Dairy Rally on Prices
SATURDAY, MAY 30
12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Manchester Livestock Exchange
Manchester, Iowa

SPEAKERS:
Joel Morton - Farm Aid (hotline director)
Arden Tewksbury - Pro Ag Manager
John Crabtree - Center for Rural Affairs
Chris Peterson - President, Iowa Farmers Union
Joel Greeno - President, American Raw Milk Producers
Francis Thicke - Dairy Farmer
Bryan Gotham - a New York Dairy Farmer

For more information contact:
Dave Knipper at 563-590-1596
Jerry Harvey at 641-203-4063

View the Dairy Rally Poster

The National Farmers Union 2009 fall fly-in will be held Sunday, September 13 - Wednesday, September 16. Visit Washington DC to share your opinions with lawmakers, connect with other farmers union members from across the US, and more.

Draft Agenda

Contact Amber  at 800-775-5227 if you are interested in attending or would like additional information.

A special Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)sign-up is available for organic and transitioning organic producers. Applications must be completed in cooperation with your local NRCS office by May 29 for this sign-up. Non-organic producers or those who don’t apply before May 29 are still eligible to be considered for general EQIP funding.

Core practices for this sign up are conservation crop rotation, cover crops, nutrient management, pest management, prescribed grazing, and forage harvest management. A preferred applicant will practice or implement at least three of the core six during the contract time.

More information:

County Conservation Priorities and Office Location

Conservation Practice Standards

Additional Iowa EQIP Information

EQIP Organic Sign-up Press Release

From the Iowa Environmental Council:

The Iowa DNR is proposing to lower recreational use protections for 119 stream segments in 58 of Iowa’s 99 counties. Your emails are needed to make sure the final DNR recommendations accurately reflect how your local stream is used and what recreational uses would be attainable if the water quality is improved. These assessments, called Use Assessment and Attainability (UAA) are critical because they will determine what level of protections will apply to each river and stream segment that has been assessed.

We need your help, especially with regard to the streams listed below. If you are aware of how one or more of these streams is used, please send an email to the DNR describing how they are used, or how you would use them if the water quality was improved and protected.  Example: “My children wade in this stream,” or “I would swim in this stream if I knew it was protected from pollution and safe to swim in.” [Read more →]

How much does a farmer get of your food dollar? Turns out, the farmer gets only about 20 cents out of your dollar to produce the food you eat. The rest is eaten up by processing, marketing, and retailing. See how much of each product the farmer gets here:

See the Farmer’s Share

 Full Article (KIMT, Mason City)

CLEAR LAKE, IA–Chris Petersen’s been raising pigs for about 30 years.
“Oh, I’ve been raising pigs since high school in the 70’s–so it’s been a long time,” he said.
He spends a lot of time with pigs–but the current swine flu outbreak is not giving him any second thoughts.
“I think all the hogs in Iowa and this area are probably okay as of now,” he said. “But if this thing spreads it’ll be a huge problem.”

[Read more →]