May 21, 2013

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Planting progress zooms ahead with a dry week

May 20, 2013 By

Iowa farmers made up a lot of time planting last week with a stretch of dry weather. The latest crop report from the U.S.D.A. shows 71-percent of the corn is now in the ground — an increase of 56-percent compared to last week’s report.

Even with that progress, the corn planting at this point in the spring remains well behind the 97-percent that was in the ground last year, and also behind the five year average is 92-percent.

Soybean planting is 16-percent complete, well behind the 78-percent that was completed at this time last year. The wet weather has helped the soil moisture, with just three percent of the topsoil moisture reported as short. Just two percent of subsoil moisture was reported very short and 13-percent short.

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Gardners asked to take steps to protect honey bees

May 20, 2013 By

Iowa State University’s Extension entomologists are asking you to be careful about harming honeybees as you get out an about in the warm weather and tend to your plants. Entomologist, Laura Jesse, says insecticides were one of the things mentioned in a recent report on the decline of the honeybee population across the U.S.

Jesse says it’s not easy to protect bees while you are trying to rid your garden of pests. “Bees are insects, and yet we have insect pests, so insecticides in general will harm bees. One class of insecticides that we’re concerned about right now is a class called neonicotinoids,” Jesse says.

She says this class of insecticides is very toxic to bees. And she says the neonicotinoids are systemic. “With most of our spray insecticides where you’ve got caterpillars, aphids and things, you spray it on and it dries. As long as you aren’t treating the plant when it’s flowering you are very unlikely to harm pollinating insects,” Jesse explains.

“Whereas with the systemic insecticides you can be putting it on long before the plant flowers and the insecticide is in the pollen and nectar. And we don’t know how much is in the pollen and nectar and for how long.” Jesse says you should determine if the damage to your plant is merely cosmetic, or there is still a problem that needs to be treated.

“The first step is kind of look –there are still insects here it might be worth treating — and then consider other options. In the case of aphids, you can often blast a lot of them off with a hose and then come back with maybe a soap-based insecticide,” Jesse says.

She says always go through the other options before you move in with insecticides. Sometimes people miss the window to treat the insects that have done the damage, but spray anyway. “We call it a revenge spray, where you spray after the damage is done.”

Some people might be afraid of being stung and spray bees anytime they see them. Jesse says that’s not a good strategy.

She says honeybees and bumblebees are not that aggressive, while the yellow jackets are probably the most aggressive. But Jesse says yellow jackets eat a lot of insect pests and are very beneficial. Jesse says if you have questions you can call her or others at the Iowa State Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic at 515-294-0581.

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Tractor ride across Iowa to benefit children’s hospital (VIDEO)

May 20, 2013 By

An Iowa farmer and a country music artist have teamed up to raise money for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines. Dick Barkema and Tom Wurth’s fundraiser involves a tractor ride across the state.

They’re calling next month’s event Playing for Change as Barkema says they’ll accept donations along the way with Wurth performing each night of the week-long trip. “We’re giving all of our proceeds back to Blank Children’s Hospital,” Barkema says. The pair came up with the tractor ride idea after touring the hospital last summer.

The ride will start on Saturday, June 17 in Onawa and end June 22 in Dubuque. The nightly stops for Wurth’s concerts will be in Ida Grove, Fort Dodge, Iowa Falls, Waterloo, and Manchester. Wurth will also perform in Dubuque.

The tractor route will follow the old Highway 20. Barkema says the cost to ride is $50, with donations of any amount accepted. Dozens of people have already committed to ride the entire week, but Barkema says they won’t turn anyone away. “If a farmer was out in the field and he decided he wanted to unhook his piece of equipment and come join us for a day, that’s fine,” Barkema said. “We think it’s awesome if people come out and join us and show their support towards Blank.”

Barkema farms near Klemme. Wurth is a native of Marcus, Iowa, but moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1994. The video for his latest single, “To Love Somebody,” features images from Blank Children’s Hospital.

(Pat Powers, KQWC, contributed to this story)

 

Filed Under: Agriculture, Health & Medicine, Human Interest, News

EPA says it gave out too much information on livestock producers

May 17, 2013 By

In the wake of scandals with the I.R.S. targeting conservative groups and the Justice Department checking reporters’ phone records, now the EPA admits it gave personal information on 80,000 livestock producers to environmental activist groups.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is preparing legislation to restrict the EPA’s ability to release such data. Iowa Cattlemen’s president Ed Greiman, of Garner, says the measure is badly needed to protect producers’ privacy and rights.

“It’s crazy that we’ve got to deal with the EPA this way,” Greiman says. “It’s a good thing Senator Grassley has been working closely with the National Cattlemen who helped him draft this legislation.” Greiman says the personal privacy issue has drifted down to the state level where EPA has been overseeing the state Department of Natural Resources’ regulation of confined animal feedlots, or CAFOs.

“We know the EPA would like for the Iowa DNR to identify all possible CAFOs,” he says. “The real question we have for the Iowa DNR is, okay, where does this information go? The government just cannot be releasing all of our personal information.”

The EPA was responding to a Freedom of Information Act request by Earth Justice, the Pew Charitable Trust and the Natural Resources Defense Council. EPA officials admit they released more information than was required.

One critic in the U.S. Senate, Republican Mike Johanns of Nebraska, says the EPA is “too cozy” with environmental activist groups.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation, Featured Story, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Iowa House & Senate vote to put farmers’ liability fears “to bed”

May 16, 2013 By

Legislators have approved a bill to try to ease concerns Iowa farmers have been raising after a February Iowa Supreme Court ruling allowed a woman injured during a farm tour to pursue her lawsuit against the farm tour’s host.

Representative Julian Garrett, a Republican from Indianola, said he’s followed the issue closely because he’s a property owner, a Farm Bureau member and a lawyer.

“I’ve looked at this from several different points of view and it does appear to me that we’ve gone a long way toward fixing the uncertainty,” Garrett said.

A 1967 state law granted liability protection to private property owners who open their lands to “recreational purposes” – like hunting and fishing. The bill that cleared both the House and the Senate tonight would expand the liability protection for “educational activities” on private land — like farm tours. Representative Scott Ourth, a Democrat from Ackworth, said the bill should put farmers’ liability fears “to bed.”

“Republicans and Democrats, folks from all over the state, different walks of life, have come together to see to it that the people of the great state of Iowa have been served well, that their fears have been assuaged,” Ourth said.

Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, is a farmer.

“I’m not who loses if we pass this, but I’m darned sure I know who wins,” Rozenboom said. “Iowa wins. Everyone wins.”

Senator Dan Zumbach, a Republican from Ryan, is also a farmer.

“Two days ago I got a request from the students at West Delaware Elementary if they could come out to the farm and do a farm tour and I haven’t answered them yet,” Zumbach said. “I can give ‘em an answer tomorrow.”

The bill first passed the House by a 97-0 vote, then the Senate approved it on a 48-0 vote. It now goes to the governor.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Crime & Courts, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

Economic uncertainty hurts Deere construction business

May 15, 2013 By

Quad Cities-based Deere and Company set another earnings record in the second quarter, and it’s also an all-time high for any quarter. Deere says net income totaled nearly $1.1-billion for February, March, and April, or $2.76 per share, compared to $2.61 one year ago.

Deere spokesman, Ken Golden, says agriculture and turf equipment sales rose 12 percent in the second quarter. But sales of construction and forestry equipment dropped five percent.

“Right now I think the construction equipment market is impacted by the lack of clarity in fiscal policy. Some of the economic factors that we think if they were clarified, people would have more confidence in building, as well the year has started off somewhat wet for construction in North America. For John Deere, North America is the largest part of our construction markets,” Golden says.

But he’s optimistic that demand for backhoes, bulldozers, and excavators will eventually recover. Golden says Deere is now earning the same amount in a single quarter that it earned in an entire year in 1998.

“And then we have expansion of product lines in other parts or the world — like for instance construction is now moving into China, and Brazil and Russia,” Golden says. “And so all of these things put together create a company that is much more global and is able to benefit when markets are strong in one place and not so strong in other places.”

Overall, second quarter sales increased nine percent, to $10.9-billion dollars. And that’s another quarterly record for the company. When its fiscal year ends next fall, Deere now predicts it will set another annual earnings record at $3.3-billion.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, News

Deere expects small drop in sales linked to weather planting delays

May 15, 2013 By

Deere logoDeere and Company’s profit and income are up, but the company is predicting slower growth.

The Moline, Illinois-based manufacturer of farm and construction equipment says its quarterly net profit went up 2.7 percent, thanks mainly to continued growth in farm equipment sales.

Second-quarter net income rose 3 percent to $1.08 billion, or $2.76 per share. But Deere says sales will rise only 5 percent during the current fiscal year, down from the 6 percent it predicted earlier. You can blame the weather for that.

Cool, wet weather delayed the planting of crops, slowed construction work and reduced demand for lawn-care equipment. Deere is Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer.

By Phil Roberts, Davenport

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