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New soybean pest found in 16 western Iowa counties

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Soybean Gall Midge.

Iowa soybean growers have a new threat to worry about, the soybean gall midge.

The recently-discovered pest is confirmed in 16 western Iowa counties so far and it’s destructive. Professor Erin Hodgson, an extension specialist in entomology at Iowa State University, says there are still many unknowns about the new bug and they haven’t yet confirmed its species.

“The immature of the larvae is pretty interesting,” Hodgson says. “It starts off as kind of a clear, almost translucent larvae and then as it matures, it gets darker. It almost looks like like a mandarin orange slice. It pops really orange when you slice open a soybean stalk.” Once they reach the fly stage, the midges are small — just two or three millimeters in length. They have long antennae and unusually hairy wings.

“It’s the larvae that we really care about because it eats at the base of soybean stems on the inside,” Hodgson says. “When it consumes that plant tissue, basically the plant doesn’t have anything to stand on so it lodges and it tips over.” So how do you kill it? That’s an excellent question, Hodgson says, but she can’t yet offer a practical solution.

“When pests are inside of plants, like corn borers and other types of corn pests that get inside the ear, it’s really hard to treat because our full ear insecticides don’t penetrate that plant tissue,” Hodgson says. “I don’t have a good answer for people on how to control these larvae once inside the plant.” Eventually, there may be an adult control program but for now, there’s no good defense. Treating seeds with insecticide does -not- appear effective in holding off the midges, she says. The soybean gall midge is confirmed in these counties: Buena Vista, Cass, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Ida, O’Brien, Page, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, Lyon, Montgomery, Shelby and Woodbury.

 

King says farmers want EPA action on ethanol, not $12 billion aide package

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Congressman Steve King.

Republican Congressman Steve King today said the best thing the Trump Administration could do to alleviate farmers’ angst about the trade war would be to allow higher percentages of ethanol to be blended into gasoline year-round.

“Let the market determine what that blend could be It could go E15, E20, E30, all the way up to E85,” King said. “If the administration does that, I will tell you our producers here would be happy and they would be a lot happier than the promise of $12 billion distributed. They want to earn and they want to trade.”

King met privately Monday evening with EPA acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. King said Wheeler is trying to strike a deal that will placate the ethanol and oil industries.

“Administrator Wheeler is cautious. He’s afraid that if he opens up the door for E15 and beyond that there will be litigation,” King said. “The argument I made to him strongly is if you’re trying to get two stakeholders to agree, the one that already holds the advantage is never going to agree, so you have to go ahead and do what’s right.”

King is among those attending an event featuring Vice President Mike Pence this afternoon in Des Moines. King said the 2017 tax bill was an early Christmas present that is still giving and has created confidence and optimism in the business community.

“The cloud that looms over us is the one of “where does trade take us?'” King said. “But many of them say, ‘I’m willing to ride this thing out if we get a better deal on the other side.'”

King spoke with reporters before the event started. King said he’s warned the Trump Administration things “will get pretty tense” in Iowa if there’s no progress on trade deals by the time soybeans are maturing in September.

Iowans tell EPA chief president made E15 promise, it’s time to deliver

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Andrew Wheeler

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s acting administrator met privately with Iowa commodity group leaders at the Iowa State Fair today — but Andrew Wheeler told reporters afterwards there is no decision yet on regulations that would allow a higher blend of ethanol to be sold year-round.

“I can’t tell you the timeline,” Wheeler said late this afternoon. “We are mindful of needing to have a decision on that before the growing season next year.”

Wheeler seemed to indicate EPA guidelines that would approve the sale of E15 year-round would be coupled with some sort of accommodation for the oil industry.

“We’re certainly looking to see what we can do overall as a part of a larger effort to bring more certainty around the RFS and we’re open to that and I’ve been meeting with different groups around the country — different associations that represent the ethanol people, the refiners — trying to figure out what we can do ,” Wheeler said.

Congressman Young’s office sent out this picture of the roundtable with David Wheeler.

“The important thing is the Trump Administration wants to move forward with implementing the RFS (in) both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

The Renewable Fuels Standard was established by congress and requires the EPA to annually set a mandatory production level for ethanol and other biofuels. Republican Governor Kim Reynolds criticized previous EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for granting waivers that let some oil refiners get around the federal ethanol mandate. Reynolds made the same point today as she stood next to the EPA’s acting director at a brief news conference.

“Fifteen million gallons needs to mean 15 million gallons and I think that’s the message that was delivered today in a very constructive manner,” Reynolds said “And that is something that the Adminsitration and EPA could weigh in on that would have an immediate impact on the price of corn and infuse some optimism and certainty into the market.”

Acting EPA leader Wheeler shakes hands with a man at the Iowa State Fair.

Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Hill was among the few dozen ag-industry leaders who had a private discussion with Wheeler. Hill said the meeting was “constructive,” but the Iowans didn’t get the answers they were hoping for.

“It’s been Christmas for the oil industry on every one of these deals. Where’s our deal?” Hill said. “…We’ve not gotten a thing.”

Hill said farmers and the ethanol industry appreciate that the EPA has met the deadline for setting the federal production mandate for ethanol, but they’re frustrated the waivers granted to oil refineries has effectively reduced the mandated level of ethanol production.

Congressman David Young, a Republican from Van Meter, thanked Wheeler for being “accessible” and listening to Iowa farm groups who’ve been worried about EPA foot-dragging on ethanol-related issues.

“Because of what President Trump said in promising E15, thinking it was a fabulous idea, there’s an expectation that’s going to happen,” Young said.

Young told reporters if the EPA doesn’t figure out how to authorize the sale of E15 year-round, a bipartisan coalition in congress is working on legislation to make it happen.

Ambassador Branstad says Chinese trade discussions continue

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Terry Branstad (file photo)

Farmers in Iowa and across the Midwest want quick resolution to the looming trade war due to the negative impact it’s starting to have on their bottom lines.

Speaking in Des Moines over the weekend, the U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, says he isn’t sure how long the impasse with China will last. “We’re continuing to have discussions,” Branstad says. “I’m trying to keep the leaders in Washington informed and do all that we can. We’ve had several meetings and we’re going to continue to work on it.”

Branstad, a former Iowa governor, says President Trump is justified in putting tariffs on imports of Chinese goods into the U.S. He says China is in worse financial condition than the U.S. due to the drop in that nation’s stock market and currency value. “China has not treated us or other countries fairly for a long time with their stealing of technology and also not enforcing intellectual property rights, the trade deficit has gone up and up,” Branstad says. “We’re trying to get fair and reciprocal trade and we want to double ag exports over the next five years.”

Speaking at the Iowa State Fair, Branstad says it’s unfortunate American farmers have been collateral damage in the trade war and he’s unsure what it will take for China to finally cut a deal with the U.S.  “What the United States has done, we’ve focused on the areas that they’ve been unfair on, stealing technology and that,” he says. “They have focused on agriculture which had nothing to do with this. That’s why we think what the Chinese have done is unfair and they need to come to the realization, just as they did with sorghum, that this doesn’t make sense and they’re hurting their own consumer.”

Branstad says U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has been in talks with Chinese officials over the past two weeks, so the countries are trying to negotiate.

(By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton)

 

Hubbell raps Reynolds for ‘toeing the party line’ on trade war

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Fred Hubbell

Fred Hubbell, the Democratic candidate for governor, today said the private lobbying Republican Governor Kim Reynolds has been doing with President Trump and his top aides on trade issues isn’t the right approach.

Hubbell said Reynolds has “an obligation” to make it clear through public events with farmers and businesses that Trump’s trade war is causing “personal pain” in Iowa.

“Let’s talk about these tariffs and the trade war,” Hubbell said during a midday speech at The Des Moines Register’s “Soapbox” at the Iowa State Fair. “We need a governor who’s going to stand up for Iowans, not stand up for who’s in Washington, D.C. When you’re elected governor, you’re elected to serve the citizens of our state, not a party and who’s ever in DC. It doesn’t matter who it is. You have to represent Iowans.”

After his speech, Hubbell told reporters Reynolds has “been toeing the party line” on the trade war.

“I mean, there are a lot of people on the edge and it’s not just farmers, but it’s the implement dealers, it’s the suppliers of the implement dealers, it’s the people who have shops on Main Street. This affects our entire rural Iowa community and it’s not acceptable to just say: ‘Well, let’s be patient. It’s going to work its way out,'” Hubbell said. “We need somebody that’s going to stand up for Iowans and put Iowans first, regardless of who’s in the White House and regardless of who their party is.”‘

Hubbell gave a nearly 20 minute speech at the fair early this afternoon, touching on the main themes of his campaign. He vowed to restore collective bargaining rights to teachers and state employees and re-establish state funding for Planned Parenthood. He promised to sign a bill that would raise the state minimum wage and let cities and counties set a wage rate that’s higher than the state’s. Hubbell also said the mental health reform package Reynolds signed into law this spring isn’t doing enough to boost access to counseling and in-patient services for Iowans.

“It’s time to stop the rhetoric and start making improvements,” Hubbell said, to cheers from his supporters.

A small crew of critics chanted briefly during Hubbell’s speech. Someone at the edge of the crowd held up a Younkers “going out of business” sign before Hubbell started speaking, but signs are not allowed at the “Soapbox” venue during candidate speeches. The Reynolds campaign has criticized Hubbell’s management of the department store chain in the mid-80s and early ’90s.

“We made decisions to try to support and protect the thousands of employees we had at Younkers and the thousands of customers and their suppliers who depended on Younkers, just like John Deere had to do in those days and a lot of other businesses all across the state,” Hubbell told reporters. “We didn’t like making those decisions, but sometimes you can’t take care of everybody. You’ve got to take care of as many people as you can.”

Hubbell said Reynolds is attacking his record as a business executive because “she doesn’t have a positive record to run on.”

Reynolds released the following written statement after 3 p.m.: “Nobody wins in a trade war, and the administration knows where we stand. I am meeting with farmers regularly and they know I am fighting for them and have been for years. I have led trade missions across the globe promoting Iowa products, went to Washington to defend free and fair trade, and successfully fought to preserve the RFS, and I’ll be making my case for biofuels again when EPA Secretary Wheeler comes to the Iowa State Fair next week.”

Iowa State Fair talk among farmers focuses on challenges in the field

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Iowa State Fair Grandstand.

Farmers attending the Iowa State Fair are talking about the challenges they’ve faced this growing season.

Josh Nelson farms with his family near Belmond in north-central Iowa. He says they’ve probably lost about 10% of their corn and soybean crops to heavy rains and flooding. But otherwise, Nelson says, the crops look great.

“The yield potential is there for over 200 bushels per acre for a lot of our corn,” Nelson said. “Some of it’s not going to make it there, some of it was planted too late to even try to reach that level. But overall, I think we should be pretty happy and pretty thankful for the crop we have.” Jack Boyer, of Reinbeck in northeast Iowa, is planning for above-average yields on his corn.

“It really got off to a gangbuster start, I mean it’s probably two weeks early as far as maturity is concerned,” Boyer said. “Then, it cooled off a little bit so I’m hoping that’ll give it more time to fill in the kernels and the test weight will be a little higher. That’ll help if we can get that, kind of like we did last year.”

Boyer thinks his soybeans will be above-average as well. Condition ratings, statewide, for Iowa’s corn and soybean crops declined in this week’s report from the U.S.DA. The good-to- excellent rating on corn dropped three percentage points, to 75%, compared to last week. Soybeans were also down three points to 74%. Both crops were said to be running about a week ahead of average in their development.

 

Iowan doesn’t think North Carolina lawsuits will impact pork producers here

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Recent ag nuisance rulings against hog operations in North Carolina have resulted in large financial awards to the plaintiffs.

But the legal counsel for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Eldon McAfee, doesn’t believe those rulings will have much impact on livestock producers in the Midwest. McAfee says the North Carolina cases are focused on the manure handling practices of the farms, which differ from those used by most Midwestern farmers.

“The use of lagoons and spray irrigation – which is what we call it here in Iowa – that’s regulated, as to how you can use spray irrigation. You can’t use it with undiluted manure,” McAfee says. According to McAfee, although each case is different, several recent Midwestern nuisance rulings have been in favor of the farmers.

“Nuisance cases are very fact-specific, both from the neighbors’ standpoint and from the producers’ standpoint, at least at the trial level,” McAfee says. “You can’t take a lot of precedential effect from one case to another. It depends on the facts of each case.”

McAfee works for the Brick Gentry law firm in West Des Moines.

 

Grassley says passing Farm Bill this year would provide farmers continuity

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Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley points to a tractor while touring the fairgrounds.

Senator Chuck Grassley says the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee has assured him the 2018 Farm Bill will become law before year’s end.

“And I sure hope so, because I don’t want to do what we had to in 2013 — extend the Farm Bill for one year,” Grassley says, “because farmers need that continuity you get from a five-year Farm Bill and farmers also would (get) a bit of good news if they had a five-year Farm Bill, considering the anxiety they have about the tariffs.”

Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Joni Ernst, is serving on the conference committee of House and Senate members that are trying to craft a final version of the bill that could pass both

Grassley has been touring the Iowa State Fairgrounds this morning, visiting with fairgoers.

Itty Bitty defies his name and wins the big boar competition

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Itty Bitty

He’s anything but Itty Bitty, but that’s his name, and he’s the winner of the 2018 Iowa State Fair’s Big Boar Contest.

The ironically-named big pig weighed in at 1,163 pounds, just two more than runner-up Yo Yo.

Itty Bitty is owned by the West Delaware High School FFA chapter and many of the 44 members of the group were at the fair’s Swine Barn Thursday for the annual contest. They say their four-year-old pig’s favorite food is Iowa corn and he’ll often eat 16 pounds of it in a day.

 

Researchers can’t explain why size of Gulf of Mexico dead zone has decreased

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The so-called Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite increasing amounts of runoff from farm fields in Iowa and elsewhere, this year’s so-called “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico is much smaller than expected and researchers are surprised.

Nutrients from crop fertilizer and manure flow downstream and spur algae blooms, cutting oxygen levels and killing fish. Louisiana State University oceanographer Eugene Turner says last year’s dead zone or hypoxia was the largest on record.

“The conditions aren’t that different from last year when we had the really large one, the largest one yet,” Turner says, “and…I’m still a little flummoxed about this.” This year’s dead zone is about the size of the state of Delaware, half as big as scientists thought it would be and less than a third the size it was in 2017. Even though the impacts seem smaller this year, Turner says polluters aren’t off the hook.

“Of course, they’re not because we have a five-year running average,” Turner says, “and at least from a science point of view, we’ve always said and continue to say, the environment itself is changing every year.” Turner says changing ocean currents may account for the higher oxygen levels. This year’s hypoxic zone measures 2,700 square miles, compared to last year’s 8,700.

(Thanks to Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)