DES MOINES, IOWA [Submitted by an Atlantic FFA reporter] —On Wednesday January 21st 6 members of the Atlantic FFA Chapter along with FFA members from across Iowa converged on the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines to build character and promote citizenship, volunteerism, and patriotism.

Atlantic FFA members Lauren Comes, Maddy Anderson, Hayden Kleen, Keston Schmitt, Frank Freund and Kayedance Sturm along with more than 500 high school students wearing blue corduroy from 88 schools visited the Iowa State Capitol Building in Des Moines on January 21st. The students visited with legislators, exhibited skills learned in the agriculture classroom and learned the importance of citizenship. This was all part of the 41st Annual Iowa FFA Legislative Symposium and FFA Day at the Capitol.

Left to right: Lauren Comes, Kayedance Sturm, Frank Freund, Maddy Anderson, Senator Shipley, Hayden Kleen, Keston Schmitt

Atlantic FFA members met with Senator Tom Shipley to discuss a variety of topics ranging from school funding to Eminent Domain and how it could affect Iowa agriculture. Representative Moore was unable to meet with us due to a committee meeting, but we did meet with his clerk Ella Stafford to discuss a few different legislative topics and how an FFA member could become a Clerk or Page in the future.

During the morning, FFA members gathered at the Downtown Embassy Suites for a brief greeting and tutorial. The program provided opportunities for FFA members to hear from Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, about the importance of agriculture in Iowa and abroad. Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Vice President, Brian Feldpausch, then delivered a message about the importance young agriculturalists can play in the agriculture industry. Jake Swanson from High Yield Strategies then spoke about the importance of advocating for the agricultural industry.

Seated Lauren Comes. Back row left to right: Frank Freund, Hayden Kleen, Keston Schmitt, Maddy Anderson Kayedance Sturm

The 41st Annual Iowa FFA Legislative Symposium and FFA Day at the Capitol was made possible with support from Iowa Farm Bureau Federation through the Iowa FFA Foundation.

(Photos submitted w/the story)

(Radio Iowa) – Case New Holland is laying off more than 200 workers at its plant in Burlington which makes construction equipment. Burlington Mayor Jon Billups says they worked hard to get the company to stay there. “We reached out to the state leaders, and everybody was trying to keep them here,” he says. Billups says the plant has been a point of pride for the Burlington community for generations.

“It stinks, because we’ve had years of investment in their plant, both as a city and as a state, and it’s just heartbreaking for the families that are going to be affected,” Billups says. The employees were given notice earlier this week and Iowa WARN says the layoffs will take effect in April and May. Case New Holland said its reason for the layoffs was a significant drop in loader backhoe demand. “I get they’re not selling as many backhoes as they used to, but they’re selling other equipment we could be manufacturing for them, and they’ve got a perfectly good plant here with a fantastic workforce, and they’re not taking advantage of it,” Billups says.

Local leaders and members of the United Auto Workers had been trying to convince the company to keep the plant open. U-A-W President Shawn Fain called the closure an example of corporate greed.

Cass County: Corn $3.99 Beans $10.11
Adair County: Corn $3.96 Beans $10.14
Adams County: Corn $3.96 Beans $10.10
Audubon County: Corn $3.98 Beans $10.13
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.02 Beans $10.11
Guthrie County: Corn $4.01 Beans $10.15
Montgomery County: Corn $4.01 Beans $10.13
Shelby County: Corn $4.02 Beans $10.11

Oats: $2.57 (same in all counties)

(Prices are per bushel; information is from the area Farm Service Agency [FSA] offices)

DES MOINES— Today, Governor Kim Reynolds authorized a disaster proclamation for Kossuth County, Iowa, effective immediately through February 21, 2026. The USDA has confirmed a positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a mixed species flock of game bird pheasants and backyard chickens.

This proclamation allows state resources from Iowa Homeland Security, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other agencies to assist with tracking and monitoring, rapid detection, containment, disposal, and disinfection. The proclamation also waives regulatory provisions related to commercial vehicles responding to affected sites.

The recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, and it remains safe to eat poultry products. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately.

(Radio Iowa) – Corn production in Iowa and the nation was on an upward trajectory last year, but industry leaders say there’s now a problem with declining market demand. A new study produced for two Iowa agri-business groups predicts that demand gap will continue to grow. Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says an oversupply of corn will drag down prices for farmers unless something changes.

“As is usual, we’re outproducing our markets, and so, there’s really three paths forward,” Shaw says. “There’s the status quo where supply continues to go up faster than demand.” Mark Mueller, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and a fourth-generation farmer from Waverly, says he’s worried there won’t be a fifth generation on his family’s land.

Mueller says, “The bottom line is that we have high input prices, we have low commodity prices, and we’re producing more corn all the time. We need more places to move our corn.” The Iowa Corn Growers Association is pushing Congress to allow the year-round sale of E-15 nationwide. A new study for the group finds that would close the demand gap for corn by 2031. The study predicts new markets for corn, like sustainable aviation fuel, are needed for long-term profitability.

Cass County: Corn $3.98 Beans $10.10
Adair County: Corn $3.95 Beans $10.13
Adams County: Corn $3.95 Beans $10.09
Audubon County: Corn $3.97 Beans $10.12
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.01 Beans $10.10
Guthrie County: Corn $4.00 Beans $10.14
Montgomery County: Corn $4.00 Beans $10.12
Shelby County: Corn $4.01 Beans $10.10

Oats: $2.58 (same in all counties)

(Prices are per bushel; information is from the area Farm Service Agency [FSA] offices)

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission has approved a new three-year contract for monitoring the water quality in the state’s lakes. D-N-R environmental specialist Dan Kendall says the contract continues the partnership with Iowa State University. “I-S-U will be collecting samples from 154 sites, and then the D-N-R will be collecting samples from an additional lake sites,” he says. They are testing for several things in the lakes, including phosphorus levels. Kendall as the data is used for the Clean Water Act water quality assessments report produced by the D-N-R every two years.  “This monitoring typically yields about 10-thosuand sampling results from over 600 sampling events for each year of this contract,” he says.

He says the Lake Restoration organizations uses the data from this program to prioritize their lakes in their restoration plan. The also use it to track the effectiveness of things like alum (aluminum sulfate) treatments in lake restoration efforts.  “Alum treatments are often used as a tool to reduce that internal load of phosphorus in a lake, and then that reduction of phosphorus and often lead to the reduction of phytoplankton overgrowth or algal bloom conditions in the lake,” he says. “So they were wanting to be able to track their efforts as they as they do these applications.” Kendall says I-S-U has a new tool that will help them in monitoring lake water quality.

“I-S-U has acquired a flow cam Cyano, which is essentially an automated imaging microscope that can differentiate between the different types of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria,” Kendall says. “And this new process will basically allow the lab to identify the samples faster as well as kind of in that time frame that that we really want to be able to see the information.” Kendall says this contract cost is more than one-point-seven million dollars ($1,741,679), a 20 percent increase. “This is due to several factors, one of which is we’re going from a two-year contract back to a three-year contract again,” he says. “And then some of the other factors contributing to this increase are staff and technician salary increases at I-S-U, increases in the cost of supplies and reagents for analysis, we’ve kind of seen a big jump there. And then increased transportation costs.”

Kendall was asked by a commissioner if working with public agencies and their increased salary costs is the best way to go. He says the legislature requires they work with public agencies and says it is a delicate balance of working with universities and continually trying to see what they can do to limit costs without reducing services.

(Radio Iowa) – As the U-S Supreme Court weighs the legality of President Trump’s tariffs, several farm groups say the administration’s trade policy will have harmful, long-lasting effects. Aaron Lehman is a farmer and president of the Iowa Farmers Union. “This chaotic tariff policy is not getting us any closer to fair trade,” Lehman says. “We are no closer to stopping product dumping, manipulative monetary policies, uneven labor and environmental standards, and unfair labeling restrictions.” Last April, Trump declared a national emergency posed by trade deficits and announced taxes on imports from nearly every U-S trading partner. Small businesses and a dozen states sued, and the case is being reviewed by the highest court.

Lehman says the bigger issue is Trump’s overall approach to trade policy. He says, “It’s wrong to use tariffs like we’re trying to change a light bulb with a hammer.” Lehman says the damage to trade partners and uncertainty makes it difficult to plan for the 2026 growing season, especially as production costs continue to outpace prices for corn and soybeans. “Farmers already have few choices in the marketplace,” Lehman says, “and a chaotic trade policy makes a bad situation even worse.”

He says the administration’s approach undermines decades of investments by farmers to build relationships with buyers overseas, many of whom may switch to suppliers in other countries. Lehman spoke during a press call organized by the group Tariffs Cost US.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a bill that would prevent Summit Carbon from using eminent domain authority to seize land along its proposed pipeline route. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says people who don’t want the pipeline on their property should have the right to say no.

“It affects their business. It affects their lives,” Holt said, “and they were there first.” The bill is similar to a law in South Dakota and it passed the Iowa House on a 64-to-28 vote. Republican Representative Chad Ingels, a farmer from Randalia, says the bill would block construction of the carbon pipeline, a project he says would be a public good because it would boost the bottom line for farmers who sell their corn to make ethanol.

“Having better markets for our products is not only in my family’s best interest, it’s my neighbor’s best interest, it’s in a farmer in southwest Iowa’s best interest,” Ingels said. “…It’s in the best interest of our state to have young people willing to come back and farm.” Republican Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant says the Iowa and U-S Constitutions require that laws apply equally to all those impacted and that’s why he can’t support the bill.

“What this bill does is create two separate regulatory schemes depending on what’s going through the pipeline if you say to one pipeline company…and their gas pipelines, ‘You can use the eminent domain,’ but then tell another pipeline that’s running a different kind of gas, ‘You can’t.'” Holt says the carbon pipeline may be beneficial to some, but it doesn’t serve a public purpose. “I think we all want economic development, but not at the expense of the constitutionally protected rights of our fellow citizens,” Holt said.

“…The precedent we will set if we allow private property to be seized for a private economic development project will reverberate for decades to come and could render property rights safeguards in our constitution meaningless for our children and our children’s children.”  This bill now goes to the Senate and is among a handful of pipeline-related proposals the House has passed over the past five years.

House debate on Wednesday afternoon lasted only half an hour for a bill that was just two pages long. The Republican leader in the Iowa Senate has proposed an alternative that would let the pipeline corridor so Summit could go around landowners who’ve refused to grant the company an easement on their property.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa hit an air quality goal in December that had been in the works for more than ten years. The D-N-R’s Don Tormey says the E-P-A determined that the Muscatine area reached the federal mandated level for sulfur dioxide emissions. “With that action by E-P-A, the entire state of Iowa is now in full attainment with all the federal national ambient air quality standards, the entire state,” he says. “that was the one part of Iowa, and that was the one criteria pollutant that was not attainment.” Tormey leads the D-N-R’s Environmental Services Division and says the E-P-A tests air quality for particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide, along with sulfur dioxide.

He says it has been a long time since the entire state met the E-P-A goals.  “We have not been in that status since December 30th, 2011, or 14 years ago. We are now the 17th state in the Union to be in full attainment with all those standards,” Tormey says. Tormey says there is a big difference in the air quality in Muscatine now compared to back then. “So actual sulfur dioxide annual emissions in the Muscatine area are down 13-thousand tons compared to 2011,” Tormey says. “And the measured ambient monitoring data values are currently at 17 parts per billion for this part of Iowa, which is well below the standard of 75 parts per billion. And back in 2011, it was 217 parts per billion.” Tormey says it took a lot of work and cooperation to bring the numbers down in Muscatine.

“Of course, this just didn’t happen overnight. We’ve been working with the Muscatine area businesses for the last ten years to make this happen, because they obviously needed to reduce emissions in the area for this to happen. And so it’s been a really good partnership between those businesses and our air quality staff, “Tormey says. Tormey says everyone is very proud of achieving this air quality standard. He made his comments during the Environmental Protection Commission meeting.