Agriculture

by Joyce Davidshofer, Allamakee County Executive Director

The Allamakee County Committee meeting will be held Thursday, August 21 at 9 a.m.

Reminders
April 15, 2014 – January 30, 2015 sign-up for the LIP/LFP/ELAP/TAP programs.
June 9, 2014 – September 30, 2014 – CRP Continuous CRP Sign-up 46.
November 1, 2014 – December 30, 2015 – Forage, pasture, grasses certification due for spring 2015 year. Late file fee will apply - no waivers.

Practical Farmers of Iowa is now accepting applications for the 2015-2016 Savings Incentive Program. The two-year program seeks to help beginning and aspiring farmers achieve success with their farm start-ups by pairing participants with experienced mentors; offering business plan support and the chance to save money and receive matching funds; access to learning opportunities; and connection to a network of supportive farmers.

by Joyce Davishofer, Allamakee County Executive Director

The Allamakee County Committee meeting will be held Thursday, August 21 at a.m.

Reminders
April 15, 2014 – January 30, 2015 sign-up for the LIP/LFP/ELAP/TAP programs.
June 9, 2014 – September 30, 2014 – CRP Continuous CRP Sign-up 46.
November 1, 2014 – December 30, 2015 – Forage, pasture, grasses certification due for spring 2015 year. Late file fee will apply, no waivers.
Wednesday mornings of every week, Allamakee County Executive Director Joyce Davidshofer will give an update on new and changed FSA programs at 9 a.m. on KNEI radio.
Anyone who has an email account can receive newsletters/bulletins from the Farm Service Agency. If the county office does not have your email on file, contact the County FSA Office. The current budget does not allow the FSA Office to mail newsletters through the post office.

by Allamakee County Executive Director Joyce Davidshofer

Reminders
April 15, 2014 – January 30, 2015 sign-up for the LIP/LFP/ELAP/TAP programs.
June 9, 2014 – September 30, 2014 – CRP Continuous CRP Sign-up 46.
November 1, 2014 – December 30, 2015 – Forage, pasture, grasses certification due for spring 2015 year. Late file fee will apply no waivers.

by Joyce Davidshofer, Allamakee County Executive Director

Summer temperatures that are cooler than normal have been a welcome change across much of the Midwest this year, but the “dog days of summer” will be back. When temperature and relative humidity levels climb, it is important for workers and employers to prevent heat illness. Heat illness can begin suddenly and includes conditions ranging from heat rash and heat cramps to heat exhaustion and life-threatening heatstroke.
Anyone who engages in strenuous physical activity during summer months when temperature and humidity levels produce high heat indices is at risk for heat illness.  Those who have not acclimated to working in the heat or who have returned to work after being away from it for a week or more are at greater risk of developing heat illness.  Workers in agriculture, construction, trades, utilities, landscaping and building and grounds maintenance are among those at most affected by heat illness.

by Joyce Davidshofer, Allamakee County Executive Director

June 9, 2014 – August 8, 2014 – CRP contracts expiring September 30, 2014 can extend for one year.
There will be no General CRP Sign-up for 2014.
CRP one-year extensions – June 9th – August 8, 2014. Not for 15 years contracts. CRP producers should have received a letter from Kansas City in regards to their CRP contract expiring on October 1, 2014. There is an option to extend the contract for one year for the same rental rate. You may modify the acres to fewer acres, but cannot increase acres for this one year. Contact the Allamakee County FSA Office for more details.

Farmers still have a fighting chance to stop Palmer Amaranth, a tough yield-robbing weed, from spreading in Iowa.
The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach are working together to provide information to keep the weed at bay. Native to the southwestern United States, Palmer was first officially identified in Iowa last September. There are now documented cases in Harrison, Page, Muscatine, Fremont and Davis counties. Herbicide resistance, primarily to glyphosate, is an issue.
“We’re at a point that we can really restrict how quickly it spreads,” said Mike Owen, ISU weed specialist. “If we ignore it, in the next 10 years it could be infesting half the (row crop) acres in Iowa.”
That will decimate yields and the bottom line.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced recently that $1.4 million in cost share funds are available to help farmers install new nutrient reduction practices.  The practices eligible for this funding are cover crops, no-till or strip till, or using a nitrification inhibitor when applying fertilizer.
 “We continue to hear from farmers interested in doing even more to limit nutrient loss and better protect water quality and these funds will help them try new voluntary science-based conservation practices on their farm,” Northey said. “We were extremely pleased by the response last year from farmers and we are excited to have funds available again this year.”
The cost share rate for farmers planting cover crops is $25 per acre and for farmers trying no-till or strip till is $10 per acre. Farmers using a nitrapyrin nitrification inhibitor when applying fall fertilizer can receive $3 per acre.

by Joyce Davidshofer, Allamakee County Executive Director