w/ Dr. Keith Leonard

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w/ Denny Heflin  Note: Audio is scratchy.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa lawmaker wants to require double-fencing at deer farms and shooting preserves where white-tail deer are kept.  The bill introduced Monday by Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman Dick Dearden is intended to reduce the threat of chronic wasting disease being transmitted to Iowa’s deer herd.

The height of fences around deer farms and preserves would have to increase from 8 to 10 feet and there would have to be a 10-foot secondary fence. This would prevent nose-to-nose contact between captive deer and wild deer.  Dale Garner, who heads the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ wildlife bureau, tells The Gazette in Cedar Rapids that double-fencing would help.

The DNR says deer hunting has a $214 million annual economic impact on the state.

w/ Kate Olson

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The Trustee in the case of the Portsmouth-based G and R Feed and Grain Company Incorporated bankruptcy case, reports an informational meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 5th at 1:30 p.m. at Club 191 in Portsmouth. The meeting is informational only and claim forms will be available. Trustee Deborah Petersen says the U.S. Department of Agriculture has sold all stored grain. Each producer with a warehouse receipt for stored grain will receive a letter in the next couple of weeks from the USDA. Producers
can expect to receive a check for their stored grain from the USDA within 4 – 6 weeks after all grain is removed. Petersen says at this point, there is no action for producers to take with the USDA.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture has sent letters to producers who sold grain to G & R for cash or who sold grain on an unsigned contract and were not paid. Such individuals may qualify for the Indemnity Fund and may receive up to 90% of their claim, with certain limits from IDALS. These producers can file their claims with the Iowa Department of Agriculture, as well as with the
Bankruptcy Court. If you have a claim for a deferred price contract, or other amount due you, you should take action
to timely file a claim with the Bankruptcy Court. If you have a contract for future delivery of grain, you will soon receive notice of rejection or assumption of that contract, as the Trustee will not be fulfilling those contracts, but may have offers to purchase them or assign.

Once the decision is made, the Trustee will file the necessary notice with the Court and all holders will receive notice of the Trustee’s action. Contracts that are rejected, once approved by the Court, will have no further action required. If contracts are assumed or sold, then the producer will be required to fulfill the contract. The Trustee is gathering other information and working on liquidating all assets as soon as possible, as well as collecting all accounts due G & R, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on January 1st, 2013. The company’s estimated debt is between $1 million and $10 million. Its estimated assets are up to $50,000.

Iowans may see more mountain lions in their back yards and fields this year, as cougar populations are rising in their natural habitats — like Colorado and Oklahoma. Chuck Gipp, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says cougars are solitary and territorial so a growing population means some are forced to strike out on their own. Some will make it to Iowa, he says, which is how a big cat came to be shot in Des Moines last fall.  “As these young males get kicked out of their home area and they can travel significantly per day to get here,” Gipp says. “How it wound up in the middle of Des Moines is an interesting concept.”

While humans aren’t usually at risk, he says mountain lions prefer to prey on small mammals like rabbits and stray cats. “You’re going to see more and more of these types of things coming to Iowa because we’ve got a food source,” he says. Gipp says the rise of mountain lions in Iowa should balance itself out in the next few years. As more hunters in other states kill mountain lions, fewer shunned young males will wander into Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

Persons interested in recreation, wellness, trails and tourism are invited to attend the next meeting of the Nishna Valley Trails association, on Monday, January 28^th, from 6 to 7 p.m., at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church, 1101 E. 13^th Street in Atlantic.  Officials with the organization say following brief updates on the development of trails in Cass County and Atlantic and reports on work with city and county partners, the group will brainstorm ideas for promoting and developing trails in the months ahead, including the next Bike/Trails Expo.

Everyone is invited to bring their good ideas and interest in community development, and join in the conversation.

Officials with the Des Moines Register are set to announce the route for the papers’ 41st annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. RAGBRAI 41 will start somewhere along the Missouri River in western Iowa, and makes its way to the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa, over the course of a week. Tonight’s party (Jan. 26th) preceding the announcement, will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Community Choice Credit Union in downtown Des Moines, with the proceeds from the price of admission to benefit the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. Last year’s party and fundraiser brought in $77,000 for the non-profit bike advocacy organization. The announcement of the route and the communities set to serve as hosts and pass through towns, will also be made available on-line during a live show at RAGBRAI.com., beginning at 8:15-p.m.

This year’s RAGBRAI event takes place July 21st-through the 27th. Last year’s trip began in Sioux Center in northwest Iowa and ended in the southeastern Iowa community of Clinton. The seven-day total mileage averages 468 miles while the daily mileage averages 67 miles. Atlantic has served as a host community for the event six times over the past 40-years, beginning in 1974, and as recently as 2011.

Despite the severe drought, a new report finds farm equipment sales remained strong across the U-S last year. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers reports combine sales were nearly steady from the previous year, while tractor sales rose ten-percent. The group’s senior vice president, Charlie O’Brien, credits farmers’ confidence in the ag economy. “That drove tractor sales in the smaller units for the smaller farming operations,” O’Brien says. “There was also certainly very good commodity prices which drove the 100-horsepower and four-wheel-drive tractor sales.”

A recent federal report found 60-percent of the lower 48 states are still in drought, including all of Iowa, a figure that’s been virtually unchanged since July. Strong demand around the world for American corn, soybeans and other crops means high commodity prices and that’s helped farmers keep their debt low. The result is there’s money available to buy new machinery. O’Brien’s outlook for this year is “conservative optimism” — conservative because he doesn’t yet know the long-term effects of last year’s drought.

He says, “Talking to some people that were severely impacted by the drought, there were some people in Indiana last week that said they’re still 12-inches below where they need to be from a moisture content perspective and whether or not there’s carryover in 2013 from pulling out of the drought.” There’s also concern about what might happen to the farm bill in Congress. For those reasons, he predicts farm equipment sales this year will be close to last year’s, but O’Brien thinks “flat is good.” The association has been tracking tractor and combine sales since the early 1970s.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowans submitted more than 600 photos as part of a contest to determine the cover of the next Iowa Travel Guide. Iowa Tourism Office spokesperson Jessica O’Riley says judges have now narrowed the field to three finalists. The finalists include boaters having fun on an Okoboji lake entered by Brock Bringle of Storm Lake, a family hiking at Maquoketa Caves State Park submitted by Kelsey Delperdang of Cedar Rapids and a kayaker enjoying the Turkey River sent in by Jessica Rilling from Cedar Rapids.

Fans or followers of the Iowa Tourism Office on Facebook will now choose their favorite of the three photos between now and February 1. The winning cover will be announced February 4. O’Riley says fans may vote for their favorite photo once a day per Facebook profile.

The new Iowa Travel Guide will be made available this spring. The annual publication features information about hundreds of vacation destinations in Iowa, as well as hotel and campground listings. The tourism office distributes more than 100,000 copies of the guide and a digital version is also available at www.traveliowa.com. The cover of the 2012 Iowa Travel Guide features bicyclists on the High Trestle Trail near Madrid.

(Radio Iowa)