IARN — Third District Congresswoman Cindy Axne recently held a virtual roundtable with Iowa businesses and organizations to discuss how they will be impacted by the cancellation of the 2020 Iowa State Fair.
Among the organizations including in the discussion was the Iowa Pork Producers Association. Drew Mogler is the Public Policy Director for Iowa Pork. He says they are a regular vendor at the state fair and will greatly miss this year’s event. Read more
IARN — The COVID-19 pandemic could create a drastic drop in 2020 crop revenues, according to a new analysis from the National Corn Growers Association.
During a recent press call with the Renewable Fuels Association, NCGA President Kevin Ross said their latest analysis projects a $59 per acre loss for the 2019 corn crop and an $89 per acre loss for 2020. He says that equates to the lowest crop revenues since 2006 for corn farmers. Read more
IARN — Crops in western Iowa received some timely rain showers beginning late Thursday night.
Mike Witt is a region 6 field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach covering Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, Greene, Guthrie, Harrison, and Shelby counties. Witt says corn and soybeans have needed moisture as most of June has been pretty dry. Read more
IARN — A new report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange says the ethanol industry may have to diversify itself in the future. The report says excess production capacity and reduced demand will force the U.S. ethanol industry to “transform its business model to create more value and improve its operational efficiency.” CoBank predicts that consolidation within the industry will lead to larger and more financially stable companies with diversified ethanol co-product offerings by 2025. Read more
Primghar, Iowa — Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach Field Agronomist Joel DeJong will host three Private Pesticide Applicator recertification trainings in Northwest Iowa during July and August. The trainings were canceled earlier this spring due to COVID-19, at which time the recertification deadline was extended to Dec. 31, 2020. Read more
Statewide Iowa — (RI) — There’s still no word from the USDA on requests from Iowa leaders to help the state’s turkey producers recover from serious production problems caused by COVID-19. Read more