15th.

(Radio Iowa)

Three siblings who grew up on a farm in southwest Iowa will be honored early next year for their actions in selling the property. Dale Nimrod says his father died of cancer not long after purchasing the farm, near Stanton in Montgomery County, in 1944. Nimrod’s mother stayed on the 240-acre farm and raised her children — with help from neighbors and the community. In 2005, the Nimrod children decided it was time to sell the property.

Sunny and Dale Nimrod on their farm near Decorah.

“We were looking to give back to that community that helped raise us in the absence of my dad,” Dale said. The Nimrod family hoped to find a young family that would appreciate “the land, the community, and the church.” They settled on Mark and Melanie Peterson, a couple raising five children. “When we sold it to them, two of (the children) thought they may want to go into farming,” Dale said. “Mark was determined, if they wanted to farm, he’d have something they could work on.” The farm was sold to the Peterson family at a below-market-value price.

“(We) were willing to sell it on its economic value, its productivity value, not whatever its market value is – which is not very relevant, I don’t think, to anything,” Dale said. “So, we had (Mark) fill out some forms from Iowa State, like the kind of forms you’d fill out if you’re going to take out a farm loan, so he could see what he’d need to do in order to make the payments and we set the payments accordingly.” The 75-year-old Nimrod taught chemistry for many years at Luther College and lives on a farm near Decorah with his wife Sunny. He and his siblings, Faith and Vance, were recently selected as the 2015 winners of the Practical Farmers’ Farmland Owner Award.

The award will be presented to the Nimrod Family at the Practical Farmers of Iowa’s annual conference on January 22 in Ames. According to the organization, the Farmland Owner Award is given to non-operator landlords “who use their land to advance stewardship and help get the next generation started on the land.”

(Radio Iowa)