Indiana gets $13M USDA funds INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Kenneth Culp, executive director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Indiana, announced that USDA will begin allocations for more than $13 million in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funding for 28 Indiana counties to help farmers and ranchers rehabilitate land damaged by recent storms and other natural disasters.
“This funding will allow farmers and ranchers to repair the severe damage to conservation systems caused by storms like Hurricane Ike and Gustav,” said Culp. “USDA has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with producers when weather turns against them, and we remain committed to help in the weeks and months of recovery afterwards.”
Bartholomew, Brown, Clay, Daviess, Decatur, Dubois, Fountain, Gibson, Greene, Hendricks, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Pike, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Vermillion and Vigo counties will share the $13.013 million.
Conservation problems existing prior to the disaster are not eligible for cost-share assistance. Producers should check with their local FSA offices regarding ECP sign-up periods, which are set by FSA county committees. More information on ECP and other disaster assistance programs is available at local FSA service centers and online at www.fsa.usda.gov
Co-op buys 1M pounds of burley LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative is buying more than 1 million pounds of tobacco from its members. The Lexington-based co-op began buying the leaf in mid-October. The Lexington Herald-Leader quoted co-op officials as saying burley producers interested in selling to the co-op should schedule with a contracted grader for an inspection of their leaf on the farm.
Landowner seeks to stop hog lots DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City man is going to court to try to stop construction of two hog lots in central Iowa.
Robert Burchfield owns land next to the proposed sites near Dawson in Dallas County. He has asked a Polk County judge to reject permits granted by state regulators, citing concerns about manure runoff and the effect on land values.
The confinements will have room for 15,000 hogs. Hog farmer Robert Manning Jr. plans to use the manure to fertilize some of his farm fields.
Manning’s attorney claims Burchfield doesn’t have legal standing to intervene in the case and has failed to show how agreed-upon safeguards will not protect his land.
Authorities: Spill under control AUGUSTA, Ill. (AP) — Emergency management officials say they’re confident no lingering or long-long range problems will result from a massive pig manure spill near the town of Augusta in northeastern Adams County.
Authorities say some 90,000 gallons of liquid manure spilled into Cedar Creek on Nov. 10 after construction at a sow farm disrupted an underground sewer line. The 6,000-sow farm produces baby pigs that are bought by farmers throughout the Midwest. It opened about seven months ago.
Director John Simon of the Adams County Emergency Management Agency said Nov. 12 it would be several days before the spill was cleaned up. But he said it was caught early enough to keep the manure from moving downstream or into Schuyler County.
Man dead at hog confinement WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — A worker at a Webster City hog confinement has been found dead of an apparent electrocution. Officials with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) said 34-year-old Isidro Martinez was found Nov. 9 slumped over a gate at Stockdale Farms by a co-worker. They said Martinez died at the scene.
Officials with the DCI said preliminary autopsy results show Martinez died of accidental electrocution. They added Martinez was originally from Honduras and had Minnesota identification.
ISA, ISU publish SCN field guide URBANDALE, Iowa— The Iowa Soybean Assoc. (ISA) in partnership with Iowa State University has published its third field guide this year, the Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) Management Field Guide. The booklet contains the latest research results on SCN and is a pocket-sized reference for managing the yield-robbing pest. The guide is authored by Dr. Gregory Tylka, ISU extension professor and plant pathologist, and focuses on scouting fields, management techniques, interactions of SCN with other diseases and the HG type test, which is conducted to determine how well an SCN population can reproduce on SCN-resistant sources.
Improving soybean yield is key to profitability for producers, and SCN is the nation's number one yield robber of soybeans. The new guide is available through the ISU Extension Distribution Center. Producers can get a copy at no cost by calling 515-294-5247 and requesting publication CSI 12. To learn more about ISA, visit its website at www.iasoybeans.com |