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September 30: PLC Yield Update
October 31: 2020 Organic Certification Cost Share Program Signup

USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Costs for Organic Certification
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that organic producers and handlers can apply for federal funds to assist with the cost of receiving and maintaining organic certification through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP). Applications for eligible certification expenses paid between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020, are due Oct. 31, 2020.

OCCSP provides cost-share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products for the costs of obtaining or maintaining organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program. Eligible producers include any certified producers or handlers who have paid organic certification fees to a USDA-accredited certifying agent.

New benchmark weather tool added for every crop reporting district in 12 states

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has debuted a new tool on the Forecast and Assessment of Cropping Systems (FACTS) website that displays weather summaries for every crop reporting district in 12 Midwest states.

The weather summaries include data from 1984 through today, updated every month and with information on temperature, precipitation, radiation and other weather indicators — like the number of days with extreme weather rain events, or the number of warm nights.

“This new tool provides an easy way for farmers and scientists to benchmark weather at any crop reporting district by month,” said Sotirios Archontoulis, associate professor of agronomy and principal member of the FACTS team at Iowa State University.

A new federal grant will support an Iowa State University-led effort to spur development of a “genome to phenome” infrastructure for scientific collaboration across crops and livestock.

The three-year, $960,000 project will provide guidance and lay the groundwork for a larger federal Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture.

Researchers working from “genomics to phenomics” explore how genomes (organisms’ complete set of DNA) influence the expression of observable, phenotypic traits. With sufficient understanding of these relationships, it becomes possible to predict phenotypic traits based on an organism’s genome/DNA sequence. The USDA’s goal is to foster a broad community of researchers to use genome to phenome approaches as a foundation for improving the efficiency and resilience of US agriculture.

Students at Waukon High School have selected their Homecoming Court representatives for 2020, with the coronation of this year's Homecoming Queen and King set to take place at the "Burning of the 'W'" pep rally scheduled for this Thursday evening, September 17, beginning at 7 p.m. This year’s event will be held outside at the Waukon High School track/football stadium, with masks and social distancing encouraged. Following the outdoor pep rally, all attending are asked to remain in the stadium stands while the newly crowned King and Queen light the “W” at its traditional location just south of the football field. In the event of inclement weather, the “Burning of the ‘W’” pep rally will not be held.

A project that got its start five years ago was brought to full reality as the Allamakee County Freedom Rock was unveiled in a public ceremony held at its new home in Waukon City Park on a seemingly fitting day, Friday, September 11 - Patriot Day as it has been designated since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The recently completed creation of Iowa artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen of Greenfield is his 92nd Freedom Rock masterpiece intended to honor and thank America’s Veterans and to promote Iowa tourism, becoming yet another part of Sorensen’s vision of a 99-piece puzzle that serves as one statewide Iowa Veterans Memorial, an idea that really gained momentum for Sorensen after that fateful September day in American history nearly 20 years ago.

For the second consecutive week, Allamakee County recorded new confirmed positive COVID-19 case numbers that have not been seen since the spring of this year. The case count of 31 new cases from the past week’s timeframe of Tuesday, September 8 through Monday, September 14 is the second most since the county’s highest total of 32 cases was recorded during the week’s timeframe of April 21-27, with that timeframe also being the last time confirmed positive cases were reported each of those seven consecutive days, such as happened this past week with no fewer than two cases being reported any of this past week’s seven days.

This past week’s numbers included two confirmed positive cases announced from within the Allamakee Community School District staff, one as of Tuesday, September 8 and the other as of Sunday, September 13. Details of those announcements and how the school is addressing the matter are provided later in this article.

Due to a remodeling project that has just gotten underway with the start of this week at its current First Street NW location, the Waukon Police Department has temporarily relocated its headquarters to its one-time former location on the lower level of Waukon City Hall. The temporary location is accessible through its First Avenue NE entrance on the west end of the building (white door pictured here at right). The Waukon Police Department’s mailing address remains the same, 104 First Street NW, and the department’s telephone numbers and email addresses are all unchanged as well. Standard photo by Joe Moses.
 

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Tuesday, September 8 following the observance of the Labor Day holiday and closure of City Hall on the council’s usual meeting day Monday, September 7. The council addressed a full agenda of items including a request for reimbursement from the Iowa COVID-19 Government Relief Fund, consideration of Waukon Wellness Center HVAC repairs and City Code amendments based on State Code changes.

Students from Waukon High School will join thousands of other youth and any others who may be interested on athletic fields across the nation Wednesday, October 7 to share their Christian faith with fellow students and the general public for this year’s Fields of Faith event. The local event is now in its ninth year and will start at 7 p.m. at the Waukon High School football field that Wednesday evening. Attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on.

Laine Lapel baptized in Lansing ...
Laine McKay Lapel of Cedar Rapids was baptized at a special service of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church at the Lansing City Park Sunday, September 6. She is the daughter of Andrew and Chandran Lapel and granddaughter of Marlene Duffy, James Duffy, Todd Lapel and Cynthia Opperman. Her baptismal sponsors are Dustan Duffy and Angie Wagoner. Pictured left to right in the above photo are: Pastor Laura Gentry, Dustan Duffy, Janene Imhoff, Andrew Lapel and Chandran Lapel holding Laine Lapel. Submitted photo.