Illinois company ships $1.7 million in hogs to China
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Department of Agriculture said a Bloomington exporter has sold $1.7 million worth of hogs to a Chinese company.

The sale boosts Illinois’ livestock exports to China for the year by about 25 percent. The state Agriculture Department said Ag World shipped more than 1,200 hogs to South Golden Valley Agri-Husbandry of China late last month.

Officials in Illinois say Ag World worked on the deal for more than two years. State marketing officials introduced company officials to Chinese swine buyers in 2006.

According to the USDA, Illinois is the United States’ second leading exporter of livestock to China, with more than $8 million in sales this year.

Controversial hog confinement is approved in Iowa

DAWSON, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa farmer has reached an agreement with state regulators to build two large hog confinements near Dawson.

There has been a months-long battle over Robert Manning Jr.’s proposal. Some neighbors and county officials opposed the plan, and the state Environmental Protection Commission voted in August to block it.

The deal reached on Oct. 14 means the structures can be built. But, it requires environmental considerations including tree lines, grass buffers and restrictions on when manure from the confinements can be spread.

Manning, of Granger, says the confinements will have room for 15,000 hogs that will be owned by Minnesota-based Cargill. He says his plan is to produce enough manure to fertilize 7,000 Dallas County acres. Construction could begin this fall.

Tank implodes at Keokuk plant, spills into river

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — A storage tank at a Keokuk corn sweetener plant imploded, blowing out a wall of the facility and spilling up to 200,000 gallons of sugar water into the Mississippi River.

The steel tank at Roquette America, Inc. imploded about 3 a.m. Oct. 13. Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said the water was moving forcefully enough to break through a concrete retaining wall and knock railroad cars off nearby tracks. DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins described the force of the water coming out of the tank as a tidal wave.

The sugar water flowed into a ditch that empties into the Mississippi River. Crews were working to remove as much of the spill as possible. Baskins said it’s not expected to have a long-term effect on the river.

No one was injured. The investigation is continuing.

Third wind farm planned for Benton County in Indiana
FOWLER, Ind. (AP) — The Indianapolis Power & Light Co. (IPL) plans to erect 21 wind turbines in Benton County, the third wind farm for the rural county northwest of Lafayette.

The utility says its IPL Hoosier Wind Park in Fowler will generate 102 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 24,000 homes. The plant will be built by enXco, Inc., with IPL purchasing the power under a 20-year agreement. A groundbreaking will take place in December, and operations are expected to begin in 2009.

The 130-megawatt Benton County Wind Farm came online in May. Another Benton County wind farm, the 750-megawatt Fowler Ridge Wind Farm, will be one of the nation’s largest when complete.

Disaster assistance begins in more southern Indiana counties
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Indiana is offering help to storm victims in the four counties approved Oct. 16 for federal individual assistance as the result of severe weather that struck the state in mid-September.

The federal government has declared Floyd, Perry, Scott and Washington counties as disasters and made federal assistance available for homeowners, renters and businesses.

The state opened a one-stop disaster assistance center at the Floyd County Fairgrounds in New Albany. The facility includes representatives from FEMA and computers and phones for impacted residents to complete applications. State agencies represented are the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), Department of Workforce Development, Department of Insurance and the Department of Health. It will be open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. local time through Oct. 25.

Daniels has asked the Secretary of Agriculture to allow emergency food stamp distribution for victims in all four counties. If approved, it will occur at the Floyd County Fairgrounds location for residents of Floyd County and at existing FSSA county offices in the three other counties.

FEMA representatives and other state agencies will not be stationed at these three offices, but FEMA applications can be made online or by telephone anytime. Residents and business owners who sustained losses can apply for assistance by registering online at www.fema.gov/assistance or by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362) or 800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired.

So far, federal disaster declarations for individual assistance have been approved for 20 Indiana counties as a result of severe weather caused by Hurricane Ike: Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Knox, Lake, La Porte, Lawrence, Martin, Pike, Porter, Spencer and Switzerland.