Checking Iowa crops from a bike seat

Each week during the growing season we contact farmers around the state to get a spot check on the progress of corn, soybeans and other crops. It’s a good way to keep our members informed.   But last week we got a much wider look at the state’s crops from one of our crop reporters, Brian Sampson. He spent the week on RAGBRAI, checking Iowa’s crops from his bicycle seat.

Sampson, who farms near Roland, was on his 16^th RAGBRAI. On his 471-mile ride from Sioux Center to Clinton, Sampson saw first- hand the extent of damage caused by drought and extreme heat. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Right now the drought is showing up all over the state, especially in corn fields, Sampson noted.  “There are some pockets where the corn looks OK, but they are pretty small compared to the areas which are really showing stress,” Sampson said July 30.  From news reports, the Story County farmer thought he might see much better corn fields in western Iowa, where rains have been more frequent. But that didn’t turn out to be the case. “There is a lot of stress everywhere.  And I saw a lot of fields that were so far gone, I don’t know if rain is even going to help.”

Soybean fields look greener and appear to be holding up better in the extreme summer conditions. But, Sampson said, it might just be that soybeans are better at masking the drought stress than corn is.

Sampson and the thousands of other RAGBRAI riders rode in triple-digit temperatures and only encountered one significant storm, the overnight stop in Marshalltown on July 25. “I never wanted rain on RAGBRAI before, but I did this year,” he said.

We’ll soon get some estimates from the government and other sources on the extent of crop damage in Iowa. And it won’t be long before farmers get a better look when they pull their combines out of the shed and start harvesting. And as Brian Sampson’s bike seat survey shows, it is shaping up to be tough harvest season all over Iowa.

Written by Dirck Steimel
Dirck is the news services manager for Iowa Farm Bureau.

 

For Iowans, local food is available more places than you think

A few weeks ago, I saw a “tweet” from an Iowa food blogger on Twitter who wanted help in finding a “local” yogurt.

When I read her tweet, my first thought was: Isn’t Anderson Erickson (AE) yogurt local? All she had to do was drive to the nearest grocery store and reach for AE yogurt in the dairy aisle.

Just to confirm my theory, I called up the folks at Anderson Erickson Dairy, based in Des Moines. And yep, a company spokesperson told me that 99 percent of the milk purchased by AE Dairy comes from Iowa farms. That’s right – 99 percent!

And it makes sense, if you think about it. After all, milk is a perishable product. It takes just 24 to 48 hours for AE Dairy to deliver milk from the farm to your local grocery store.

But it’s not just the milk in your refrigerator that’s local. Have you ever looked closely at that carton of eggs next to the milk? Whenever I buy eggs at Fareway or Hy-Vee, there’s an Iowa address on the carton. Iowa is the nation’s leading egg-producing state.

In fact, you probably are buying local foods every week and don’t realize it. At the Fareway and Hy-Vee stores where I shop, I can find Farmer’s Best popcorn from Rockwell City, Peace Tree beer from Pella, Cookie’s BBQ sauce from Wall Lake, Lewright Meats brats from Eagle Grove, Blue Bunny ice cream from Le Mars and Maytag blue cheese from Newton, just to name a few.

Plus, the corporate headquarters for both Fareway and Hy-Vee are within 30 miles from my home – not based in another state or another country. So I’m supporting the local economy, and local jobs, by shopping at these Iowa-based grocery stores.

I’m a huge fan of local foods, and I try to visit a farmers market every week in the summer. But it’s also good to remember that local foods don’t have to be costly or come from an upscale store.

Written by Teresa Bjork
Teresa is a features Writer for the Iowa Farm Bureau.