Index to University Clippings
Iowa State University
January 16, 2006 through January 27, 2006
University News
Aberdeen American News – 1/20 - U.S. Beef Producers Both Lucky And Good
- John Lawrence – Faculty/Research
Star Phoenix, Canada – 1/19 - Proposed Small-Market Wal-Mart Good For
Kindersley: Merchants - Kenneth Stone – Faculty/Research
Omaha World-Herald – 1/18 - Extension Director Looks To Spur Growth - Jack
Payne – Faculty/Research
Omaha World-Herald – 1/17 - Utah State Official Joins ISU Staff - Jack Payne –
Faculty/Research
USA Today – 1/17 - Web Levels These Dating Fields - Paul Lasley –
Faculty/Research
The Engineer – 1/16 - Composed Performance – Faculty/Research
New York Times – 1/16 - Corn Farmers Smile As Ethanol Prices Rise, But
Experts On Food Supplies Worry - Robert C. Brown – Faculty/Research
The Cedar Rapids Gazette – 1/15 - Taking Stock Of Livestock - Bruce
Babcock- Faculty/Research
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – 1/15 - Down On The Biopharm, Missouri Plows
Ahead - Robert Wisner – Faculty/Research
Times Union – 1/15 - Retail Soundtrack Tough On Workers - Paul Lasley –
Faculty/Research
Anchorage Daily News – 1/14 - Halibut Skippers Sought For Study On
Decision-Making - Quinn Weninger – Faculty/Research
Des Moines Register – 1/14 - Hospital's Fate In Judge's Hands - David BlockFaculty/Research
Rock Products – 1/1 - Tech Center Opens – Faculty/Research
Begin In-House Media Review, 01-27-06
Agri News, MN – 1/24 – Corn, soybean carry out biggest in 18 years – Steven
Johnson – Extension
Agri News, MN – 1/24 – Iowa news and notes – Extension/University
Agriculture Online - 1/20 - Biotronics' 'toolbox' predicts marbling in live swine Tom Baas - Faculty/research
Associated Press – 1/19 - New rules to keep affluent students out of low-income
housing – General – Also ran in: Sioux City Journal, IA
Associated Press – 1/21 - ISU space food program closes - Tony Pometto Faculty/research
Associated Press – 1/23 - Adding livestock improved profits– Bruce Babcock –
Faculty/Research/Extension. Also ran in: Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier;
Associated Press – 1/24 - Presidential search at Iowa could be costly – Gregory
Geoffroy – President. Also ran in: WOI-TV 5, IA; Iowa City Press-Citizen;
WHO-TV 13, IA; Des Moines Register; KCCI-TV 8; The Daily Iowan; Seattle
Post-Intelligencer; Ithaca Journal; The Cornel Daily Sun; New York Post;
KCRG-TV IA; WQAD-TV, IL; Buffalo News; KWWL, IA; Waterloo/Cedar Falls
Courier;
Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide – 1/19 - Are 1031s a blessing or curse? Yes –
Roger McEowen – Faculty/research
Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide – 1/19 - Black Ink: U.S. beef producers - both
lucky and good – John Lawrence - Administration
Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide – 1/19 - Use caution with alternate fuel sources –
Chuck Schwab - Extension
Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide – 1/19 - Soybean supplies viewed as plentiful
early in 2006 – Elwynn Taylor - Extension
Boston Globe - 1/23 - Truth & consequences - Virginia Molgaard Faculty/research
CNN - 1/20 - Researchers to map pig DNA - Max Rothschild - Faculty/research Also ran in: Ninemsn, Australia; Sydney Morning Herald, Australia; the
Age, Australia; Seven.com.au, Australia; Iowa Farmer Today
Cedar Falls Courier – 1/15 - Culver hits record fundraising number – Steffen
Schmidt – Faculty/research
Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil – 1/22 - Payne ready for ISU extension challenges
- Jack Payne – Administration/Faculty
Delta Farm Press, NE – 1/19 - Commingling issue with pharma-crops – Robert
Wisner – Faculty/research
Des Moines Register - 1/19 – Ames Life & Times – Briefs 1-19-06 - General
Des Moines Register – 1/19 - Statewide standards for graduation urged General
Des Moines Register – 1/19 - Group to debate fertilization limits - General
Des Moines Register – 1/19 - Thousands sign up to lose weight - Extension
Des Moines Register – 1/19 - Students talk space with expert – Jay Staker –
Faculty/research
Des Moines Register – 1/20 - Rockwell gets $11 million in growth aid – David
Swenson – Faculty/research
Des Moines Register – 1/20 – Dateline Iowa - County supervisors approve keglog rule - Students
Des Moines Register – 1/20 - Iowa reports record number of jobs – David
Swenson – Faculty/research
Des Moines Register - 1/22 - Boost biotech by boosting universities - General
Des Moines Register - 1/23 - ENGINEERING - Stephen Vardeman Faculty/research
Des Moines Register - 1/22 - Online postings could hurt students searching for
work - General
Des Moines Register - 1/22 - Parents, kids learn: No secrets online - Denise
Schmidt - Faculty/research
Des Moines Register - 1/21 - Pasture profits workshop topic - Charlie Brummer - Extension
Des Moines Register - 1/23 - Podcasts for class: New way to learn? - Joe
Monahan - General
Des Moines Register - 1/21 - Metro record – General
Des Moines Register – 1/24 – Mrs. Clark’s Foods, AGRI-Bunge – Bob Wisner –
Faculty/Research/Extension
Des Moines Register – 1/24 – ‘Lost’ will be later this week on WOI – Cyclone
Basketball – Athletics
Des Moines Register – 1/25 – Dateline Iowa – Man who threatened FBI ruled
insane – General - Also ran in: WOI-IA; WHO-TV, IA; WQAD, IL; KCCI.com,
IA; Radio Iowa
Des Moines Register – 1/25 – Today in Iowa - General
Detroit Free Press - 1/22 - Specialized Web site helps farmers find soul mates Paul Lasley - Faculty/research
Farm News – 1/13 - Expert recommends lower soybean seeding rate – Palle
Pedersen - Extension
Farm News – 1/13 – Was rust overblown – X.B. Yang – Faculty/research
Farm News – 1/13 – Doran named 2005 Woman of the Year – Beth Ellen Doran
- Extension
Farm News – 1/20 - Extension hosting clinics around state – Dennis DeWitt Extension
Indianapolis Star – 1/27 - At this site, city slickers needn't apply – Paul Lasley –
Faculty/research - Also ran in: AZCentral.com, AZ
Innovations Report, Germany - 1/23 - Magnetic misfits: South seeking bacteria in
the Northern Hemisphere - Dennis Bazylinski - Faculty/research Also ran in:
PhysOrg, VA; YubaNet, CA; EurekAlert
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/14 - Rising glyphosate use boosts need for good
management – Mike Owen – Faculty/research
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/14 - Capitalizing on corn-fed – John Lawrence Administration
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/14 – Little new in week control – Bob Hartzler –
Faculty/research
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/14 - Aflatoxin find may have ramifications for farmers –
Charles Hurburgh – Faculty/research
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/14 – Researchers develop grain-damage sensors General
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/21 - SCN yield trials provide tips on nematode control –
Greg Gebhart – Faculty/research
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/21 - Reducing emissions is air-monitoring project goal –
Steve Hoff – Faculty/research
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/21 – Produce calculator developed - General
Iowa Farmer Today – 1/21 – FYI – Energy economy study released - General
KRVO, MO - 1/23 - Organic Greenhouse - General
Marines - 1/20 - Combat Center TwentyNine Palms, Calif - General
Monmouth Daily review Atlas, IL - 1/23 - United States poet laureate makes visit
to Burlington - Ted Kooser - Alumni
Newstarget.com, Taiwan - 1/23 - Iowa State student designs solar handbag - Joe
Hynek
Quad City Times, IA - 1/21 - Victor listed among top financial advisers - General
Saturday Evening Post, The – Jan/Feb 06 – The tip of the Iceberg –
Conference/General
Sioux City Journal, IA – 1/19 - ISU researchers study Iowans' opinions of
windbreaks – Carl Mize – Faculty/research
Springfield State Journal Register, IL - 1/21 - Coming together - Jene Hughes Faculty/research
The Minnesota Daily, MN – 1/20 – Value rankings omit U - General
UPI - 1/21 - Gene controls cereal grass architecture - General
Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier - 1/21 - Lego event acts as learning vehicle General
Aberdeen American News
Go To Top
January 20, 2006 Friday
South Dakota: FFF; Pg. 8
U.S. beef producers both lucky and good
STEVE SUTHER,
Certified
Angus
Program
Beef
U.S. beef producers both
lucky and good
You have to appreciate the
timing. In the depths of a
low-price valley 10 years
ago, the beef industry was
rocked by e.coli food safety
concerns. Then the first
consumer
reaction
to
bovine
spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) in
Europe seemed like the
last straw. In fact, it was
the start of a series of
fortunate events.
The U.S. cattle inventory
was into its liquidation
phase. Prices would begin
to recover regardless of the
news, but the news kept
consumers on our minds. A
10-year comeback in cattle
prices ensued, led by a
renewed focus on high
quality
and
expanding
exports.
Pacific
Rim
markets
demanded
relatively
obscure
but
premium Choice cuts like
short ribs and skirts that
were being ground into
hamburger otherwise.
Feeder steer prices rose
$20 from 1996 to '97, then
lost half of the gain and
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
settled in for a sustained
upward trend. But the
shock to our nation from
the terrorist attack in the
fall of 2001 was followed
by a shock to the export
market
as
Japan
discovered BSE.
Still, it seemed nothing
could hold down the cattle
market.
Despite
uneasiness
and
lower
volume sales to Japan,
other markets like Korea
picked up the slack. Before
the "Cow that
Stole
Christmas" in our country
in 2003, we had logged a
record $5.4 billion in cattle,
beef,
byproducts
and
variety meat export sales.
Ever thought about how
much foreign sales add to
your
cattle
check?
Exporting beef 30 years
ago
was
even
less
predictable than today.
Anyone could see potential
in global trade, but the
world was a big place. It
took producer vision, then
government and producer
cooperation and funding to
get organized: $2 from
USDA for every $1 from
packers and producers.
The U.S. Meat Export
Federation was created in
February 1976.
www.clipresearch.com
Twenty years later, a
Cattle-Fax study put the
impact of beef exports at
$7.30 per hundredweight
(cwt.) on fed steers and
$15.30/cwt. on calf prices.
Since then, USDA and
Land Grant universities
have charted export dollars
and their direct impact on
fed cattle. Exports added
$190 to the value of a
1,250-pound finished steer
in
2003,
more
than
$15/cwt.
Cattle-Fax analyst Mike
Miller says, in the long run,
and depending on how
attractive a set of calves
look to a feedlot buyer, the
whole export bonus trickles
down to the cow-calf level.
As we know, the export
markets shut down at the
end of 2003, fortunately
right as the U.S. cattle
inventory cycle began to
bottom and prices were
headed for a breathtaking
peak. Yes, it got crazy. And
you have to admit, bad
news couldn't have hit at a
better time. Some U.S.
consumers were reeling
from sticker shock at the
meat counter. Foreign
buyers would soon begin to
back away. Instead, they
left in a rush. Since then,
Electronic Clipping
they missed U.S. highquality beef and virtually all
have come back.
We never lost all exports,
but fresh beef trade fell by
more than 85% for a time.
The economists concluded
export trade still added
$6.70/cwt. in 2004, thanks
mainly to hides and
byproducts. We may have
gained a few cents on that
line in 2005. Fresh beef
sales reached about a
quarter of their 2003 record
level.
Now the fates are at it
again. Japan has opened
its doors to qualified U.S.
beef sales after two years,
and the last holdout,
Korea, seems likely to
open before summer. That
would double beef sales to
$1.2 billion, though still less
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
than half the 2003 mark.
It's good news for sure, but
to put it in perspective, look
at the Dec. 15, 2005
Cattle-Fax
Long
Term
Outlook.
Its "Cattle Price Cycle"
graphic features a helpful
arrow such as we find on
shopping mall directories.
"We are here," it says just
over the hill from the 200305 peak and headed for
the deep 2008-10 valley.
Without the good news of
reopening export markets,
that would be a much more
scary ride, says Iowa State
University
economist
John
Lawrence.
Fed
cattle prices stand to gain
$7.50/cwt.
as
exports
return to 2003 levels-which
could take until the bottom
of the cattle cycle.
www.clipresearch.com
Because of progress on
domestic beef demand and
prospects for renewed
world trade, the projected
valley is not as deep as
that of the 1990s. And with
the renewed U.S. focus on
producing premium Choice
and Prime beef, the next
peak in 2015 may once
again
break
records.
Maybe we will be able to
sustain a larger, more
productive cowherd that
produces
the
most
valuable beef on the export
market.
Next time in Black Ink, we'll
look at strategies for the
downhill price slope ahead.
Questions? Call toll-free at
877-241-0717 or e-mail
steve@certifiedangusbeef.
com.
Electronic Clipping
The Star Phoenix, Canada
Go To Top
January 19, 2006 Thursday Final Edition
Saskatchewan, Canada: LOCAL; Pg. A7
Proposed small-market Wal-Mart good for Kindersley: merchants
Matt Kruchak,
The Star Phoenix
One might think that WalMart's plan to move into a
small Saskatchewan town
would strike fear into store
owners.
But
business
people in Kindersley are
smiling as widely as a bluevested Wal-Mart greeter.
"I think it's actually going to
increase my sales if we
have more people coming
to town because of the
Wal-Mart,"
said
Jeff
Pawloske, manager of
Peavey Mart hardware
store. "If we want to draw
other businesses to town
and improve the town, we
need something like WalMart to come."
The town of 4,548 has the
motto, Experience Our
Energy, and the world's
largest retailer wants to tap
this resource to power a
new market -- a small but
robust one.
"There is an existing retail
trade, but there's a sound
economy with agriculture,
gas and food services and
various industries," said
Kevin Groh, spokesperson
for Wal-Mart Canada.
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
He said they don't have a
deal yet but Wal-Mart
hopes
to
begin
construction in the next six
months and open by the
end of the year. The store
would be about 70,000
square feet and employ
around 100 people, he
said. If built, it will be the
first small-market Wal-Mart
in Saskatchewan and one
of only a handful in
Canada.
Like
Pawloske,
his
competitor Ralph Warman,
owner of Namraw Lumber,
hopes that if the store is
built along Highway 7, the
road will lead to prosperity.
"I believe that Kindersley
hasn't grown a lot in the
past as far as population
and I think we will be
expanding and it will bring
people into town," said
Warman, who's been in
business for 26 years.
Instead
of
going
to
Saskatoon, Medicine Hat
or North Battleford to shop,
people
will
come
to
Kindersley, he said.
Dr.
Kenneth
Stone,
professor emeritus of
economics at Iowa State
University, isn't surprised
by the town's enthusiasm
for a big box. When a Wal-
www.clipresearch.com
Mart is built, he said a
community can go from
being a non-destination to
what he called a "regional
trade centre." Wal-Mart
acts like a retail magnet,
keeping locals in town with
low prices and attracting
consumers
from
the
surrounding area, he said.
Stone's 1995 study on the
impact
of
Wal-Mart's
growth in Iowa over 10
years found that 7,326
Iowa businesses closed in
that time span.
He said people have the
perception that Wal-Mart
destroys local business,
but today it's different,
small business can survive.
Store owners now know
how to adapt to Wal-Mart
entering their market and if
they
don't,
they
get
demolished.
Stone
suggests
store
owners find a niche and fill
a void where Wal-Mart is
weak. He also discourages
stores from selling the
same products as WalMart because they can't
match their prices.
"I'm sure that Wal-Mart
won't hurt me because I
have all the brand names
and that's something they
Electronic Clipping
can't get," said Shawna
Ervine, owner of Kraz E
Threads clothing store.
She said that she'll be
careful not to stock some
of the clothing she's sold in
the past and will go high
end instead. She also said
she'll stop selling novelty
items that Wal-Mart stocks,
such as picture frames and
pillows.
Myrna Kissick, owner of
Kerrobert Flower and Gift
Shop, believes she's been
competing with Wal-Mart
for years. She lives in
Kerrobert, 53 kilometres
from Kindersley, and isn't
worried
she'll
lose
customers if a Wal-Mart is
built
because
locals
already shop in North
Battleford and Saskatoon.
"They are a fact of life and
the rest of us just have to
work around them," Kissick
said
about
operating
alongside
large
corporations.
Her focus is on offering
personalized service to
customers. She doesn't
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
charge for delivery and
plants flowers for her older
clients.
She
knows
customer
service;
her
parents owned a grocery
store and she has also run
a restaurant.
"I don't think that a big-box
store competes with a
smaller store on a personal
level. People who are
looking for personalized
things still go to their local
store."
Wal-Mart failed when they
tried to sell large home
appliances
because
customers want service,
Stone said. He recalled two
bicycle shops where he
lived in Ames, Iowa. One
tried to competed with WalMart, selling cheap bikes,
and got run over. The other
shop sold high-end bikes,
specialized
parts
and
offered repair services and
was successful.
Many local businesses
would not comment on the
possibility of Wal-Mart
coming to Kindersley.
www.clipresearch.com
"I think what's going on is
that people who think it'll
be a negative don't want to
say anything," said Lorne
Staples, owner of Staples'
Men's and Women's Wear.
"I don't think anybody
wants to speak against it
but I'm sure that feeling is
out there and I'm not
prepared to speak against
it either, nor for it."
"Attitude is everything,"
Stone said. "If you're a
merchant and you go into it
with a positive attitude -- 'it
can be done, I can
compete against these
folks, in fact they're going
to bring more trade into
town and keep more
people at home to shop' -you'll probably be OK."
mkruchak@sp.canwest.co
m
GRAPHIC: Colour Photo:
Associated Press File;
Kindersley merchants say
a Wal-Mart will mean good
things for their town
Electronic Clipping
Omaha World-Herald
Go To Top
January 18, 2006 Wednesday Metro; Sunrise, Iowa Editions
NEWS; Pg. 08B
Extension director looks to spur growth
The ISU agency explores ways to improve fundraising and rural job
markets
Elizabeth Ahlin,
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
contracting with private companies for
services.
LEWIS, Iowa -- Fundraising and economic
development are major issues that the
new director of extension and outreach at
Iowa State University plans to tackle.
"We've really weathered a storm
economically,"
said Clark
BreDahl,
extension spokesman in Union, Cass and
Adair Counties. "What we want to know is,
where are we headed next?"
Jack Payne met with staff and members
of the ISU Extension in southwest Iowa on
Tuesday at the Armstrong Research Farm
near Lewis. Payne held a similar position
at Utah State before coming to Iowa
State.
Utah and Iowa have significantly different
agriculture markets. Utah is primarily
ranching and alfalfa, a far cry from the
Iowa economy.
Payne said that despite those differences,
the problems facing extension services in
most states are similar because they focus
on agriculture and other services offered
by land grant universities.
He praised Stanley Johnson, outgoing
Iowa State vice provost of extension, for
his nontraditional fundraising efforts during
several years of state cuts.
Despite those cuts, Johnson was able to
increase the extension's budget by
charging user fees for some programs and
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
Payne said he plans to court major donors
and foundations. He said he may push the
extension service to evaluate programs
and eliminate those that are least
effective.
A declining rural population is the "900pound gorilla" in Iowa, Payne said. He
advocates regional planning to increase
jobs in rural Iowa, instead of a county-bycounty approach.
Counties that band together to attract new
business, he said, can offer a greater
population base as a work force and offer
more money for startup costs.
He said exploring new roles for extension
agents could help improve rural life. He
pointed to a newly created position in
Kentucky -- fine arts extension agent.
Payne said a similar move in Iowa could
help retain young people in rural areas by
supporting creative endeavors.
www.clipresearch.com
Electronic Clipping
Omaha World-Herald
Go To Top
January 17, 2006 Tuesday Midlands Edition
NEWS; Pg. 03B
Utah State official joins ISU staff
A former vice president of the Utah State
University extension service has joined
Iowa State University.
Payne also will direct the cooperative
extension service. His predecessor,
Stanley Johnson, retired in December.
As vice provost for extension and outreach
at Iowa State, Jack Payne will oversee
continuing education, business and
industry programs.
Payne spent five years at Utah State after
serving as CEO and president of the
American National Fish and Wildlife
Museum in Springfield, Mo.
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
www.clipresearch.com
Electronic Clipping
USA TODAY
Go To Top
January 17, 2006 Tuesday FINAL EDITION
LIFE; Pg. 1D
Web levels these dating fields
Site plays matchmaker for isolated single farmers
Laura Bruno
City slickers looking for a
roll in the hay. That's who
Tami Linne found on
Internet dating sites.
Linne is a 42-year-old
combine and tractor driver
in Burr Oak, Iowa. A threepiece suit won't do. She
needs a man who can get
mud on his boots.
"They all lived in the city,"
Linne says. "Why would
they be interested in a farm
girl?"
Then
www.farmersonly.com
came along.
The men on this site know
the difference between
tractors and combines.
"The site is a blessing,"
Linne says. "I'm talking to
some real gentlemen now."
Although
big
websites
boast
thousands
of
members, single farmers -already dating-challenged
by virtue of their isolation
and long work hours -- find
slim pickings.
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
Until
farmersonly.com.
founder Jerry Miller tapped
into a real need.
While city folk might think
their dating scene is a
minefield of complications,
single farmers can beat
their worst tale of woe. Try
traveling 200 miles roundtrip for a dance. Or
breaking a date on account
of a sick steer.
"Working 5 to 9, Monday
through Sunday, and being
out in the middle of
nowhere -- that combo is
really something," says
Miller, a married publicist
for the Alpaca Owners and
Breeders Association in
Beachwood,
Ohio,
a
suburb of Cleveland.
Although you don't have to
be a farmer to join the site,
you do have to "understand
the traditional farm values,"
Miller says.
The response he receives
from thankful customers
makes him believe he's
addressing
a
serious
problem. He kicked off the
site in May with a couple of
hundred people. Now, with
membership surging to
www.clipresearch.com
10,000, the numbers tell
the story, he says. "There
are a lot of lonely people
out there."
From
suburban
New
Jersey to the Kansas
plains, single farmers tell
Miller it's nearly impossible
to find someone willing to
play second fiddle to the
demands of a farm. It's
hard selling a life of
isolation, time constraints
and economic uncertainty.
The pool of available
mates keeps shrinking.
Eric Fynaardt is a 23-yearold Searsboro, Iowa, crop
farmer. In his town of 160
people, 10 are single. Two
are women.
Fynaardt
is
new
to
farmersonly.com, but he
hopes it will help in his
search for a wife.
The women on the site
understand farm life, he
says. Most other women
"think we're hillbilly hicks
tied to our land," says the
college-educated Fynaardt.
"Girls say, 'I don't want to
date him. I don't want to go
back to the farm. I want to
explore city life.'"
Electronic Clipping
Warren
Rowland,
a
divorced
68-year-old
retired Oklahoma farmer,
says he would not want to
be in his 40s and be single.
"I look at single farmers in
their 30s and 40s, and I
think they have a terrible
time finding someone," he
says.
Rowland is president of a
national non-profit called
Singles in Agriculture. The
650-member group was
founded in the mid-1980s
as a way for singles to
meet and date, but today,
with an older membership,
it's more about friendships
and recreational outings.
The Census Bureau keeps
no figures on single
farmers, but there were 2.1
million farms in 2002, down
from 3.1 million in 1964.
The average farmer's age
is 55. Churches and
communities
used
to
provide
matchmaking
forums, but they may no
longer exist or are no
longer adequate in isolated
regions
with
small
populations, says Paul
Lasley,
a
sociology
professor at Iowa State
University.
"Farmers live with their
business," Lasley says.
"It's not only an occupation.
More significantly, it's a
lifestyle."
The 1980s farm crisis saw
children discouraged from
the lifestyle. Farmers sent
their kids to college, and
many didn't return.
That's
David
Stigge's
reality.
Girls
at
his
Washington, Kan., high
school left for college and
never looked back. Stigge
and his brother stayed on
the family farm, overseeing
900 head of cattle and
nearly 600 acres of wheat,
corn and alfalfa.
Stigge, who doesn't have a
computer, attended Singles
in Agriculture, but he
dropped out of his state
chapter when the national
group evolved into a
recreation club.
Now,
53
and
never
married, he has given up.
The odds are against him,
he says. Although his
brother married, Stigge
calls it a fluke.
"He got lucky," he says.
With shrinking farmland
across the USA, small
farmers find themselves
increasingly isolated and
working long hours to stay
afloat. They face different
challenges
from
other
singles,
Lasley
says,
because their work is their
life.
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
Suburban New Jersey
farmers have it tough, too.
Anne
Giller
singlehandedly runs Degage
Gardens,
an
organic
vegetable, flower and herb
farm 50 miles outside New
York City in Rockaway
www.clipresearch.com
Township, N.J. With New
Jersey farmland shrinking,
farmers tend to be older
and married.
In Rockaway, a suburban
haven for young families,
most of Giller's customers
are mothers.
Giller, 39, wants to share
her life with a man who
makes her laugh and
supports her dreams. She's
just not sure how to find
him.
She keeps a hectic yearround pace. When not
harvesting, she is stripping
seeds, drying herbs and
crafting flower sachets and
ointments. Her days begin
at 7 a.m. and end at 1 a.m.
"There is a lack of time. I
have 8billion children to
watch over," Giller says of
her many plants and
seeds.
So far, she is reluctant to
try Web dating.
Blain Newsome can relate.
The 24-year-old Dublin,
Ohio, equestrian coach
was wary of Web dating.
But after checking out
farmersonly.com,
she
became a convert.
Two months into her online
experiment, Newsome met
a
27-year-old
farm
equipment salesman. They
live less than 2 miles apart
in Dublin. Newsome works
long hours at Autumn Rose
horse farm, and he's on the
road a lot; still, they've
Electronic Clipping
found time
dates.
for
several
"There's no way we would
have
met
otherwise,"
Newsome says. "I spend
24/7 at the farm."
A former president of
Future
Farmers
of
America, Newsome says
she tried dating city boys. It
never worked.
is afraid of stepping in
poop."
Laura Bruno reports for the
Daily
Record
in
Morristown, N.J.
She says, "I don't want to
baby-sit some city boy who
Also Appeared In: Albany (NY) Times-Union;
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
www.clipresearch.com
Electronic Clipping
The Engineer
Go To Top
January 16, 2006 Monday
Pg. 14
Composed performance
US develops lightweight
high-strength alloy that
could
replace
titanium
aircraft components
A high-strength aluminium
alloy
prepared
by
researchers in the US
could significantly improve
the performance of nextgeneration fighter aircraft,
specifically the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter.
Developed at AMES, the
US
Department
of
Defence laboratory run
by Iowa State University,
the
aluminium-yttriumnickel-cobalt alloy has
the potential to replace
heavier
and
costlier
components
of
'cool'
sections of jet engines,
such as in fan blades. The
material could also be used
in other sections of the
aircraft, including wing
spars.
Larry Jones, director of
the Materials Preparation
Centre (MPC) at AMES,
explained: 'The hope is that
the lighter alloy would
essentially reduce engine
weight, so we could
increase
the
plane's
efficiency or passenger
carrying capability.'
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
Project partners Pratt &
Whitney
estimate
that
replacing
jet
engine
components with the Al-YNi alloy could reduce
overall engine weight by
350lb. Jones pointed out
that
traditionally
a
reduction of just a few
pounds in aircraft weight is
considered
an
achievement.
Jones believes that other
engine
and
airframe
manufacturers would be
interested in using the
material once it proves
successful. 'It is one of the
materials
they
are
envisioning
to
replace
titanium in different aspects
of the frame. It has
sufficient strength that they
can use it to replace more
expensive titanium.'
According to Jones, Boeing
has said it would be
interested in using it as a
replacement for titanium
wing spars, while Pratt &
Whitney engineers are
developing fan blades with
the alloy and looking to trial
them in the next six to 12
months.
www.clipresearch.com
The alloy is produced via
high-pressure
gas
atomisation (HPGA), which
uses a special nozzle to
blast a stream of molten
alloy material with a
pressurised gas such as
helium or nitrogen. The
result is powder-fine metal
particles that are highly
uniform
in
chemical
composition and, because
they cool so quickly, exhibit
the amorphous structure of
the liquid metal rather than
the
crystal
structure
normally found in bulk
metals.
Once
completed,
the
powdered metal is vacuum
hot-pressed
and
hotextruded into a finished
product. This bonds the
particles together and the
partly amorphous, partly
crystallised structure gives
HPGA-produced materials
the improved strength and
ductility properties. Initial
tests of the alloy reveal a
tensile
strength
of
100,000psi, whereas the
top commercial aircraftgrade aluminium is just
70,000psi.
However, Jones said that
currently they have not
been able to identify a
Electronic Clipping
commercial vendor that
can replicate the powder
as
commercial
manufacturers are having
problems recreating lab
conditions for the process.
Tests of the Al-Y-Ni alloy
produced by a commercial
manufacturer
have
yielded results in the
90,000-92,000psi
range
and this is due to a number
of inherent problems that
affect the strength.
'Aluminum powders are
highly explosive,' Jones
said. 'By using nitrogen gas
it
creates
a
nitride
passivition layer so the
powders are less likely to
be explosive. This nitride
layer breaks down during
sintering, resulting in very
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
strong bonds between the
particles.'
However, the commercial
process injects oxygen into
the atomisation gas stream
to create a controlled
oxidation of the powders.
This
reduces
explosiveness but Jones
says
any
exogenous
material will result in a
weaker end product and
that includes any oxidation
that takes place.
To counter this problem,
the
material
being
produced by the MPC will
be kept in an inert
environment until after the
vacuum
hot-pressing
process is completed.
the powder in a container
under an inert atmosphere.
The powder will be sieved
to less than 32 microns in
size in an inert atmosphere
glove box before being
shipped in a sealed
container
to
DWA
Aluminum Composites, Los
Angeles,
where
the
vacuum hot-pressing will
be
completed.
After
vacuum hot- pressing the
pressed
and
sintered
powder billet will be
extruded. Only then will it
be exposed to the normal
atmosphere.
The MPC will study the
results and modify the
process
to
improve
processing
at
the
commercial level.
The MPC has modified its
HPGA system to capture
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The New York Times
Go To Top
January 16, 2006 Monday Late - Final
Section A; Column 1; National Desk; Pg. 13
Corn Farmers Smile as Ethanol Prices Rise, but
Experts on Food Supplies Worry
By MATTHEW L. WALD
SIOUX CENTER, Iowa,
Jan. 11
Early every winter here,
farmers make their best
guesses about how much
food the world will demand
in the coming year, and
then decide how many
acres of corn to plant, and
how many of soybeans.
But this year is different.
Now it is not just the
demand for food that is
driving the decision, it is
also the demand for
ethanol, the fuel that is
made from corn.
Some states are requiring
that ethanol be blended in
small
amounts
with
gasoline to comply with
anti-pollution laws. High oil
prices are dragging corn
prices up with them, as the
value of ethanol is pushed
up by the value of the fuel
it replaces.
''We're
leaning
more
toward corn,'' said Garold
Den Herder, a farmer who
cultivates 2,400 acres in a
combination of corn and
soybeans and is on the
board of directors of the
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
Siouxland Energy and
Livestock
Cooperative,
which opened an ethanol
plant here in late 2001.
Last year a bushel was
selling for about $2 here,
but near the plant it was
about 10 cents higher.
Farmers expect it to go
higher soon if oil prices
stay high. Ethanol was up
to $1.75 a gallon, last year,
from just over $1 the year
before.
The rising corn prices may
be good news for farmers,
but they are worrying some
food planners.
''We're
putting
the
supermarket in competition
with the corner filling
station for the output of the
farm,'' said Lester R.
Brown,
an
agriculture
expert
in
Washington,
D.C., and president of the
Earth
Policy
Institute.
Farms cannot feed all the
world's people and its
motor vehicles as well, Mr.
Brown said, and the result
is that more people will go
hungry.
Others say that the price of
goods that have corn as an
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ingredient, including foods
like potato chips or Danish
pastries, will rise.
But Robert C. Brown, a
professor of mechanical
engineering at Iowa State
University
and
a
specialist in agricultural
engineering, said the use
of
corn
for
nonfood
purposes sounded harsher
than
it
was.
''The
impression is that we're
taking food out of the
mouths
of
babes,''
Professor Brown said. In
fact, corn grown in Iowa is
used mostly to feed farm
animals or make corn
syrup for processed foods.
And Bernie Punt, the
general manager of the
Siouxland plant, said, ''It's
not as big a loss as what it
seems like,'' pointing out
that the corn remnants that
come out of the other end
of the plant were used for
animal feed.
A global shift to farm-based
fuel could reduce the need
for oil and slow climate
change. But Lester Brown
is not alone in worrying
about the effect on world
hunger. For 20 years, the
Electronic Clipping
International Food Policy
Research
Institute,
a
nonprofit
group
in
Washington,
has
maintained a computer
model to predict food
supplies,
based
on
population changes, farm
policies and other factors.
Until now, the institute's
analysis had included the
price of oil and natural gas
only as a factor in
production costs, including
the
price
of
making
fertilizer, running a tractor
or hauling food to markets.
But last year, after Joachim
von Braun, the director of
the institute, went to Brazil
and India, both of which
make vehicle fuel from
plants,
he
told
his
economists to change the
model, taking into account
the demand for energy
from farm products.
Even a small shift could
have big effects, Mr. von
Braun said, because ''the
mouth of your car is a
monster compared to your
family's stomach needs.''
''I do not just expect
somewhat higher food
prices, but new instability
as well,'' he said in an
interview. ''In the future,
instability of energy prices
will be translated into
instability in food prices.''
Gustavo Best, the energy
coordinator at the United
Nations
Food
and
Agriculture Organization,
said growing crops for
energy could provide new
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
opportunities for small
farmers around the world
and
finance
the
development of roads and
other
valuable
infrastructure in poor rural
areas.
But, Mr. Best added,
''definitely there is a danger
that the competition can hit
food security and food
availability.''
Some experts scoff at the
idea of corn shortages, but
others say it is possible.
Wendy K. Wintersteen,
the dean of the College
of Agriculture at Iowa
State University, said that
possibly as early as this
summer, ''we will have
areas of the state we would
call
corn
deficient,''
because there will not be
enough for livestock feed -the biggest use of corn
here -- and ethanol plants.
''It's a hard thing to imagine
in Iowa,'' Ms. Wintersteen
said. Eventually, experts
say, American corn exports
could fall.
Nationwide, the use of corn
for energy could result in
farmers' planting more of it
and less wheat and cotton,
said Keith J. Collins, chief
economist
of
the
Department of Agriculture.
But the United States is
paying farmers not to grow
crops on 35 million acres,
to prop up the value of
corn, he said, and much of
that land could come back
into production.
www.clipresearch.com
A change is under way that
experts say will tightly tie
the price of crops to the
price of oil: ethanol plants
are multiplying.
Iowa has 19 ethanol plants
now and will have 27 by
the end of the year, said
Mr.
Punt,
a
former
president of the Iowa
Renewable
Fuels
Association. The Siouxland
Energy
and
Livestock
Cooperative showed a $6
million profit for 2005, Mr.
Den Herder said, driven in
part by the price of ethanol.
Many farmers here in the
corn belt say they have the
ability to grow the material
for vast amounts of fuel.
Another biofuel is a diesel
substitute
made
from
soybeans,
which
still
leaves about 80 percent of
the bean for cattle feed,
advocates say.
Joe
Jobe,
executive
director of the National
Biodiesel Board, a trade
group, predicted that more
demand for soy oil as a
diesel substitute would
force production of meal,
pushing down its price and
thus making cattle feed
cheaper.
''I think there's a historical
shift under way, not to
grow more crops for
energy and less for food,
but to grow more for both,''
Mr. Jobe said.
Nick Young, the president
of an agriculture consulting
firm, Promar, in Alexandria,
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Va., pointed out that corn
products have been used
for nonfood purposes for
years, including to make
fluids used to help drill oil
wells. Mr. Young said it
was an exaggeration to say
that nonfood use of crops
will make the world's poor
go hungry, but he added
that the use of vegetable
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
oil as a substitute for diesel
fuel had already driven up
the price of canola oil.
''These
markets
are
linked,'' Mr. Young said.
''Inevitably, there's going to
be some interaction on
food prices.''
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GRAPHIC: Photo: In front
of corn piled 35 feet high,
Bernie Punt, left, manager
of the ethanol plant in
Sioux Center, Iowa, talked
with Kent Pruismann, a
board member of the group
running the plant. (Photo
by Dave Eggen for The
New York Times)
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The Cedar Rapids Gazette
Go To Top
January 15, 2006, Sunday
Web Edition
Taking stock of livestock
By Marlene Lucas
Pain in Jeff Lincoln's
knees, ankles and back
told him he could not
continue milking cows, but
when he quit in 2004, the
300 acres of corn he grew
was not enough to support
his family.
Jeff, 47, and his wife,
Coleen, could have looked
for
jobs
in
nearby
Colesburg. Instead, they
added
cattle
feeding
buildings with the capacity
to produce 800 to 900 beef
steers a year.
Those cattle consume all
the corn the Lincolns grow,
plus some they buy, and
create two jobs -- Jeff
cares for the cattle and
Coleen keeps the records.
The Lincolns are an
example of how livestock
production can improve the
income of farmers and
boost economic growth in
Iowa.
Livestock producers have
increased
the
state's
market hog herd from 12.9
million in December 1995
to 15.3 million in December
2005. Iowa had 920,000
cattle on feed in January
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
2005, little changed from
the 910,000 cattle on feed
in January 1995.
Low corn and soybean
prices, strong cattle and
hog prices and soaring fuel
and fertilizer costs make
the future much brighter for
livestock producers than
for most crop producers,
according
to
Bruce
Babcock, director of the
Center for Agricultural
and Rural Development
at Iowa State University.
Farms in Sioux County on
average are smaller, at 302
acres, than the state
average of 350 acres, yet
the average farm income in
the county was $ 63,574 in
2002, slightly more than
double the average income
of $ 31,592 for Iowa farms.
Aaron Putze, director of the
coalition,
says
the
economic
activity
was
visually striking when he
visited the county last
summer.
The Iowa Coalition to
Support Farmers goes
further, promoting livestock
production as a means of
revitalizing
rural
communities, where farm
income is a larger portion
of total income than in
metropolitan areas.
"The traffic increased and I
soon
felt
small
and
insignificant on the road
with all the livestock trailers
and concrete trucks on the
road. They have new
schools. The main streets
are bustling and the
parking lots are full.
Both the center and the
coalition point to Sioux
County as an example of
how a vigorous livestock
industry
can
benefit
farmers
and
their
communities. The county
ranks first in Iowa in
production of cattle, hogs,
milk and sheep and goats
and fourth in production of
poultry and eggs.
"Sioux County has the
youngest median age and
the most people per
household. My eyes were
opened. There's power in a
strong and robust livestock
sector."
People
involved
in
livestock production there
agree.
"Livestock improves the
family farm," says Garret
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Electronic Clipping
Englin, feedlot manager for
Farmer
Cooperative
Society in Sioux Center.
Farmers that produce only
grain need a lot of acres,
Englin said.
"You end up with large
grain farms. With livestock,
you get smaller grain
farming."
"There are so many added
values," Englin continued.
"With livestock you have
year-round
jobs.
It
improves the quality of
people, too. With grain
(only), farmers take it easy
from December through
May. They're not as
involved."
Manufacturing jobs multiply
with livestock, he says. The
livestock industry needs
gates, trailers, feeders,
feed
wagons,
manure
spreaders and sprayers.
The veterinarian clinics are
busy.
"I grew up in a little place in
Minnesota and businesses
left when livestock died
out. That part of the world
did not keep up. Livestock
is one of the best things
that can happen to a
community," Englin says.
Kevin Hulstein, feed mill
manager at the co-op, has
been on the job for 30
years and has seen a
"tremendous" upsurge in
business with feed sales
going from 50 tons a day to
1,000 tons a day.
"We used to work nine
hours a day. Now we work
24 hours a day, five days a
week. A day crew works
from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and
20 part-time people with
other full-time jobs come in
and haul till midnight. It's
extra income for them,"
Hulstein says.
Two reasons the county
encourages
livestock
production is that corn is
cheap and plentiful.
Many
farmers
there
produce big yields of more
than 200 bushels per acre.
A
supportive
attitude
toward livestock production
is important, says Mark
Sybesma of rural Hull, a
Sioux County supervisor.
"People are positive and
progressive," he says.
"Four to five of our leading
communities
are
very
active in the livestock
industry, which contributes
jobs.
Schools grow and we can
build new buildings.
"Sometimes our county
doesn't smell too good, but
people realize it's the price
to pay for jobs and growth."
In some communities in
other counties, opposition
is strong enough that
farmers have abandoned
plans to expand livestock
operations.
Because the debate on
livestock
had
turned
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
www.clipresearch.com
"rancorous, with so much
venom,"
Iowa's
farm
groups
formed
the
Coalition to Support Iowa's
Farmers to help individual
farmers
meet
environmental regulations
and mollify their neighbors,
Putze says.
"We're
not
without
adversaries.
It
seems
some organizations will
have conflict as a way to
get members and funding.
We're trying to reduce
conflict," he says.
One group that has
protested large livestock
operations, calling them
factory farms, is Iowa
Citizens for Community
Improvement
in
Des
Moines.
Gary Larsen, an Exira
farmer and board member
for the group, says he
objects to big corporations
that contract with farmers
to raise hogs.
That system "reduces an
independent farmer, a
business owner, to a
janitor, like a hired man at
Wal-Mart. The farmer loses
control of the hogs but he's
responsible
for
any
environmental problems,"
Larsen says.
Tom Fiegen, a Cedar
Rapids bankruptcy attorney
who works with farmers,
says
many
production
contracts between farmers
and companies owning
pigs put farmers at great
financial risk.
Electronic Clipping
Three times in the past two
years owners of pigs have
foreclosed
on
farms
because the farmers could
not meet the terms of the
contracts, Fiegen says.
"I can't say enough bad
things about contracts that
shift costs to farmers," he
says. A better situation is
"to have farmers that own
their own livestock or have
greater control. The model
of working for someone
else for $ 8 a hog is not a
sustainable model and
creates an indenturedservant status."
Iowa
Public
Interest
Research Group in Des
Moines has no problem
with expanding livestock
production
but
is
concerned
for
the
environment.
"Five cows or five pigs per
acre versus two is not a
problem,"
says
spokeswoman
Alana
Stamas. "The problem is
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
concentration of waste.
The more you have, the
higher the propensity to
have run-offs and leaks of
manure.
"We already have a huge
problem statewide. We
have some of the world's
best
water
purification
systems and they're being
tested. More waste makes
more stress."
Putze says the mishandling
of manure by one farmer
will hurt the reputation of all
area farmers and that the
organization
does
not
support "bad actors."
The coalition worked last
year by helping Dale and
Colleen Vincent build a
2,400-head, wean-to-finish
hog building on their West
Branch farm. The addition
expanded
the
farm's
operation enough to allow
their son, Jason, 23, to
return to the farm.
Finding ground for Jason to
farm would have been an
www.clipresearch.com
impossibility, Dale says,
and only by expanding his
own hog enterprise was he
able to create enough
income to include Jason in
the operation.
"I've always wanted to
farm," Jason says. "This
way, I get to stay in the
community."
----To see more of The
Gazette, or to subscribe to
the newspaper, go to
http://www.gazetteonline.c
om. Copyright (c) 2006,
The
Gazette,
Cedar
Rapids, Iowa
Distributed
by
Knight
Ridder/Tribune
Business
News.
For
information
on
republishing this content,
contact us at (800) 6612511 (U.S.), (213) 2374914 (worldwide), fax (213)
237-6515,
or
e-mail
reprints@krtinfo.com.
WMT,
Electronic Clipping
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Go To Top
January 15, 2006 Sunday THIRD EDITION
BUSINESS; Pg. E1
Down on the biopharm, Missouri plows ahead
State offers financial incentives to businesses to stimulate the
niche biotech industry.
By Rachel Melcer
ST.
LOUIS
DISPATCH
POST-
Attracting and growing
biopharm companies -those
that
genetically
engineer crops to produce
drugs or polymers -- is just
one play in Missouri's bid
to build a biotech industry.
But it is an important one,
because it trumps the
concerns of outstate voters
and legislators who now
see the state's spending on
biotech as a benefit only to
St. Louis and Kansas City.
The burgeoning biopharm
business is a potential
boon to farm income and
rural econo-mies.
So, Missouri is offering
financial incentives to a
pair of biopharm firms, with
mixed results.
Chlorogen Inc., a startup
company based at the
Nidus Center for Scientific
Enterprise in Creve Coeur,
has decided to contract
with farmers and build a
processing plant in Cape
Girardeau in about a year,
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
said Chief Executive David
Duncan.
The company was wooed
by Kentucky, Florida and
South
Carolina,
but
Missouri offered the best
financial package, he said.
Ventria
Bioscience,
a
Sacramento, Calif.-based
company, had planned to
relocate to Maryville, Mo.,
but the deal fell through
when federal and state
grants failed to materialize.
Missouri officials say they
still are talking with Ventria
in hopes of bringing the
company to the state, but
the discussion has gone
back to the drawing board.
"We've also got feelers out
to a number of other
companies," said Mike
Mills, deputy director of the
Missouri Department of
Economic
Development.
"We do focus very heavily
on the biotech industry,
and (biopharming) just
happens to be a subset
that
provides
an
opportunity
for
rural
Missouri to benefit greatly."
www.clipresearch.com
Even if these efforts
succeed, a jackpot is not
assured. Scientists agree
that
biopharming
technology can work, but it
is controversial.
There are concerns that
plants engineered to grow
non-food proteins might
cross-pollinate
with
unmodified neighbors and
contaminate
food
and
animal
feed
supplies.
Industry proponents say
scientific
and
physical
precautions can be taken
to prevent this -- growing
the proteins in non-food
crops, such as the tobacco
produced by Chlorogen, or
raising modified food plants
in areas distant from crops
that will be eaten, as
Ventria proposed to do by
growing
rice
in
northwestern
Missouri
instead of the state's Bootheel.
Chlorogen also is using
chloroplast cells of tobacco
leaves to express the
pharmaceutical
proteins,
and these cells do not play
a part in reproduction.
Electronic Clipping
But regulatory agencies
are playing catch-up with
the science, which is
developing at a rapid pace.
Strict rules need to be
developed
to
manage
biopharm crops, and it is
unknown how these will
affect the industry, said
Roger Beachy, president of
the Donald Danforth Plant
Science Center in Creve
Coeur and chair of Gov.
Matt
Blunt's
Advisory
Council
for
Plant
Biotechnology.
"There is a lot of hard
science
and
good
regulations
to
be
developed
as
(this)
industry develops," Beachy
said. But he believes it can
succeed.
Proponents
also
say
biopharming
can
be
lucrative, though the size of
the
payoff
and
its
beneficiaries
are
in
question.
A
recent
report
by
agriculture
economist
Robert Wisner of Iowa
State
University,
commissioned
by
the
nonprofit
Union
of
Concerned Scientists, said
most of the benefit of
biopharm crops would flow
to
big
pharmaceutical
companies rather than to
farmers.
Most industry observers
agree that the small
biotech startups developing
this technology will need to
partner with these large
corporations in order to
CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE
fund the years of clinical
trials and big marketing
efforts needed to sell any
therapeutic drug.
microbiologist and director
of
the
biotechnology
program at the University
of California, Davis.
Chlorogen needs to secure
such a deal before building
operations
in
Cape
Girardeau, Duncan said.
"Some of the (political)
leadership in the Midwest
got caught up in, 'Wow, this
is high-value farming.' And
it is. But it's not going to be
the acreage that you're
used to seeing with
soybeans
and
corn,"
Kjelstrom said, comparing
its market potential to that
of organic farming.
But growers and rural
towns can benefit if
production facilities are
built near farm fields, as
Chlorogen and Ventria
have planned. Missouri has
engineering
and
processing talent that can
be
employed
in
biopharming, said Perry
Wong, senior economist
with the Milken Institute, a
think tank in Santa Monica,
Calif.
"It's a region (where)
agriculture meets industry,"
he said. "It's only natural,
and
with
very
good
synergy, that the area try to
bring
in
some
new
technology . . . to maximize
the benefit to the state in
job creation and building."
The technology offers a
way to turn commodity
farming into a high-value
niche production system,
said Jason Garst, a farmer
in Watson, Mo., who has
contracted with Ventria to
produce its biopharm rice.
"It's simply the next level of
technology that's going to
allow us growers to remain
profitable."
The key to keep in mind is
that it's a niche industry,
said Judith Kjelstrom, a
www.clipresearch.com
Beachy said the state's
goal is to pursue a variety
of high-tech, value-added
agricultural
biotech
specialties,
not
just
biopharming.
For example, Creve Coeurbased Monsanto Co., the
world's leading producer of
genetically modified crops,
is developing soybeans
and corn for food use that
have added nutritional or
processing
benefits.
Researchers at the Donald
Danforth Plant Science
Center are engaged in
similar work.
Beachy
agreed
with
Kjelstrom that biopharming
alone is not likely to be a
huge industry -- unless it is
embraced
by
the
pharmaceutical giants. But
he said he is confident that
Missouri would be a good
home for it.
The state also could gain
from
biopharming
by
boosting its overall image
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as a high-tech hot spot,
Kjelstrom said.
"Any state that gets into
promoting this technology,
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it's going to be successful,"
she said. "If you can say
biopharming is alive and
well in Missouri, you'll be
www.clipresearch.com
seen as really visionary
people."
GRAPHIC:
PHOTO
Duncan Chlorogen CEO
-
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The Albany Times Union
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January 15, 2006 Sunday 3 EDITION
Albany, NY: BUSINESS; Pg. B3
Retail soundtrack tough on workers
By DAWN SAGARIO
It's a couple of weeks after
Christmas, but the auditory
assault, courtesy of Britney
Spears, is still fresh in
Emily Marchino's mind.
Marchino, who works at
clothing store New York &
Company at Merle Hay
Mall in Des Moines, Iowa,
had to listen to one music
tape
(sent
from
headquarters) during every
eight-hour shift she worked
- for about a month. The
Britster sang three of the
songs piped throughout the
store.
Thankfully, yuletide Britney
has since been banished.
On a re cent morning,
Marchino, 19, was enjoying
a mix tape.
But the novelty of the fresh
set of tunes probably will
wear thin soon, too, she
said.
Marchino has company.
Mama Federline tops the
list as the most annoying
musician
British
retail
workers have to endure at
work, according to online
recruitment
site
Retailchoice. The company
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polled
about
1,400
employees and assembled
a Top 10 list of auditory
offenders that included
Usher and Kylie Minogue.
A third of respondents said
they had been abused by
the same CD played up to
20 times a week.
There's a conflict of
interests when specific
music is piped into
businesses, said Paul
Lasley, an Iowa State
professor and chairman
of
the
sociology
department. At issue is
finding a balance between
the ambience a business
wants to create, and the
varied musical tastes of
workers and customers.
"You might find the perfect
set of music to create
exactly the kind of mood
you want to create," Lasley
said.
But
"perfection"
played several times over
often spells monotony for
employees. Monotony can
breed unhappiness.
A deeper issue is choice,
he
said.
Employees
subjected to specific music
don't have a say in the
tunes they listen to. That
www.clipresearch.com
lack of choice could affect
productivity.
Lasley
pointed
to
workplace studies done in
the early 1900s. The
"Hawthorne
studies,"
conducted at the Western
Electric Hawthorne Works
in Chicago, analyzed how
a variety of working
conditions
affected
productivity. They found
that "whatever you did that
demonstrated
to
the
employees that you were
paying attention to them
increased the productivity,"
he
said.
"Which
is
somewhat
commonsensical: that if
you
have
happy
employees, then they'll be
more
productive
than
unhappy employees."
Variety is one solution, he
said.
Some workers say it's just
a matter of tuning the
music out. PacSun sales
associate Travis Ramsey,
18, listens to satellite radio.
The catch: It's set to one
station. "It's good music.
But after a while, you learn
to block it out," he said.
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WorkBytes is written by
and for Gen Xers learning
the
realities
of
the
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workplace. Write the author
at
The
Des
Moines
Register, P.O. Box 957,
www.clipresearch.com
Des Moines, IA 503040957.
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Anchorage Daily News
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January 14, 2006 Saturday FINAL EDITION
MONEY; Pg. G1
Halibut skippers sought for study on decision-making
By
LAINE
FISHERIES
KODIAK -
WELCH
How do fishermen make
risky decisions out on the
water? Researchers are
hoping
Alaska
halibut
skippers will help them find
out.
Quinn
Weninger,
an
economist at Iowa State
University, is leading a
study called "DecisionMaking
in
Uncertain
Circumstances: Learning
from Alaskan Halibut
Fishermen." He has put
out a call for 50 to 60
halibut
skippers
to
participate in the project for
the
2006
and
2007
fisheries.
"Halibut fishing is a great
example of a process in
which decisions have to be
made about where fish
might be, and the decisions
are all subject to various
forms of uncertainty. It is a
very interesting, natural
experiment for us to try and
test some of the theories
that are being put forth
about decision making
under
uncertainty,"
Weninger said.
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Researchers suggest that
people
tend
to
use
simplifications or rules of
thumb -- called heuristics -to aid in the complex task
of making decisions under
uncertainty. "These rules of
thumb can lead to errors or
mistakes, and there is
tremendous interest in the
academic community to try
and uncover how these
various heuristics influence
decisions," Weninger said.
For the two-year halibut
project, each skipper will
be given a hand-held
computer and GPS logger
and asked to "point and
click" through a short list of
questions before leaving
for a fishing trip. "They'll be
asked about the thought
processes that went into
making the decision about
where they are going to
fish, and in particular, what
they expect to catch. At the
end of the trip, they'll do
another round of questions,
such as what might have
changed out on the water,
and how they reacted as
the
trip
proceeded,"
Weninger
said.
He
stressed that all fishing
data
will
remain
confidential.
www.clipresearch.com
Results of the study, which
is funded by the National
Science Foundation, will
help researchers learn how
expectations are formed,
how choices are made and
how the level of risk affects
the decision making. The
work can benefit others
who work in high-stress
occupations, and those
who
provide
support
services, Weninger said.
Get more information at
cssm.iastate.edu/srs/halibu
t.
* Pollock goes to school.
The
Genuine
Alaska
Pollock Producers is taking
the lead to get more fish
into
the
mouths
of
America's school kids. The
GAPP is an association
formed in 2003 that
represents every at-sea
and shore-based processor
in the Alaska pollock
industry.
It
promotes
Alaska pollock in markets
around the world with a
focus on Europe, North
America and Asia. GAPP
members are now in
Orlando, Fla., for a threeday School and Child
Nutrition
Industry
Conference, which brings
together food decision
makers
and
seafood
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suppliers. The GAPP's goal
is to convince them to use
more pollock products in
the nation's school lunch
program.
According
to
Intrafish,
GAPP will share results of
a pilot project done last fall
in three school districts in
Seattle,
Houston
and
Virginia Beach, Va. It
showed that students were
very receptive to Alaskan
fish tacos, and they would
like them to be part of their
regular
school
lunch
menus. GAPP president
Rick Muir said the group is
developing more kid-tested
menu items, and they
believe children would
enjoy fish more if better
quality
products
were
available
in
American
schools.
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* Symphony of Seafood
attracts new fish. The
popular Alaska Symphony
of Seafood kicks off on
Thursday at the Hyatt
Regency Lake Las Vegas
Resort. Now in its 13th
year,
the
event
has
attracted 19 new Alaska
seafood products from
large and small companies.
The entries compete in
three categories -- retail,
food service and smoked -and are judged by a panel
that represents diverse
segments related to the
seafood industry.
Of note this year is a new
fish entry into the field long
dominated by salmon.
Prowler
Fisheries
of
Petersburg and Seattle
restaurateur Tom Douglas
have partnered to offer five
www.clipresearch.com
specially flavored sablefish
tenderloin dishes.
Except for the Las Vegas
People's Choice Award, all
winners will be announced
at a second Symphony
event Feb. 4 at the 4th
Avenue
Theatre
in
Anchorage.
Winners
receive a trip to the
International
Boston
Seafood Show in March.
Get more information or
tickets
at
www.symphonyofseafood.c
om.
Laine Welch is a Kodiakbased fisheries journalist.
Her Fish Radio programs
can be heard on stations
around the state. Her
information
column
appears
every
other
Saturday.
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Des Moines Register
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January 14, 2006 Saturday
METRO IOWA; Pg. 1B
Hospital's fate in judge's hands
Residents who want to save Washington County Hospital, and hospital
trustees who want to raze it, spoke before the court Friday.
By BETH LOBERG
REGISTER
STAFF WRITER
***CORRECTION
Information
with
a
photograph Saturday of the
old Washington County
Hospital should have said
the group of people in the
background of the photo
supported
saving
the
structure from demolition.
***
A dispute over the fate of
the
94-year-old
Washington
County
Hospital
building
will
simmer a bit longer.
Residents hoping to save
the building, and hospital
trustees planning to raze
the structure, presented
their cases Friday to
District Court Judge Dan
Morrison, who could rule
next week on a request by
residents to stop the
scheduled demolition.
The hearing, which lasted
more than an hour in a
packed
courtroom
in
Washington, focused on a
hospital building that is on
the National Registry of
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Historic Places and the
Iowa Historic Preservation
Alliance's 2005 list of Most
Endangered
Iowa
Properties.
Built in 1912, it is the oldest
hospital building in the
nation to be paid for by
county
taxpayers,
preservationists
say.
Michael
Zahs,
a
Washington Junior High
history teacher who has
become active in the
preservation effort, said the
building is regarded as the
most historic landmark in
the county.
Trustees for Washington
County
Hospital
acknowledge the historic
nature of the building, but
say it would cost $1.5
million
to
save
the
structure.
Despite the costs, a small
group of residents began to
organize
when
the
hospital's seven-member
board of trustees voted in
August 2005 to tear down
the
structure.
Mary
Patterson of Washington,
the leader of the group,
said demolition opponents
www.clipresearch.com
think they were deliberately
kept in the dark by
trustees.
"One of the biggest things
is that they failed to follow
Iowa's
open-meetings
laws. They listed the topic
of
hospital
demolition
under 'technology.' How
does that correlate? They
have
been
trying
to
demolish for a number of
years, and they finally got
the right people on the
board," she said.
Hospital Chief Executive
Officer Don Patterson and
Board
of
Trustees
President
Jim
Harris
declined to comment on
the issue, citing legal
advice.
Michael
Kramme,
executive director of the
Iowa
Historical
Preservation Alliance, said
the rate at which historic
buildings are being lost in
the state isn't dramatically
increasing, but an average
of one is lost each year
from the list of endangered
properties.
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"Many individuals do not
see
the
worth
or
importance of a historic
building," he said.
even though she said
many in her generation are
emotionally attached to the
hospital.
David Block, an Iowa
State
University
architecture
professor,
said not every old building
is worth saving.
"They're calling us old
fogies stuck in the past.
But I am not opposed to
the
idea
of
needing
improvements," Wolf said.
"Just because a building is
old doesn't mean it's good.
If it is, the question to ask
is whether or not the
building can be saved for
some kind of usage," he
said.
Leslie Thomas, 18, student
body
president
at
Washington High School,
works part time at the
hospital. She has heard
both sides of the dispute
and sides with the trustees.
Sometimes it may seem
economically feasible to
demolish, Block said. But
many bids often don't
include the cost to remove
the existing building, which
can often be tens of
thousands of dollars, he
added.
"I think that with every year
the building gets older,"
she said. "Personally, I
think it's OK to go ahead
with the new hospital."
"You have to realize that
around half the cost of the
new building is in the outer
walls -its skin. That's
already present in the
existing building. And even
if it does cost slightly more
to renovate, you have to
keep in mind the big
picture. If the older people
think it is a landmark and
it's structurally sound, why
not renovate?"
Margaret Wolf, 77, of
Washington said she's not
convinced that the building
is structurally unsound
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GRAPHIC: _By: HARRY
BAUMERT,
THE
REGISTER:
Building
debate: Phyllis Carter,
chairwoman
of
the
Washington
County
Historic
Preservation
Commission, left, and Mary
Patterson, head of the
Washington
Historic
Preservation Commission,
are among those trying to
save the old Washington
County
Hospital
from
demolition. Supporters of
razing
the
building
converse
in
the
background Thursday. The
original structure, on the
left, was built in 1912. The
right side of the building
was added in 1941.s:
www.clipresearch.com
2005's Most Endangered
Iowa Properties; according
to
the Iowa
Historic
Preservation Alliance; The
Clinton Post Office, built in
1900-02 and vacated in
1992,
is
currently
unoccupied and suffering
from neglect. The Clinton
Library, built in 1904, was
listed on the National
Register in 1983. The city
of Clinton has decided to
build a new library or
move. The building's future
is uncertain. The Monticello
Carnegie Building, built in
1903-04, is being used as
a library, which likely will
relocate
soon.
The
building's
future
is
uncertain. Sacred Heart
Church in Ida Grove, built
in 1899, is slated to be torn
down. A new church has
been built. More buildings
on the list: The Stipes
Country
Store
and
Storekeeper's House in
Grant were built in the
1870s. The current owner
is interested in restoration,
but both structures are in
need of immediate repair.
The buildings were listed
on the National Register in
2003. The Trumble-Parker
Historic District in Davis
County represents Iowa
agriculture at the turn of
the 20th century. The
farmstead
includes
a
unique U-shaped barn and
was listed on the National
Register in 2004. Owners
are divided on its future.
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January 1, 2006
INDUSTRY NEWS; Pg. 21 ISSN: 0035-7464
Tech Center Opens
The National Concrete Pavement
Technology Center (CP Tech Center)
has opened at the former Center for
Portland Cement Concrete Pavement
Technology at Iowa State University.
The American Concrete Pavement
Association reports that the center was
created to unite concrete pavement
research and technology transfer and
implementation.
The center will work with the Federal
Highway
Administration
and
state
departments of transportation to expand
product
knowledge
and
advance
specification standards, according to the
center's Web site. The center has a staff of
12.
The federal transportation funding bill
provides $16.4 million for concrete
pavement research. The bill also contains
a special provision of $10 million for
specific research and technology projects
to be administered through the CP Tech
Center.
APAC is one of the center's principal
sponsors.
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Agri News, MN
01/24/06
Corn, soybean carry out biggest in 18 years
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
Agri News staff writer
MASON CITY, Iowa -- With the corn piles next to elevators in many Iowa and
Minnesota communities, farmers will see wide basis much of the winter, said
Iowa State University extension farm and ag business management field
specialist Steven Johnson.
The mountains of corn serve as a reminder that corn and soybean carry out for
the coming year will be the largest in 18 years.
USDA projects a trend-line corn yield of 148.4 bushels for 2006. Production is
forecast at 11 billion. Exports are projected at 1.9 billion, and ending stocks are
2.4 billion, the largest since 1988 to 1989.
Corn carryout could increase as USDA adjusts lackluster exports down.
Average corn price is forecast at $1.80 for 2006, down from $2.06 last year,
Johnson said at a recent Mason City risk management meeting sponsored by
Farm Credit Services of America.
With lower prices, farmers can expect large loan deficiency payments and full
counter cyclical payments.
History shows that July corn futures prices from November to March increase
little. Price volatility comes in spring and early summer.
Seven years of data show the best time to LDP corn is at harvest with basis
narrowing after that, Johnson said. The last couple of years, the wide basis has
been extended due to large crops. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina added 10
cents to 20 cents to harvest-time LDPs this year.
The price rally seen in late December and early January was due to commodity
funds trading, Johnson said. Growers need to watch for these marketing
opportunities.
Johnson expects basis opportunities with basis narrowing as corn comes off the
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ground this spring. When ethanol plants and feed mills need corn, they will
narrow basis to get the supply.
Because loan payments and other bills come due in March, many farmers will
sell corn and beans in the coming weeks regardless of the market price.
Johnson urges farmers to look for new-crop sales opportunities. Three out of four
years, farmers get their best prices when selling new-crop corn protected with
crop revenue coverage from March to June.
Robert Wisner, Iowa State University Extension economist, is projecting an 82
percent chance corn prices for the 2006 to 2007 marketing year will be $1.90 or
less. There's an 18 percent chance of a $2.35 price.
USDA's projected soybean yield in the coming year is 42.7 bushels. National
production is forecast at 3 billion bushels with exports projected at 1 billion
bushels. Ending stocks of 513 million bushels would be among the largest ever.
Slow exports may increase ending stocks even more.
For old-crop soybeans, history shows bean prices go lower December to midFebruary and then rally in spring and early summer.
With soybeans, farmers shouldn't LDP beans unless they're priced, Johnson
said. He hasn't found data to show a good time to LDP beans. For beans,
farmers should use marketing loans.
Farmers need to sell old-crop beans, especially those stored commercially. If
they need cash, take the balance of beans under loan. Consider new crop sales,
Johnson said. He sees basis issues with soybeans. Once the outcome of the
South American crop is obvious, the carry will be out of the market.
The best time to price new crop soybeans is spring, Johnson said. He cautioned
against waiting until the late summer months.
For the 2006 to 2007 marketing year, ISU's Wisner projects 82 percent chance
prices will be $5.45 or less. There's an 18 percent chance of $5.70 per bushel
soybeans.
Iowa net farm income was at a record level in 2004 and is projected to be the
second highest in history for 2005.
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Agri News, MN
01/24/06
Iowa news and notes
Sioux County has pesticide applicator training
SIOUX CENTER, Iowa -- Private Pesticide Applicator Training will be offered in
Sioux County Feb. 6 in the Sioux Center Community High School Te Paske
Theatre. Instruction is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The class certifies people to apply restricted-use chemicals. The registration fee
is $15 and pre-registration is requested. Other sessions are scheduled March 22,
9:30 a.m. in the Te Paske Theatre; and April 10, at 7 p.m. in the Northwest Iowa
Community College, Sheldon.
For more information, call the Extension office at (712) 737-4230.
Events focus on odor-control alternatives
AMES, Iowa -- Swine producers interested in evaluating alternatives to control
odors, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and dust transmissions from their operations
can learn more at two Iowa State University workshops in March.
"Air Quality Solutions for Swine Producers: Examining the Options" will be
offered March 7 at the ISU Armstrong Research Farm Learning Center near
Lewis and March 8 at the Hamilton County fairgrounds in Webster City.
Besides producers, the general public, policymakers and governmental
regulators interested in learning more about the science of air quality are
encouraged to attend.
Sample problems will be worked on during the workshops. For more information,
contact Beth Weiser at (515) 294-0557.
Several Iowa Dairy Days scheduled
ELMA, Iowa -- Dairy Days will be held on Jan. 31, K C Hall, Elma; Feb. 1, Dairy
Foundation Center, Calmar; Feb. 2, 4-H Building, Bremer County Fairgrounds,
Waverly; Feb. 7, Avalon Supper Club, Rickardsville; and Feb. 8, American
Legion Hall, Ryan.
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Iowa State University animal science professors Lee Kilmer and Leo
Timms, ISU Extension field specialists for dairy Larry Tranel and Dale
Thoreson, ISU Extension farm management specialist Robert Tigner, and
ISU Extension ag engineer Dan Meyer will be the presenters.
Programs will run from 9:55 a.m. to 3 p.m. at each location.
Information will be offered on handling sand-laden manure, compost barns, ideas
on milking cows and results, a description of millionaire model dairy farms,
managing cow feed efficiency and an update on research at Iowa State
University, National Animal Disease Center, Northeast Iowa Community College
and the Northeast Iowa Dairy Foundation.
Universities want out-of-state students
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa's public universities hope to boost tuition revenues by
attracting more students outside the state.
Non-resident tuition rates have increased sharply in recent years, accompanied
by a decrease in out-of state students. The Iowa Board of Regents wants to curb
tuition increases and get more nationwide consideration from high school
graduates.
"We will not build the state by throwing up a wall around it or digging a moat, said
Bob Downer, a regent from Iowa City. "This isn't like California or Arizona, where
huge numbers of people flock to the state without an effort to(get them there."
Out-of-state undergraduates -- not including international students -- comprised
23 percent of the undergraduate enrollment last fall at the University of Iowa,
Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa.
Starmont School to host Garden Chautauqua
STRAWBERRY POINT, Iowa -- The Garden Chautauqua will be Feb. 4 at 9 a.m.
in Starmont Schools, west of Strawberry Point.
This all-day program is sponsored by Iowa State University Extension.
Bob Hauer, Iowa State University Extension Horticulture Program assistant,
said "Chautauqua'' originated in the 19th century as the name for an adult
education educational movement, founded at Lake Chautauqua, N.Y., that
offered a range of cultural, educational, religious, and recreational activities, often
in all-day outside meetings.
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Jim Artes, from Decorah, will talk about growing roses. Jim Pease, ISU
Extension wildlife specialist, will speak on wildlife in the garden. The final
speaker in the morning will be Gary Whittenbaugh, one of the leading dwarf
conifer experts in the Midwest. He will talk about shrubs that work well as conifer
companions, as well as dwarf conifers.
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Agriculture Online
1/20/06
Biotronics' 'toolbox' predicts marbling in live
swine
Biotronics, Inc. today announced a new technology the company says could
revolutionize the swine industry. The company's BioSoft Toolbox for Swine is a
system that captures ultrasound images and interprets them. Biotronics says the
system is the first of its kind to accurately predict the percentage of intramuscular
fat in live swine.
Doyle Wilson, President of Biotronics, has been working with Viren Amin, Chief
Scientist with the company, on the program since last summer. The program lets
swine geneticists, breeders and others in the pork industry scan live hogs using
real-time ultrasound to predict the amount of intramuscular fat in the loin eye
muscle.
"Intramuscular fat percentage (IMF) has been determined as a very important
meat quality trait," Tom Baas, Iowa State University animal scientist said in a
company release. "The ability of pork producers to accurately predict
intramuscular fat percentage will allow them to make important progress in the
pork industry."
The new technology gives swine breeders of all sizes and levels a chance to
compete with relatively equal resources while working toward pork quality
improvements, the company says.
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Associated Press
01/19/06
New rules to keep affluent students out of
low-income housing
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- New federal eligibility rules will keep affluent college
students from accessing low-income housing.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rules now require that
the income of student's parents and guardians be considered in determining who
is eligible for Section 8 housing, which is reserved for low-income families
seeking help.
In an e-mail sent to students on Wednesday, University of Iowa officials said the
new rules will also take into account housing allocations in scholarships.
Students older than age 23, veterans, married students or those who have
children or dependents will be exempted.
They rules are now the same as those that apply when a student seeks financial
aid, according to a news release from the University of Iowa, where controversy
erupted after affluent students -- including athletes with scholarships who receive
allowances for housing, food and other expenses -- were uncovered living in the
low-income housing.
The university asked for federal help in changing eligibility to look at parental
income and financial aid. According to the e-mail, that was because of
"continuing concerns that students who have financial resources to live
elsewhere are occupying housing intended for low-income people and families."
The university said it continues to support students who are in need of such
housing.
"We understand that for some of you, this form of aid is essential to completing
your college studies," said the e-mail to students from Michael J. Hogan,
executive vice president and provost, and Phillip Jones, vice president for
student services and dean of students.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced legislation that was passed last year
and led to the closing of the loophole, the news release said.
"Senator Harkin thinks that this is great news for the thousands of low income
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elderly and disabled Iowans that depend on Section 8 housing, many of whom
have been on waiting lists for this assistance," Harkin spokeswoman Maureen
Knightly said.
"The University of Iowa is pleased to be a partner in resolving this matter and is
grateful to Sen. Harkin for his rapid and effective attention to this issue,"
University of Iowa President David Skorton said in a statement.
Jim Cain, executive director of the Iowa Coalition for Housing and the Homeless,
said the organization has been working with Harkin's office for a couple of years
to find a strategy to deal with the issue.
"We've been very discouraged by this practice and are just pleased to see that
that's coming to an end," he said.
Officials with Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa said it
hasn't been an issue at their schools.
HUD encourages public housing agencies and others administering Section 8
programs to recertify existing participants.
In the e-mail to students, University of Iowa officials said it may be too soon to
know when and how that process will be accomplished. The school urged
students to contact the person or agency that administers the public housing in
which they live.
"With the change in rules, some of you now living in subsidized housing may no
longer qualify for subsidies and may eventually have to find other housing," the
message said. Also ran in: Sioux City Journal, IA
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Associated Press
1/21/06
ISU space food program closes
AMES, IA - After six years of helping companies send foods into space, a
program at Iowa State University has closed.
The NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center helped food companies
develop foods that are convenient, nutritious and tasty for astronauts.
The program closed on Dec. 30, said Tony Pometto, director of the center.
"We have experienced a great number of accomplishments in this center," he
said in a statement issued Friday. "Our faculty, partners and collaborating center
have really made the FTCSC successful and developed amazing new
technologies for space."
Pometto said the center's staff were saddened by the news of the closing. He
has said that NASA officials gave no reason for closure.
A NASA spokesman said last June that the agency's strategies for research and
technology have been revised.
The center, which opened in opened in 1999, worked with companies from as far
away as Japan and Germany to make sure food products met NASA standards -that they contain nutrients, have a shelf life of at least a year, do not require a
large amount of water to prepare and are lightweight.
Besides developing food products, the center also has worked with companies to
improve packaging.
Also ending when the center closes will be its annual competition in which
college students invent space-friendly foods. The winner gets to present his or
her product to NASA.
Also appeared in: Sioux City Journal, Cedar Rapids Gazette
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Associated Press
01/23/06
Adding livestock improved profits
COLESBURG (AP) --- Pain in Jeff Lincoln's knees, ankles and back told him he
could not continue milking cows, but when he quit in 2004, the 300 acres of corn
he grew was not enough to support his family.
Jeff, 47, and his wife, Coleen, could have looked for jobs in nearby Colesburg.
Instead, they added cattle feeding buildings with the capacity to produce 800 to
900 beef steers a year.
Those cattle consume all the corn the Lincolns grow, plus some they buy, and
create two jobs -- Jeff cares for the cattle and Coleen keeps the records.
The Lincolns are an example of how livestock production can improve the
income of farmers and boost economic growth in Iowa.
Livestock producers have increased the state's market hog herd from 12.9 million
in December 1995 to 15.3 million in December 2005. Iowa had 920,000 cattle on
feed in January 2005, little changed from the 910,000 cattle on feed in January
1995.
Low corn and soybean prices, strong cattle and hog prices and soaring fuel and
fertilizer costs make the future much brighter for livestock producers than for
most crop producers, according to Bruce Babcock, director of the Center for
Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University.
The Iowa Coalition to Support Farmers goes further, promoting livestock
production as a means of revitalizing rural communities.
Both the center and the coalition point to Sioux County as an example of how a
vigorous livestock industry can benefit farm communities. The county ranks first
in Iowa in production of cattle, hogs, milk and sheep and goats and fourth in
production of poultry and eggs.
Farms in Sioux County on average are smaller, at 302 acres, than the state
average of 350 acres, yet the average farm income in the county was $63,574 in
2002, slightly more than double the average income of $31,592 for Iowa farms.
Aaron Putze, director of the coalition, says the economic activity was visually
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striking when he visited the county last summer.
"They have new schools. The main streets are bustling and the parking lots are
full.
"Sioux County has the youngest median age and the most people per household.
My eyes were opened. There's power in a strong and robust livestock sector."
People involved in livestock production there agree.
"Livestock improves the family farm," says Garret Englin, feedlot manager for
Farmer Cooperative Society in Sioux Center.
Farmers that produce only grain need a lot of acres, so "you end up with large
grain farms ... It improves the quality of people, too. With grain (only), farmers
take it easy from December through May. They're not as involved."
Manufacturing jobs multiply with livestock, he says. The livestock industry needs
gates, trailers, feeders, feed wagons, manure spreaders and sprayers. The
veterinarian clinics are busy.
Kevin Hulstein, feed mill manager at the co-op, has been on the job for 30 years
and has seen a "tremendous" upsurge in business with feed sales going from 50
tons a day to 1,000 tons a day.
"We used to work nine hours a day. Now we work 24 hours a day, five days a
week," Hulstein says.
A supportive attitude is important, says Mark Sybesma of rural Hull, a Sioux
County supervisor.
"Four to five of our leading communities are very active in the livestock industry,
which contributes jobs," Sybesma says.
"Sometimes our county doesn't smell too good, but people realize its the price to
pay for jobs and growth."
In other parts of the state, opposition is strong enough that farmers have
abandoned plans to expand livestock operations.
Because the debate on livestock had turned "rancorous," Iowa's farm groups
formed the Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers to help farmers meet
environmental regulations and mollify their neighbors, Putze says.
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"We're trying to reduce conflict," he says.
One group that has protested large livestock operations is Iowa Citizens for
Community Improvement in Des Moines.
Gary Larsen, an Exira farmer and board member for the group, says he objects
to big corporations that contract with farmers to raise hogs.
That system "reduces an independent farmer, a business owner, to a janitor, like
a hired man at Wal-Mart. The farmer loses control of the hogs, but he's
responsible for any environmental problems," Larsen says.
Tom Fiegen, a Cedar Rapids bankruptcy attorney who works with farmers, says
many production contracts between farmers and companies owning pigs put
farmers at great financial risk.
Three times in the past two years, owners of pigs have foreclosed on farms
because the farmers could not meet terms of the contracts, Fiegen says.
"I can't say enough bad things about contracts that shift costs to farmers ..." he
says. "The model of working for someone else for $8 a hog is not a sustainable
model and creates an indentured servant status."
Iowa Public Interest Research Group in Des Moines is concerned for the
environment.
"The problem is concentration of waste. The more you have, the higher the
propensity to have runoffs and leaks of manure," says spokeswoman Alana
Stamas.
Putze says his organization does not support "bad actors."
The coalition worked last year by helping Dale and Colleen Vincent build a 2,400head, wean-to-finish hog building on their West Branch farm.
The additional income from the hog expansion allowed their son, Jason, 23, to
return to the farm.
"I've always wanted to farm," Jason Vincent says. "This way, I get to stay in the
community."
Also Appeared In: Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier;
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Associated Press
01/24/06
Presidential search at Iowa could be costly
IOWA CITY, Iowa The search for a new president at the University of Iowa could
be costly.
David Skorton has been named the president of Cornell University in New York.
At Iowa, Skorton replaced Mary Sue Coleman three years ago, and the university
spent nearly 200-thousand dollars during that search.
The executive director of the Iowa Board of Regents says the school can expect
to spend that amount again. Gary Steinke says the biggest cost is to hire a
search firm.
For the Skorton search, the regents hired Los Angeles-based Korn-Ferry
International. The same company was used when Coleman was hired, when
Iowa State University selected Gregory Geoffroy (JOE'-free) as its
president, and in the current search to replace University of Northern Iowa
President Robert Koob.
The company is also the one Cornell University used to find Skorton.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Also Appeared In: WOI-TV 5, IA; Iowa City Press-Citizen; WHO-TV 13, IA;
Des Moines Register; KCCI-TV 8; The Daily Iowan; Seattle PostIntelligencer; Ithaca Journal; The Cornel Daily Sun; New York Post; KCRGTV IA; WQAD-TV, IL; Buffaloo News; KWWL, IA; Waterloo/Cedar Falls
Courier;
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Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide
01/19/06
Are 1031s a blessing or curse? Yes
By GENE LUCHT, For Lee Agri-Media
Wayne Nosbisch might have best stated farmers' attitudes toward 1031
exchanges of land during a discussion at the recent Iowa Farm Bureau
Federation annual meeting.
“If you were to ask me if higher farmland prices are a blessing or a curse, I could
answer unequivocally - yes,” the Adair County farmer said during a debate about
tax-deferred exchanges of farmland.
Farmers are for and against the tax-deferred exchanges.
“It all depends if you're a buyer or a seller of farmland,” says Sam Kain, a
regional sales manager for Farmers National Co. in West Des Moines.
One thing is clear, though. The debate has changed.
First put into the tax code in 1918, the 1031 exchange was on the books for
decades but was a little used part of the federal tax code. It was an obscure
provision that allowed someone to defer the taxes - generally capital gains - from
the sale of land or other assets if they quickly invested the proceeds in similar
types of assets.
With pressure of urban sprawl increasing land prices near metropolitan areas,
farmers began to see the 1031 as a valuable tool. It allowed those farming near a
city to sell their land, then buy more land farther from the urban area.
Now, the comments at farm meetings are starting to change.
After several years of rising use, 1031 exchanges are beginning to draw criticism
from farmers in more rural parts of the state. They say farmers and others from
urban areas are using the 1031 to push up land prices in those rural areas.
“It's adding $500 to $1,000 an acre to the cost of farm ground,” argues
Pocahontas County farmer Kyle Brinkman.
Brinkman and Nosbisch took part in a debate on the subject at the Iowa Farm
Bureau delegate session recently. But, their sentiments can be heard wherever
farmers gather this fall and winter.
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Farmers or farm groups have called for the elimination of the 1031 provision.
At the Farm Bureau meeting, voting delegates did not go that far.
But, they approved language saying the sale of farmland should not be subject to
capital gains tax. However, because it is subject to capital gains, the delegates
want IRS rules on 1031 exchanges to be changed to provide more stringent
guidelines on what qualifies as a “like-kind” exchange.
They also said the time allowed to identify land and purchase it as part of an
exchange should be extended to one year.
Presently, the law requires someone making such an exchange to locate and
identify land to be bought within 45 days of closing on the sale of the first
property. They have 180 days or about six months from the date of the original
sale to close on the new property.
The argument some farmers raise is the tight schedule puts some people using
the exchange program in the situation of deciding if they are nearing the end of
that 45 days. The buyers feel they need to move quickly and sometimes pay as
much as it takes to get a parcel.
Not everyone thinks the timeline is the problem.
Roger McEowen, an attorney and professor of agricultural law at Iowa State
University in Ames, says changing the timeline would likely not affect farmland
prices.
“The people who are sophisticated enough to use a 1031 understand the
timeline,” he says.
McEowen says eliminating the 1031 provision would be a mistake, taking away a
tool farmers use to buy equipment and other items.
“That's just throwing out the baby with the bathwater,” he says. “The 1031 is a
useful tool.”
Charles Brown, a farm business services administrator with Iowa Farm Bureau,
says the 15-percent tax level should provide a ceiling on how much those using
the 1031 program are willing to over pay for property.
He asks, “Why pay 30 percent more over market price for land if you are only
trying to save 15 percent in taxes?”
But, he concedes logic doesn't always figure into the equation when the subject
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is farmland and land prices.
Some farmers or investors would rather over pay for land than pay the taxes.
Others just think land is always a good investment.
Also, not all farmland buyers are farmers.
Some happen to own farmland near a city and are looking to move a few miles
farther out with their investment.
Others have sold commercial property.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, which oversees tax legislation. He does not think the 1031 exchange
law will be repealed.
The law has a “philosophically sound basis” Grassley says. But, he says the
issue has been raised this winter at his town hall meetings.
Grassley says it is possible lawmakers might tinker with the law, such as looking
at the definition of what constitutes a like-kind exchange. For example, could
commercial property be traded for farmland?
They also could potentially look at whether limits should be put on the law.
That's an approach that makes sense, McEowen says.
The law could be changed so someone selling a home or a commercial property
would have to buy a similar type of property to qualify for the 1031. This way,
only someone selling farmland could use the 1031 to buy farmland.
Whether that is the approach Congress or farm groups eventually support
remains an open question.
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Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide
01/19/06
Black Ink: U.S. beef producers - both lucky
and good
By STEVE SUTHER
You have to appreciate the timing. In the depths of a low-price valley 10 years
ago, the beef industry was rocked by e.coli food safety concerns. Then the first
consumer reaction to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Europe
seemed like the last straw. In fact, it was the start of a series of fortunate events.
The U.S. cattle inventory was into its liquidation phase. Prices would begin to
recover regardless of the news, but the news kept consumers on our minds. A
10-year comeback in cattle prices ensued, led by a renewed focus on high
quality and expanding exports. Pacific Rim markets demanded relatively obscure
but premium Choice cuts like short ribs and skirts that were being ground into
hamburger otherwise.
Feeder steer prices rose $20 from 1996 to '97, then lost half of the gain and
settled in for a sustained upward trend. But the shock to our nation from the
terrorist attack in the fall of 2001 was followed by a shock to the export market as
Japan discovered BSE.
Still, it seemed nothing could hold down the cattle market. Despite uneasiness
and lower volume sales to Japan, other markets like Korea picked up the slack.
Before the “Cow that Stole Christmas” in our country in 2003, we had logged a
record $5.4 billion in cattle, beef, byproducts and variety meat export sales.
Ever thought about how much foreign sales add to your cattle check? Exporting
beef 30 years ago was even less predictable than today. Anyone could see
potential in global trade, but the world was a big place. It took producer vision,
then government and producer cooperation and funding to get organized: $2
from USDA for every $1 from packers and producers. The U.S. Meat Export
Federation was created in February 1976.
Twenty years later, a Cattle-Fax study put the impact of beef exports at $7.30 per
hundredweight (cwt.) on fed steers and $15.30/cwt. on calf prices. Since then,
USDA and Land Grant universities have charted export dollars and their direct
impact on fed cattle. Exports added $190 to the value of a 1,250-pound finished
steer in 2003, more than $15/cwt.
Cattle-Fax analyst Mike Miller says, in the long run, and depending on how
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attractive a set of calves look to a feedlot buyer, the whole export bonus trickles
down to the cow-calf level.
As we know, the export markets shut down at the end of 2003, fortunately right
as the U.S. cattle inventory cycle began to bottom and prices were headed for a
breathtaking peak. Yes, it got crazy. And you have to admit, bad news couldn't
have hit at a better time. Some U.S. consumers were reeling from sticker shock
at the meat counter. Foreign buyers would soon begin to back away. Instead,
they left in a rush. Since then, they missed U.S. high-quality beef and virtually all
have come back.
We never lost all exports, but fresh beef trade fell by more than 85 percent for a
time. The economists concluded export trade still added $6.70/cwt. in 2004,
thanks mainly to hides and byproducts. We may have gained a few cents on that
line in 2005. Fresh beef sales reached about a quarter of their 2003 record level.
Now the fates are at it again. Japan has opened its doors to qualified U.S. beef
sales after two years, and the last holdout, Korea, seems likely to open before
summer. That would double beef sales to $1.2 billion, though still less than half
the 2003 mark. It's good news for sure, but to put it in perspective, look at the
Dec. 15, 2005 Cattle-Fax Long Term Outlook.
Its “Cattle Price Cycle” graphic features a helpful arrow such as we find on
shopping mall directories. “We are here,” it says just over the hill from the 200305 peak and headed for the deep 2008-10 valley. Without the good news of
reopening export markets, that would be a much more scary ride, says Iowa
State University economist John Lawrence. Fed cattle prices stand to
gain $7.50/cwt. as exports return to 2003 levels<\m>which could take until the
bottom of the cattle cycle.
Because of progress on domestic beef demand and prospects for renewed world
trade, the projected valley is not as deep as that of the 1990s. And with the
renewed U.S. focus on producing premium Choice and Prime beef, the next peak
in 2015 may once again break records. Maybe we will be able to sustain a larger,
more productive cowherd that produces the most valuable beef on the export
market.
Next time in Black Ink, we'll look at strategies for the downhill price slope ahead.
Questions? Call toll-free at 877-241-0717 or e-mail
steve@certifiedangusbeef.com
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Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide
01/19/06
Use caution with alternate fuel sources
By JEFF DeYOUNG, For Lee Agri-Media
Ask Chuck Schwab, and he'll tell you winter safety on a farm means more than
not slipping on the ice.
Schwab, an Extension ag engineer at Iowa State University, said one of his
biggest concerns is what he believes will be an increase in the use of alternative
heating sources this winter.
With the increased cost of fuel, natural gas and propane, he said many people
may look to fireplaces and wood-burning stoves to supply more heat than usual
during the winter.
“If you are going to use a fireplace, the chimney is going to have to be cleaned,”
Schwab said.
“In the older systems, the pipes in the chimney can crack and leak fumes ... so
you will want to have it checked.”
Newer chimneys may be OK, he said but adds checking them before use is
always a good practice.
Schwab also encourages homes to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
“Ideally, those smoke detectors should be on each level, near sleeping areas,”
Schwab said. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors also should be checked to
make sure they work, he said.
When using an electric heater in the home, Schwab said people need to follow
procedures outlined by the manufacturer.
“You want to know where it can be safely placed, and how it should be plugged
in,” he said.
“If you plug it in, are you overloading the system? Many electric heaters will cover
a circuit, so you don't want anything else on it.”
He also cautions against running cords under rugs when using an electric heater.
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“Those cords do generate a lot of heat, so make sure they are clear,” Schwab
said.
Kerosene heaters are also popular.
“A kerosene heater can produce a high level of carbon monoxide, so they are
going to need an exchange of air, meaning you are going to want to bring in fresh
air,” Schwab said. “That's the opposite of what you are trying to do if you want to
heat an area, but if you can crack a window a little to help that air out, it will help.”
Schwab also cautions against using an alternative heating source in an empty
house.
“You never know what might happen. Don't leave them unattended.”
Schwab said it's not uncommon to have several cases of carbon monoxide
poisoning in the region each winter.
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Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide
01/19/06
Soybean supplies viewed as plentiful early in
2006
By ANDREA JOHNSON, Assistant Editor
With a 505-million bushel U.S. carryout for soybeans and what looks like a good
crop coming in South America, soybean supplies seem more than adequate at
the start of 2006.
Soybean prices on the Chicago Board of Trade closed on Jan. 13 with March at
$5.76 1/2; May at $5.85 1/2; July at $5.95; August at $5.97 1/2, and November
2006 at $6.05 1/2.
Compared with futures prices in late December, those prices were lower - about
32 cents lower on the nearby and about 20 cents lower for November 2006.
According to the Chicago Board of Trade website, buyers were not in a hurry to
purchase soybeans on Jan. 13 with Dec. 1, 2005 world “ending stocks” at a
record high of 53.15 million metric tons (1.95 billion bushels), and U.S. “ending
stocks” at the second highest in history.
USDA also noted that soybean usage in the United States for the 2005-2006
year is likely to drop by 145 million bushels from a year earlier.
“You have to take a deep breath when you see a carryout on soybeans of 500
million bushels,” said Ed Usset, University of Minnesota Extension grain
marketing economist. “That's a big carryout in the United States. There is no
shortage of soybeans in this country right now. We're not even close. Corn, I can
feel a little bit better about. The corn crop was very large, but at least the demand
keeps growing fast.
“There's a completely different fundamental outlook for soybeans than we had
two years ago,” he added.
According to USDA's final crop production report, soybean production in 2005
totaled 3.09 billion bushels, the second largest U.S. soybean crop on record.
The average yield was estimated at a record 43.3 bushels/acre - an average of
1.1 bushels above the 2004 final yield. That's not too shabby given the fact that
soybean rust was found in the United States prior to the 2005 growing season.
Harvested area was down 4 percent from 2004, to 71.4 million acres.
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In Minnesota, average soybean production per acre increased from 33 bushels in
2004 to 45 bushels/acre in 2005. Total soybean production reached 306 million
bushels in Minnesota.
North Dakota - “The new Iowa” - continues to grab headlines with increases in
soybean production. Average production reached 37 bushels/acre in 2005 - up
14 bushels/acre from 2004's 23-bushel/acre average.
North Dakota's total soybean production for 2005 was 107.3 million bushels surpassing soybean production in Kansas and bringing the state in at ninth place
in soybean production. Minnesota overtook Indiana to earn third place in
soybean production.
At one elevator in west central Minnesota that is followed in this column,
soybeans on Jan. 13, 2006 were $5.20 with a basis of 57 cents under. That price
was 29 cents lower than offered in late December when cash soybeans were
$5.49 with a basis of 60 cents under. Basis still remains wide.
Reports from South American have varied depending on the week.
During the first week of January, USDA reported that southern Brazil was warm
and dry, raising concerns for vegetative to reproductive crops.
Argentina was listed as hot and dry with stress to summer crops in or near
reproduction for the week of Jan. 1-7.
By Jan. 10, USDA was indicating that southern Brazil had received some rain in
the southern Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul, but warmer and drier
weather had then spread over the region.
As of Jan. 13, the Chicago Board of Trade traders were thinking that Argentina
was receiving some good rains, and that southern Brazil was expected to get
some rain.
According to Elwynn Taylor, Iowa State University Extension climatologist,
the odds of a drought in South America are half of what they are in the United
States.
Usset added that the long-term odds of a drought in the United States are less
than 20 percent, so the odds of a drought in South American are about 10
percent.
“I'm not seeing anything about the South American soybean crop that concerns
me,” said Usset.
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Higher expected production in South America, higher 2005 production of
soybeans in the United States, and lower demand have buyers wondering if they
can purchase soybeans at lower prices.
“We have no shortage of soybeans,” said Usset. “There's no shortage of
soybeans out there.”
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Boston Globe
1/23/06
Truth & consequences
Teens give parents sobering news about underage drinking
By Barbara Meltz
GRAFTON -- Grafton High School senior Karen Tassinari wants parents to get
this message: ''We are not all booze-bags. It's not like every weekend we go out
just to drink. Sometimes we really do get together just to watch a movie, or go
bowling."
She means to ease the burden of worry-wart parents, her own included, who grill
their teens every time they leave the house: Who will you be with? Who's
driving? Where are you going? Will parents be home?
Parents shouldn't get too comfortable, though. When Tassinari's classmate
Shannen Dando says matter-of-factly, ''I don't know anyone who doesn't lie to
their parents [about drinking]," Tassinari nods in vehement agreement. So do
three other seniors who have volunteered to speak to a reporter about teen
drinking, a topic that has been on many minds since October, when two teenage
sisters from Southborough died in a car accident after drinking at a party.
What's a parent to do?
For starters, accept that both statements can be true, as well as this one from
classmate Rich Linehan: ''I have a close relationship with my parents. I don't
want to have to lie."
In a culture where celebrities, media, and $4 billion worth of advertising a year
glamorize alcohol even as alcohol-related driving accidents claim teenagers'
lives, many parents feel trapped. They don't want to endorse underage drinking,
but forbidding it means it will likely happen without a safety net, and pretending it
isn't going on, even when they know it is, feels wrong, too.
''I'm searching for answers," says Mary Dennis, mother of a Grafton senior.
''What can we do to make our teens safe and not cut off communication?"
Specialists on adolescent drinking behaviors say communication between
parents and children is the best way to keep teens safe (see story, Page B7).
Simply setting strict rules about alcohol use pushes teens to drink and lie more,
not less, they say.
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The five seniors gathered in a Grafton High School conference room trip over
one another's words, trying to explain why they agree with that thinking.
''Trust is a big thing," says Tassinari. ''You don't want to have to sneak, it's better
to be able to talk honestly. . ."
''. . . but parents hear stories, they don't even know if they're true . . ." Dando
says.
''. . . and they're all over you." That's Rachel Rutfield. ''I'm not allowed to go
places 'cause of what my brother and his friends did."
''I've been grounded for rumors," says Jordan Feldstein.
''I don't even like to be at parties where kids drink beyond their limits, it's so
annoying," says Linehan. ''But my mom, she just jumps to conclusions without
even knowing the truth."
Wake-up calls
Pat McCarthy hopes she's not one of those parents. When her son, Chris, who is
a senior, leaves the house for an evening with friends, she doesn't have to think
hard to find ways to remind him to stay safe. Most often, she says, ''Think of
Tony [Bourassa]," a classmate who was seriously injured when a drunk driver hit
him. She could just as easily mention Kristen Corey, a Grafton junior who died
less than three months ago on the Mass. Pike. State Police say alcohol was not
a factor in that accident, but students such as Tassinari and Dando say it was a
wake-up call nonetheless.
''I'll stand at the door when he's leaving and remind him that he already got
accepted at Northeastern -- one accident, one arrest, one poor judgment could
screw that up," McCarthy says. ''I'll be on the sofa when he comes home,
expecting to have a conversation with him. If that's being a pest, well, it's also
being a parent."
James Pignataro, Grafton High's principal, and Maureen Cimoch, the school's
health teacher and adviser to Students Against Destructive Decisions, say there
is more drinking now than last year, and there was more last year than the year
before. The five students in the conference room say there is much more drinking
among freshmen and sophomores now than when they were that age.
The Advertising Council, the nation's largest producer of public service ad
campaigns, recently launched a national campaign called ''Start Talking Before
They Start Drinking," targeting parents of 8-, 9-, and 10-year-olds.
If that seems too soon to be talking about drinking, the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says the average age at which boys in this
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country first try alcohol is 11; for girls, it's 13. Ad Council President Peggy Conlon
says parents often are in denial. ''They all think, 'Not my kid.' But the sooner you
start to talk about it, the more protected your child is. Children who start drinking
before 15 are five times more likely to abuse alcohol in adulthood than if they
wait until 21."
Parents whose 17- and 18-year-olds are already drinking tend to be in what
Stephen Wallace, the national chairman and CEO of SADD, calls the ''myth of
inevitability. [They] assume their kids will drink no matter what, so they shrug
their shoulders or turn a blind eye because they don't think there's anything they
can do about it."
''Wrong, wrong," says Virginia Molgaard, associate professor emeritus at
Iowa State University. She is the founder of the Strengthening Families
Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14, a communication skill-building model for
parents of teens that is in use in 40 states and internationally. ''It's never too late
to start talking, even if you know your teen already is a drinker."
Going too far
Rachel Rutfield shares a scary story. ''At a party, a boy threw me in a corner and
was kinda all over me," she says. ''He was pretty drunk. My friends pulled me
away, so I was lucky. He apologized the next day. He said he knew he'd gone
too far." Other times, she says, kids will pretend to be more drunk than they are,
as a way to excuse inexcusable behavior.
Did she tell her parents about that night? ''I would have liked to," she says. ''It
was pretty upsetting. But I wasn't supposed to be there, so I couldn't."
And now that they'll find out?
She hopes she won't be grounded. ''That does . . ."
''. . . nothing," interjects Rich Linehan. ''It's the talk, the guilt trip, their
disappointment. That's what kills me," he says. ''Because you have to earn their
respect back."
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Cedar Falls Courier
01/15/06
Culver hits record fundraising number
By CHARLOTTE EBY, Courier Des Moines Bureau
DES MOINES ---Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver raised $1.14
million in 2005, a figure his campaign said is a record for a Democrat in the year
prior to an election for an open governor's seat.
Campaign finance reports are not due until next week, and Culver is the first of
the large field of Democratic candidates to release his fundraising totals. He
reported having $832,000 cash on hand going into the six months before the
June 6 primary.
On the Republican side, Congressman Jim Nussle already has said he will report
raising close to $2 million during that same time period.
Culver campaign manager Patrick Dillon said the contributions from 1,500 donors
are a clear sign of continuing momentum.
"Culver is the candidate best prepared to take on what's sure to be an extremely
well-funded Republican nominee in the fall," Dillon said.
Steffen Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University,
said the numbers make Culver the early frontrunner in the money race among
Democrats.
"It's kind of a little bit of a direct measure of where the Democratic Party money
machine feels the investment is better," Schmidt said. "It's like a stock market in
a way, a political stock market."
In the 2002 governor’s race, GOP nominee Doug Gross and Democratic Gov.
Tom Vilsack raised more than $12 million. Vilsack is not seeking re-election next
year.
Matt Paul, campaign manager for Democratic candidate Mike Blouin, said they
will wait to release their fund-raising totals.
"We'll have a competitive and significant file next week," Paul said.
Blouin spent Thursday outlining a health care plan for women, and Paul
questioned the timing of Culver's announcement.
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State Rep. Ed Fallon, a Des Moines Democrat, said he’ll report raising more than
$100,000 from close to 1,600 donors for his campaign for governor.
Fallon is refusing to take money from lobbyists or political action committees, and
has made a major campaign theme out of the detrimental influence of money in
politics.
"Raising a million bucks in one year, it’s really nothing to be proud of if the
money’s from wealthy special interests trying to buy themselves a governor,"
Fallon said.
Marc Silverman, who is running Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge's
campaign, said their fundraising report would come out next week, but declined
to say what it will show.
Contact Charlotte Eby at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com
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CNN
1/20/06
Researchers to map pig DNA
A team of researchers won a $10 million federal grant to provide the first
complete sequence of the swine genome -- a genetic map they say could help
farmers produce better hogs, give consumers tastier pork and ultimately benefit
human health.
University of Illinois professors Lawrence Schook and John Beever last summer
completed a side-by-side comparison of the pig and human genomes. They will
head a project involving researchers at other U.S. universities, the government
and laboratories in France and England.
The project is expected to be completed within two years at a cost of about $20
million, Schook said.
"Pork is the major red meat consumed worldwide," U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns said in a news release announcing the grant. "With more than 61
million pigs in the nation, the sequence of the pig genome will have a significant
impact on U.S. agriculture."
Deciphering the pig's genetic code to learn how each gene lines up on a DNA
molecule will eventually help breed better pigs, said Max Rothschild, an Iowa
State University animal science professor who is one of seven project directors.
He said that because pig and human genetics have many similarities, it could
give researchers better tools for fighting human afflictions such as diabetes,
obesity or heart disease.
"The ultimate beneficiary of the pig genome project is really not the pork
producer, it's the consumer," Rothschild said.
The genetic material for the sequencing comes from a female Duroc pig that was
raised on the South Farms at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign
campus. It will involve deciphering the 2.5 billion chemical base pairs that spell
out the animal's genetic code.
Besides the grant, the researchers have commitments for money from
organizations in France, Korea, the Netherlands and Britain. The Clive, Iowabased National Pork Board and several state pork-producer associations also will
contribute about $1 million, said Mark Boggess, the pork board's director of
animal science.
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"Virtually everything we do with pork production will be impacted by this genome
work," Boggess said. "We'll thoroughly understand the biology involved with the
way things are genetically and then we can apply management, selection and
nutrition programs to fit."
Also ran in: Ninemsn, Australia; Sydney Morning Herald, Australia; the
Age, Australia; Seven.com.au, Australia; Iowa Farmer Today
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Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil
01/22/2006
Payne ready for ISU extension challenges
Tom McMahon , Staff Writer
LEWIS - Jack Payne remembers a Utah county that fell $10,000 short of
securing a new Toyota plant. He tells that story to illustrate the need for
rural areas to think regionally when it comes to economic development.
Payne is Iowa State University's new extension leader. He assumed
his duties as vice provost for Extension and Outreach Jan. 15, succeeding
Stanley Johnson, who retired in December from the position he'd held
since 1996.
"Iowa has made a name for itself in economic development and
entrepreneurial programs," Payne said.
He added ISU's Extension Office is one of the first to push in this area.
"We need to think regionally rather than county by county," he said.
Payne sees extension's role as being a contact point, coordinating efforts
and helping facilitate communication.
He plans to initiate a statewide tour in the next six months to facilitate his
own communication process with extension employees and business and
community leaders.
"With land grant universities, the campus is the entire state. Our campus is
Iowa," Payne said.
He said he sees the statewide tour as a way to learn about the state, but
more importantly to listen to what its citizens need.
"I want to see what the gaps are and how we can help fill them," he said.
One gap Payne has already identified is Iowa's declining population.
"Why are we losing people?" he asks, answering the question himself. "We
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need to get jobs here so we can keep the college graduates."
As vice provost, Payne will serve as director of cooperative extension,
which has programs in agriculture and natural resources, communities and
economic development, families and 4-H youth development. Payne will
also administer university extension, which includes business and industry
programs and continuing education and communications services that
provide delivery of off-campus credit and noncredit courses, conferences
and continuing education offerings.
Payne said his ISU job duties are similar to his Utah State position, but at
ISU he will oversee more than three times the number of employees.
Payne is originally from the Philadelphia area and received a bachelor's
degree in biology from Temple University. He has a master's degree in
fisheries science and a doctorate in wildlife science, both from Utah State.
He said he is one of the first extension directors with a natural resources
background and said that raised questions when he applied for the job with
Utah State.
"The president of State Farm Bureau left a message on my voice mail after
I applied for the job," Payne said, with a smile. "He said he was a little
concerned about my natural resources background and said to leave
names of ag people he could call."
While noting environmentalists and farmers have sometimes butted heads
in the past, Payne sees them increasingly working together.
"People are asking, 'Are you from Earth First or some other left-wing
environmental group," Payne said. "The fact is I make decisions with
science. I love agriculture and am a strong believer in agriculture. I should
be able to help."
Prior to joining Utah State in 2001, Payne oversaw The American National
Fish and Wildlife Museum start-up in Springfield, Mo., serving as its first
CEO and president. He also spent 10 years with Ducks Unlimited Inc.,
serving at different times as national director and western states director of
its private land program, acting executive director of Ducks Unlimited de
Mexico and national director of conservation.
Payne plans to continue his predecessor's fund-raising efforts.
"The budget is looking better than it has over the last few years, from what
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I understand," he said. Payne notes extension services nationwide were
caught in a budget squeeze. "The question is how can we improve quality
with decreased support.
Johnson went after grants and other private money and initiated some feefor-service programs during his tenure. Extension's 2004-2005 $86.6
million fiscal-year budget includes 27 percent state dollars, 23 percent from
user fees, 20 percent grant money, 17 percent county funds, 12 percent
federal dollars and 2 percent from private gifts.
"The Legislature needs to know who (we) are," he said. "They need to
know that what we do is adding value to people's lives. We need to be
relevant."
In addition to state funding, Payne plans to continue seeking foundation
money and other private donors. And he's not opposed to charging for
some services.
"Stan (the previous vice provost) was one of the first to say maybe we
should charge for some programs," Payne said. "Like the federal
government charges for some of its park services."
He said he's not opposed to the concept, as long as the agency is
providing quality services.
Payne is currently renting a house near the ISU campus. His wife, Renee,
remains in Utah attempting to sell the couple's mountain home.
"I want to buy a small farm so I can keep my horses," he said. "I have four
dogs, and it wouldn't be fair to Ames neighbors to live in the city."
The new vice provost acknowledges technology will increasingly be used
to provide information to extension's clients, but said there is no good
substitute for face-to-face interaction.
"People in extension often have a hard time saying no," Payne said. "They
are people who want to help."
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Delta Farm Press, NE
01/19/06
Commingling issue with pharma-crops
By David Bennet
A year after issues surrounding genetically engineered rice first hit the Missouri
Bootheel, a new report finds the benefits of pharma-crops to producers aren’t as
grand as first hoped. The report, authored by Robert Wisner, an economics
professor at Iowa State University, says any claims regarding high farmer
compensation and booming pharma-crop acreage are likely overblown.
But readers beware: while Wisner doesn’t claim adherence to their beliefs, the
study was commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), an
organization deeply suspicious and critical of the pharma-crop industry.
“Agriculture has been in a transitional period from being primarily food-and-fiber
production to being a source for both energy and food,” said Wisner. “That
transition has gone relatively smoothly.
“But we’ve now run into a third stage, a further transition from food, fiber and
energy to pharmaceutical drugs. We’re in the extremely early stages but this
latest transition has turned out to be very complicated. It’s not clear where the
pharma-crop industry will end up.”
Many of the issues involved in pharma-crops center on whether they can be
separated from food and feed supplies so there’s no risk of commingling. Early in
2005, the importance of this was driven home as fears about commingling, and
resulting market problems, at least temporarily derailed plans to grow pharmarice in the Missouri Bootheel.
“The fear of mixing pharma-crops with food adds many unknowns. One is: does
the present system and regulations provide for that separation? Many have
stressed the extreme importance of avoiding any commingling.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists has concluded that significant changes are
needed in order to insure complete separation, said Wisner.
“Looking at the economic impacts, one of the first questions is, ‘What will be the
cost of maintaining the kind of total isolation from food and feed supplies?’ At this
point, we don’t know. But it will affect net returns to farmers and net benefits to
users of pharma-crops. What will it take to provide such a system? Is the best
route sterile male plants? Sterile seed? Growing the crop in closed facilities? All
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those are being explored.”
Looking at potential returns to growers, the stage the industry is currently in
suggests there will be only modest niche-market opportunities. This is largely due
to the small acreage needed by the pharma-crop industry.
“One study indicates approximately 10,000 acres of transgenic tobacco will be
needed to supply the world’s needs. That’s very small acreage compared to the
230 million acres U.S. farmers devote to grains and other major crops.”
The pharma-rice and barley acreage planned for Missouri is another example.
“That venture is supposed to be for slightly less than 10,000 acres. That’s less
than 1 percent of the total crop acres in the northwest part of Missouri, where the
rice would be grown. While there could be more significant acreage later on as
the industry develops, there are no huge short-term benefits for producers.”
Wisner also says there’s no evidence of benefits to consumers from lower drug
costs due to pharma-crops. “How could we know? There are no actual pharmacrop drug products yet available to consumers. That’s after about 15 years of
trials and test plots.
“Pharma-crop industry people indicate the major source of benefits will likely be
reduced production costs. While producing the feed stock material from crops
would involve adding acres, it may take years to expand conventional
pharmaceutical production facilities.
“Again, we don’t know the cost for providing the kind of segregation the food
industry is asking for. We also don’t have actual examples of pharma-crop
products to say, ‘Here, indeed, are the cost savings.’”
According to several sources, said Wisner, the products to be derived from
pharma-rice will actually cost about the same as producing similar products
under conventional production. But it’s early in the game, he admitted, and that
could change. “Because of the proprietary nature of some of the products, there
are likely some unknown products that are yet to surface.”
Wisner said given the limited bargaining power of farmers and small acreage
that’s anticipated, the primary impact of pharma-crops would likely be on two
business sectors: research work (either private, university or a combination of the
two) and processing.
The pharma-crop industry will undoubtedly point to the fact Wisner’s paper — the
first by a land grant university economist — was commissioned by the UCS.
While making it clear he isn’t part of the UCS, Wisner isn’t cowed.
“First of all, their call for immediate halt of open-air production of these crops isn’t
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from my report. That’s just the organization speaking and a substantial part of
that is based on a study published about a year ago.
“The UCS has been monitoring key pharma-crop issues and hoping to generate
dialogue. From my perspective, the purpose in providing this report was to look
at some of the underlying issues and address what we know and don’t know.
And I wanted to point to some of the issues that need to be examined in pharmacrops.
“If you look at the report carefully, you’ll find I attempted to provide a balance with
issues raised especially by the food industry as well as what’s being presented in
terms of pharma-crop advantages.”
How far out is Wisner projecting?
“This is something that needs constant monitoring. There may well be changes
(requiring number adjustments) in five to 10 years. The success of pharma-crops
hinges heavily on keeping them separate from food and feed supplies. If that
challenge is successfully dealt with, many of the other challenges in this industry
are greatly diminished.”
Editor’s note: to see Wisner’s full report visit
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/economicsof-pharmaceutical-crops.html
e-mail: dbennett@prismb2b.com
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Des Moines Register
01/19/06
Briefs 1-19-06
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Des Moines Register
01/19/06
Statewide standards for graduation urged
By KATHY A. BOLTEN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Iowa lawmakers should consider establishing statewide graduation requirements
for high school students and take steps to ensure students are being taught the
same subject matter in the required courses, a representative of Regents'
student services offices said Wednesday.
About 20 years ago, officials at Iowa's three state universities — Iowa State
University, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa — set high
school unit requirements as part of the admissions requirements, said Philip
Patton, registrar at UNI and chairman of the Regents' committee on educational
relations. He spoke Wednesday to members of the House Education Committee.
Yet while the state universities recommend students take four years of English,
three years each of math, science and social studies, and two years of a foreign
language, not all students complete those courses, Patton said.
The course recommendations are similar to what is suggested by ACT, the
company that administers the college entrance exam taken by most collegebound students in Iowa.
"A student admitted to a regent university is minimally prepared to be successful
in post-secondary education," Patton said. He said the current course
requirements are not enough to guarantee college-bound students will succeed
in college.
He said regents schools now suggest college-bound students take four years
each of English, math, science, social studies and a foreign language.
"If we want higher achievement then we must set higher expectations," he told
legislators. "Study after study shows that students will rise to the height of the bar
of expectations you set."
Ronald Taylor, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Grand View
College, also told the committee many first-year students at the Des Moines
college lack the skills necessary to succeed at the institution.
"Many of our freshman don't have comprehensive test-taking skills or the study
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skills they need," Taylor said. Many freshman also lack critical thinking skills, he
said.
Members of the House committee didn't immediately react to the suggestion to
establish statewide graduation requirements.
However, Judy Jeffrey, director of Iowa's Department of Education, said it would
be unrealistic to set statewide graduation requirements that are tied to ACTrecommended courses.
"They want statewide requirements so that all students can enter a four-year
institution," Jeffrey said after Wednesday's committee meeting. "Not all students
are going to go to a four-year school."
Iowa is the only state in the country that does not have statewide high school
graduation standards.
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Des Moines Register
01/19/06
Group to debate fertilization limits
By PERRY BEEMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Iowa environmental commissioners intensified their fight against water pollution
on Wednesday, scheduling a February debate on whether to limit or ban some
farmers' practice of applying crop fertilizers in the fall.
Those chemicals can wash away before crops are even planted in the spring,
which is one reason Iowa rivers have some of the highest levels of healththreatening nitrates in the world.
Scientists are still debating the health risks of nitrates in drinking water. Some
studies have linked the compounds to cancers, miscarriages, and a condition
that robs babies' blood of oxygen, thus suffocating them. The Des Moines Water
Works has one of the world's largest nitrate-removal plants.
Members of the governor-appointed Iowa Environmental Protection Commission,
which approves Iowa's pollution restrictions, spent five hours debating how to
fight largely unregulated runoff pollution. The discussion came a day after the
nine-member panel approved landmark rules designed to protect waters from
sewage pollution.
"Voluntary action is wonderful, but there are bad apples and bad habits," said
Commissioner Donna Buell, a Spirit Lake lawyer.
Buell suggested the commission study whether it has the power to ban the fall
fertilizing of cropland, without legislative approval. The panel didn't endorse the
ban, but made it clear that it considers the move one of the most promising ways
of cleaning Iowa waterways.
Commissioners, scientists and agricultural representatives agreed that limiting
the fall application of anhydrous ammonia, a common corn fertilizer, would
change the face of Iowa farming. The action, if approved, could be
unprecedented; state environmental officials could not name another state that
has made a similar regulatory move.
Christina Gruenhagen of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation said that Iowa State
University recommends no fall fertilizer application unless the temperature is
under 50 degrees. That's because at higher temperatures, microbes quickly
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convert the fertilizer to nitrate.
The commission also plans to debate whether to limit manure applications on
soybeans. Commissioner Francis Thicke said some research has shown higher
nitrate levels in field drainage systems where manure was applied to soybean
fields.
Michael Blaser, a lawyer representing livestock interests, said there is scant
research to back up Thicke's contention. He suggested that the commission
study research by the National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames and past state task
forces on water-quality issues.
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Des Moines Register
01/19/06
Thousands sign up to lose weight
State-sponsored programs help Iowans to improve nutrition and
fitness.
By MEGAN HAWKINS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Thirty pounds came off . . . and then sneaked back on to Carey Lenning's body
last year after the statewide Lighten Up Iowa program ended.
This year, Lenning has renewed determination as she joins thousands of Iowans
resolved to kick unhealthy habits through the state's annual program to
encourage weight loss and healthy habits.
"I think it's a great program. I didn't stick with it all year," said Lenning, 30, of Des
Moines, whose diet during frequent business trips quickly added the weight back
on. "After the program is over, I plan to be more diligent about my health."
Teams with names like Way Less, Thin Again and Treadmill Terrors officially
weighed in Wednesday for the five-month program. They took turns crowding
onto a scale at the Hy-Vee headquarters in West Des Moines to calculate their
team weights.
So far, 10,000 adults and a record 8,000 youths have signed up for the program
and its youth cohort, Go the Distance. The youth program focuses on activity
levels rather than weight loss and runs four months. People can sign up for the
programs through mid-February.
The programs provide participants information, ideas and encouragement to
improve their nutrition and fitness. Lighten Up Iowa and Go the Distance are run
by the Iowa Games, Iowa Department of Public Health and Iowa State
University Extension.
Last year, more than 19,000 adults lost 93,332 pounds, organizers said. They
logged 4.7 million miles of exercise; about 5,800 youths logged 2.1 million miles.
The program helped motivate people like Kevin Reeve, 48, who said he doesn't
want to go back to wearing his old clothes.
"I just want to stay in shape," he said.
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As the problem of childhood obesity continues to grow, more children are signing
on.
Lynn Lavia' s fourth-grade class at Holy Trinity School in Des Moines will
exercise and try new fruits and vegetables.
"We should stay healthy and be active so we won't be overweighted," explained
Emma Negrete, 10, who plans to play more soccer at recess.
Classmate Jonah Goaley, 10, said he already plays sports, but will run or rollerskate on nonpractice days to log his 30 minutes of activity five days per week.
"I think it's cool because it teaches people to stay healthy, and not just do it four
months, but the rest of your life," he said.
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Des Moines Register
01/19/06
Students talk space with expert
Space journalist kicks off art council's Face to Face series
By SARA SLEYSTER
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Eighth-graders at Prairieview School in Waukee explored the final frontier last
week with a space expert as their guide. Guests of the Waukee Public Library
also learned about the experiences of Andrew Chaikin when he visited the
community as part of the Waukee Area Arts Council's Face to Face series.
Chaikin, the author of the 1994 book "A Man on the Moon: The Triumphant Story
of the Apollo Space Program," interviewed all 23 of the surviving lunar astronauts
for the project that took eight years. It was the inspiration for Tom Hanks' HBO
miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon," which won an Emmy for best miniseries
in 1998.
He has flown in NASA's zero-gravity plane to experience the feeling of
weightlessness - and on Jan. 11, he told eighth-grade science students at
Prairieview, 655 S.E. University Ave., about his experiences.
The students asked Chaikin plenty of questions about space, Mars and his
unrelated interest in music. Eighth-grader Alec Packer of Waukee said he
enjoyed having an expert answer questions, adding that the presentation
changed his way of thinking on space travel.
"More curiosity helps fill in that space you have wondering what's out there," said
Alec, 13. "It's going to help us figure out how we can have life on another planet."
Chaikin said he liked to see students engaged in talk of space exploration.
"I just hope that they can find something to be interested in," Chaikin said. "I like
to see students get excited."
Chaikin said his own career highlight would be to travel into space.
"It's just the most exciting thing I think humans do," he said.
Chaikin was the first visitor in the Face to Face series.
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Peg Armstrong-Gustafson, a board member on the arts council, said bringing
experts of different fields into the community will excite students and adults and
link education with opportunity.
The programs are designed "to bring people face to face with students and our
community for an exchange of ideas to make our community vibrant," said
Armstrong-Gustafson.
She said Chaikin helped break the stereotypes surrounding scientists because
he also is an accomplished author and music enthusiast.
"The science geek can be a cool artist at the same time," said ArmstrongGustafson.
Jay Staker, the associate director of the Iowa Space Grant Consortium at
Iowa State University, invited Chaikin to Iowa in conjunction with the Science
Center of Iowa's IMAX movie release of "Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the
Moon." He said Chaikin's visit helped increase the visibility of what is happening
with the space program in Iowa. The speaker also helped make the connection
between education and space.
"He's got a message that can inspire kids," Staker said.
Eighth-grader Alex Buckingham of Waukee said he was intrigued by Chaikin's
adventures.
"I thought it was neat how he followed his own dreams," said Alex, 14. "Very
inspirational, I thought."
Even though Chaikin has interviewed all of the Apollo astronauts and worked
with one of Hollywood's top actors, students could still relate to him and share his
enthusiasm.
"I thought he seemed like a very down-to-earth person," Alex said.
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Des Moines Register
01/20/06
Rockwell gets $11 million in growth aid
By DONNELLE ELLER
REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER
Rockwell Collins, the Cedar Rapids maker of commercial and defense aviation
equipment, will snag $11 million in state tax credits and property tax breaks for a
proposed $14 million expansion project.
Backers say the project will bring 275 coveted high-paying engineering jobs to
Iowa, activity that often drives the development of new products and creates
manufacturing jobs.
A critic, however, says Iowa can't afford incentive deals like Rockwell's.
"Jeez, Louise, the subsidy value is roughly three-quarters of the investment,"
said David Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University. "Aside from
whether this is right or wrong, when you get right down to it, this kind of behavior
can't continue for very long. . . . Taxpayers are going to go broke."
On Thursday, the Iowa Economic Development Board signed off on $1.5 million
in state tax credits for creation of high-quality jobs. The jobs will pay an average
of $36 an hour.
The company also will tap $7 million in tax credits for research and development.
For every dollar that an Iowa company spends on research and development, it
can get double that amount in tax credits. Iowa is one of only two states to
provide that perk. The credits can be refunded if they exceed a company's tax
bill. Other credits are lost if they can't be used in the time allowed.
Additionally, Cedar Rapids will kick in $2.8 million in property tax exemptions
over the next decade.
Tina Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Economic
Development, said the project qualifies for incentives outlined by state law. No
money came directly from the board.
Harvey Siegelman, former state economist, said the project is "a perfect example
of what those programs are designed to do" - attract high-paying, high-skilled
jobs and generate research and development.
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The jobs also will help Iowa toward another goal - keeping and attracting young
professionals, he said.
Rockwell "will likely hire many of those engineers from Iowa schools, but they'll
likely draw other engineers from across the country," said Siegelman, who runs
Strategic Economics Group, a consulting company.
Mark Seckman, president of Priority One, Cedar Rapids' economic development
arm, said the engineering jobs - and the new products developed - will spark new
manufacturing jobs for Rockwell and its suppliers. Rockwell is Cedar Rapids'
largest employer, with 7,500 workers.
Seckman said the city and state needed to create an aggressive financial
package to keep growth in Iowa. Competition for the jobs is global as well as
national.
Leaders fear the United States will lose its research and development edge to
countries like India and China, which has attracted tens of thousands of U.S.
factory jobs.
Swenson, the ISU economist, credits Rockwell with being "the best laboratory in
the state for creativity. . . . People spin out of Rockwell with all kinds of
entrepreneurial activity."
Still, Swenson said, he doubts Iowa taxpayers will recoup their investment in the
Rockwell expansion.
Swenson questions whether Rockwell would have taken the project somewhere
other than Cedar Rapids.
Nancy Welsh, a Rockwell spokeswoman, said Rockwell looks at its entire
company, which employs 17,000 people worldwide, when considering expansion
projects. Rockwell has operations in the United States, Europe, Asia and
Australia.
The 120,000-square-foot expansion at the Cedar Rapids campus is the first since
1980, she said, although the company leased a 100,000-square-foot building in
2004 that now houses about 400 workers.
The new building gives the company room to grow, Welsh said. Rockwell has
said it expects to hire 7,000 employees, many of them engineers, by 2010. The
company has said some of those hires will replace retiring baby boomers.
Swenson said he doesn't understand giving state incentives to companies that
are posting healthy profits, sometimes record profits as Wells Fargo & Co. did
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this week.
Wells Fargo received a $10 million state grant nearly three years ago for its $318
million expansions in Des Moines and West Des Moines. The projects are
expected to add 2,000 new jobs in central Iowa.
Rockwell has posted strong annual earnings growth since going public in 2001.
The company cut nearly 3,000 workers across its operations when the terrorist
attacks shook the commercial aviation industry.
The company has reported increased sales from military orders. It is also a
supplier to Boeing and Airbus, which sold a record number of planes in 2005.
Rockwell's employment has rebounded to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels. Last year,
the company earned $396 million, a 32 percent increase over fiscal 2004.
"I think regular Iowans are cynical of this whole idea of corporate welfare, with
the biggest awards going to the most profitable companies," Swenson said. "It
doesn't make sense."
State tax credit program balloons
Rockwell Collins will benefit from a state tax credit for research and development.
The cost of that tax credit program has ballooned from $3 million in 1996 to $32
million in 2004.
State officials say the list of companies that receive the credit is secret. Michael
Ralston, former director of the Iowa Department of Revenue, said in 2005 that he
would risk going to jail if he complied with a Des Moines Register request to
provide a list of companies that shared the $32 million.
Research credits are applied to a company's tax bill. They can result in the state
paying a refund to a company.
State officials have said the spike in research credits is an indication of new
research and development activity, which can create high-paying jobs for the
scientists, engineers and technicians needed to do the work.
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Des Moines Register
01/20/06
Dateline Iowa
By REGISTER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
County supervisors approve keg-log rule
A county-wide measure intended to reduce underage drinking was passed
unanimously Thursday night by the Story County Board of Supervisors.
The ordinance, the sixth of its kind in Iowa, will require sellers of keg beer to log
the names and addresses of buyers with the identification numbers of purchased
kegs.
The ordinance is designed to hold responsible adults who provide alcohol to
underage drinkers.
The meeting was attended by more than 30 people, including approximately 15
Iowa State University students, two of whom spoke against the ordinance.
Several alcohol-abuse prevention specialists, Ames residents and a law
enforcement officer spoke in favor of the ordinance.
Supporters unsuccessfully lobbied the Legislature to pass a keg registration law
in 2004 and 2005.
The ordinance, modeled on laws on the books in 28 states, will take effect in 60
days
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Des Moines Register
01/20/06
Iowa reports record number of jobs
By WILLIAM RYBERG
REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER
Iowa has a record number of jobs, but questions persist about the quality of
those jobs.
Iowa's payroll employment rose to an all-time high of 1,490,800 in December,
Iowa Workforce Development reported Thursday. The total was 6,100 more than
in November and 29,000 more than in December 2004.
The biggest gains in employment over the past year have been in leisure and
hospitality. The average weekly wage in the industry is $218, compared with the
average weekly wage of $617 for all industries in the state. About 7,400 jobs
were added in the industry, which includes hotels and restaurants, between
December 2004 and December 2005, according to Workforce Development
figures.
But the state is also continuing its comeback in manufacturing, which traditionally
has among the highest pay and benefits in Iowa. In the past year, 6,200 factory
jobs were added. The average weekly wage in manufacturing in Iowa is $811.
Job growth was strong in the manufacture of wood products, machinery, and
agricultural and construction equipment.
The new jobs still leave the state 24,500 factory jobs below the pre-recession
peak in 1999. But the gain is in sharp contrast with the national scene, where the
loss of factory jobs continues.
December 2005 marked the third time in the past year that job growth has
exceeded 6,000 for a single month, Workforce Development said.
The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 4.5 percent in
December, down from 4.8 percent in November and down from 5 percent in
December 2004, the agency reported.
"The strong growth posted for nonfarm employment in December, coupled with a
sizable drop in the unemployment rate, confirmed that Iowa's expansion is solidly
in place," Richard Running, agency director, said.
An Iowa job, on average, pays about 80 percent of the average wage-and-benefit
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package for U.S. jobs in general, said David Swenson, an Iowa State
University economist. In the early 1980s, Iowa jobs paid about 92 percent of
the national average, he added.
Swenson's figures include part-time as well as full-time jobs.
Iowa wages lost ground, especially during the farm crisis and recession of the
1980s. Median wages have recovered in more recent years, but are still about 6
percentage points behind the national average, said Peter Fisher, research
director for the Iowa Policy Project, a research group in Mount Vernon.
Fisher's group has also found that jobs created since the last recession in Iowa
are less likely to offer health-care benefits.
Swenson said higher-quality jobs are being created in areas of the nation where
population is growing, while jobs with lower pay and benefits are being created in
Iowa and other parts of the Midwest.
How Iowa jobs pan out
Here are jobs by industry for December 2005, and gains since December 2004,
based on preliminary, seasonally unadjusted figures from Iowa Workforce
Development:
• Leisure and hospitality: 133,900 jobs, up 7,400 jobs. Average weekly wage for
the industry: $218.
• Manufacturing: 230,300 jobs, up 6,200. Average weekly wage: $811.
• Education and health services: 200,400 jobs, up 3,900. Average weekly wage:
$591.
• Financial activities: 101,100 jobs, up 3,600. Average weekly wage: $871.
• Trade and transportation: 317,400 jobs, up 3,500. Average weekly wage: $501.
• Government: 251,400 jobs, up 2,400. Average weekly wage: $660.
• Professional and business services: 106,700 jobs, up 800. Average weekly
wage: $608.
• Construction: 68,600 jobs, up 800. Average weekly wage: $699.
Source: Iowa Workforce Development.
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Des Moines Register
1/22/06
Boost biotech by boosting universities
By REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD
The failure of a promising biotechnology enterprise in Ames — and the loss of
taxpayer money in the deal — shouldn't discourage Iowa from investing in
biotech.
If anything, the state should be spending more to encourage growth in industries
that are based on the life sciences. They're a natural fit for Iowa and have the
potential to transform the state's economy.
But the investments should be keyed more toward establishing the underlying
environment for growth, and less toward trying to pick winners and losers by
subsidizing individual companies.
That should be one of the lessons from the experience of the state with
Phytodyne Inc., reported in last Sunday's Register by agribusiness writer Anne
Fitzgerald. The startup genetic engineering company, housed at an Iowa State
University research park, was talked up by state officials as a prime example of
how the state can nurture biotech companies. Unfortunately, the company was
unable to secure rights to a patented process it needed, and the state has
nothing to show for the nearly $500,000 in tax money granted to the company.
So it goes with startup companies. Nine out of 10 biotech startups fail. The state
must expect a relatively high loss rate if it's going to make grants to experimental
companies. That's a risk the state took when it created the Grow Iowa Values
Fund, which is expected to allocate $350 million for business assistance over the
next 10 years. With luck, one or two huge successes might offset the losses that
can be expected.
Then again, by plunging into making grants to new businesses, the state might
be getting a little ahead of itself. Sure, any self-respecting economicdevelopment effort has to have things like business incubators and venture
capital, but their success depends on something more basic — having great
research universities.
This is true whether it's California's Silicon Valley, North Carolina's Research
Triangle or the high-tech hotbeds around Boston or Austin, Texas. These regions
didn't boom because of their giveaways to companies. They boomed because of
their proximity to great universities.
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Iowa seems to have forgotten that fundamental part of the equation. It's difficult
to conceive of anything that would undercut the state's economic development
more than diminishing support for state universities, yet that is precisely what the
state has done.
By 2005, the universities were receiving $100 million less per year in state
support than they received in 2001. If the appropriations had merely kept up with
inflation, support would have grown by more than $90 million during the same
period. So the real amount denied the universities amounts to $190 million per
year.
The Legislature did grant a small increase to the universities for 2006, about $16
million — the slightest of steps toward regaining former funding levels.
Yes, times are tough, and, yes, the universities have raised tuition and made
internal reallocations to try to offset the cuts, but the inescapable reality remains:
You don't push universities to new levels of greatness by cutting support for
them.
Consultants from the Battelle Memorial Institute, hired by the state to develop a
strategy for growing bioscience industries, noted that "outstanding research
universities are an absolute prerequisite for a state to become a serious
contender in most areas of the biosciences."
The consultants said diminished support for the universities threatens the state's
hopes for growth. It has resulted in "program cuts, faculty salary freezes, an
inability to invest in new technologies and infrastructure, and a general fear for
the future among the Iowa education and scientific community," the consultants
said.
This has "reduced the ability of Iowa's research universities to position
themselves as globally competitive in the biosciences."
The bottom line: All of the economic-development gimmicks — the grants, the
loans, the incubators, the push for commercialization of research — must rest on
a foundation of solid support for the universities.
The most urgent economic-development priority for the governor and Legislature
should be to begin restoring the traditional level of support for the universities —
and then go beyond that.
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Des Moines Register
1/23/06
ENGINEERING
Stephen Vardeman , a university professor of statistics and industrial
engineering at Iowa State University, said he will change the format of an
undergraduate course in industrial engineering next fall by putting audio and
visuals of lectures containing technical information online. Then, instead of
teaching three one-hour classes per week, he will hold one two-hour session
where students will discuss homework and do class demonstrations.
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Des Moines Register
1/22/06
Parents, kids learn: No secrets online
e
By ERIN CRAWFORD AND MEGAN HAWKINS
While parents of responsible students think the sites are "cool" and encourage
their children's self-expression — perhaps while monitoring postings closely —
other students have no guidance or ignore warnings, making MySpace and other
sites a world peppered with sexually charged photos, nasty rumors and drug
references.
The phenomenon, which is nothing new to teens, is exploding. MySpace's
population grew by 32 percent in the last year, with more than 32 million visitors
to the site last month, according to ComScore. Nearly 9 million people have
flocked to LiveJournal, another blogging site. These communities are dominated
by twentysomethings and teens, who are able to identify their school online on
MySpace and other similar sites, such as LiveJournal and Facebook.
Half of all teens leave something online when they visit, according to a recent
study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the first research by the
institute to look at what teens put online. They post messages, journal entries,
photos and their favorite music.
Children as young as elementary school age are drawn to such sites.
For parents and schools, keeping up with what youngsters are posting and where
they congregate can be like treading quicksand. It's impossible to keep up.
Careful monitoring
Des Moines resident Al Perkins, father of two East High School students, has
banned his teen daughters from using blog sites. By carefully monitoring their
online activity, he's found sites they've started, which he made them remove.
"I don't think (teens) realize the ramifications of some of the acts they do," he
said. "Like chatting with people they don't know who are misrepresenting
themselves, who are maybe not the same age or don't have the same interests.
"They just don't know. They're a little too trusting."
The problems created online — gossip, misunderstandings, flirtations gone awry
— turn into real-world fights at schools. At the extreme, two students were
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suspended at Valley High School last fall for posting altered photos of their
principal.
Most schools have yet to pinpoint their role in helping students navigate the
Internet or integrate Internet safety education into their curriculum.
"We probably need to do some soul-searching," said Chuck Bredlow, Southeast
Polk High School principal. "We need to constantly remind students: What you
put on the Internet may come back to hurt you."
Some teachers have harnessed the technology's popularity for educational uses.
But many more schools have blocked blogging and image-hosting sites from
school computers, arguing that social sites have little educational value.
A few students agree and keep their distance by not posting their own
information online.
"All it is is drama," said Jenna Crum, 18, a senior at East High School. "Most
people do it to get something out they wouldn't say normally. I don't think they
realize it's public. They say stuff about people, then so-and-so hears, and it goes
from there."
Crum goes online three or four times a week to read her friends' blogs, but does
not have her own, she said. She said blogging cuts back on face-to-face
communication and breeds gossip, causing problems like name-calling and bad
reputations.
Still, she and other students agree that their generation will likely continue writing
and sharing material online.
Online diary
At Waukee High School, 203 of 724 students are on MySpace. Zach Boswell is
one. His band, Alexandra's Horizon, is on the site, too.
"It's like my whole school, my whole grade" is on MySpace, he said. "It used to
be only two people, and it exploded. Everyone is on there. I can talk to people I
wouldn't normally talk to at school."
Boswell, 15 — though he lists his age as 16 online — keeps an irregular blog,
writing about his bands, posting comedy and his own poetry.
"It's like a diary, I guess, just a way to keep my thoughts in order," the high
school freshman said.
Like a diary, but available to anyone to read. That may seem dangerously lacking
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in privacy, but Denise Schmidt, assistant professor in the department of
curriculum and instruction at Iowa State University, said that's part of the
appeal.
Writing is less of a solitary activity on the Web. Teens who write online may have
a group of readers who subscribe to their blog, friends who drop by their site and
leave a note, or strangers who connect with their writing and respond.
"It does show you that students want an audience," Schmidt said. "When you
think of writing at schools, many times their audience is just their teachers. The
Internet has opened up an audience."
Some teens understand the Internet's privacy better than adults, said Beth
Younger, assistant professor of adolescent literature at Drake University.
"Adults have this view of teenagers as hopelessly naive and uninformed, and
they're way more on top of things than we give them credit for," she said. "As an
adolescent, you're not a child, but you don't have adult responsibilities. You're in
a hybrid state, and the Internet gives them power and agency and privacy."
What youngsters choose to publish online with that power is as diverse as the
people themselves.
A 17-year-old Pella High School student using the ID "secretly fadin and dyin
away . . ." leaves a message on a friend's site reading, "just feeels like i wanna
take a gun and pull the trigger in mah forhead." A 15-year-old from Des Moines
poses provocatively in a tight T-shirt next to the headline "Do I Look Like a Play
Thing." using blogs to illustrate appropriate techniques.
"The most positive educational impact of blogging is the immediate opportunity to
collaborate with others around the world," said Caren McNaught, computer
instructor at Waukee High School. "Imagine being a student in a French class in
Iowa and communicating with a student in Paris, France."
McNaught began including blogs in her curriculum last fall.
"Because of the potential for misuse, we discuss the pros, cons, and safety
issues of blogging," she said, "and I maintain tight controls over the projects
students are able to publish and who is able to add comments to the classroom
blog."
At home, parents are figuring out ways to manage their children's online
activities.
Active parenting has worked so far for Chris Monroe of Johnston. Her sons are
14 and 11. They're not big Internet users, partly because Monroe limits their time
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on the computer and doesn't have the Internet hooked up in their bedrooms.
"We've told them not to give any kind of personal information at all, including a
last name, no background information. We periodically check where they've
been," she said.
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, about 80 percent of
parents are online.
Half of parents have some sort of filtering and monitoring software installed, and
somewhere between 50 percent and 60 percent of parents check on children
after they go online.
LiveJournal general manager Kevin Krim said the more parents get involved, the
better.
Krim said one LiveJournal executive has a rule with his teens: They can't be on
the site unless they make their dad a "friend," which allows the parent to see
everything they're writing about.
"Get involved, absolutely," Krim said. "People don't realize these Web sites often
offer a better opportunity to stay involved in kids' lives than offline."
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Des Moines Register
1/22/06
Online postings could hurt students
searching for work
By ERIN JORDAN
Austin Baeth is part of the University of Iowa student government and wants to
go to medical school.
The U of I junior also lists partying as one of his top interests and jokingly claims
on his Facebook.com personal profile to have spent his youth "dodging bullets
and managing prostitutes in the ghetto of Des Moines."
Baeth's profile is visible to friends and classmates on Facebook.com, an online
directory used by thousands of Iowa college students. But campus police and
judicial officials are increasingly using Facebook and other online sites such as
MySpace.com to track illegal behavior, such as underage drinking.
College administrators also warn that students' online postings could hurt them
as they apply for jobs or graduate schools.
"It never occurred to me that search committees could look at Facebook," said
Baeth, 21, of Des Moines.
Facebook.com, launched in 2004 by Harvard University students, has become a
college phenomenon with 12 million users in December.
More than 50,000 people affiliated with the U of I, Iowa State University and the
University of Northern Iowa have Facebook profiles, and a new high school
format is being used by students in 411 Iowa high schools, Facebook spokesman
Chris Hughes said.
The colossal networking tool allows students to meet new people, catch up with
old friends and correspond with classmates. The average user spends 17
minutes a day on the site, Hughes said. But college officials contend that
students aren't spending enough time thinking about what their Facebook profile
says about them.
"This is the equivalent of a social resume," said C. Drionne Smith, manager of
operations for U of I Residence Life.
Residence hall supervisors at the U of I have been authorized to meet with
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students whose Facebook profiles have pictures or comments that indicate a
violation of university policies, such as drug use or drinking in the dorms, Smith
said.
So far, Facebook has provided evidence of a student with a pet in her dorm room
and connected a resident adviser with snatching cookies from the cafeteria —
both no-nos, but definitely not serious crimes, Smith said. But posting pictures of
minors taking shots of alcohol or inviting friends to a booze bash in the residence
halls may garner heavier sanctions, she said.
ISU students with questionable Facebook postings have been called into the
dean of students office for conversations, said Bethany Schuttinga, director of
judicial affairs.
Other universities are taking a tougher stance. Students at North Carolina State
and Northern Kentucky universities were charged with violations based on
Facebook pictures of them drinking alcohol. A University of Oklahoma student
was questioned by the Secret Service last March for a joking comment he made
on Facebook about assassinating the president.
Tim Hullermann, 19, a U of I sophomore from Cedar Falls, said using Facebook
to search for bomb threats or murder plots is understandable.
"If it's something that is harmful, that's appropriate. If it's just a party, I would
prefer they let it go," he said.
Police at the U of I, ISU and UNI said they don't use Facebook to bust students,
mostly because they have enough to do without searching the Web for more
infractions. However, Assistant Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said
information posted on Facebook could be used to corroborate other evidence
about criminal behavior.
Law enforcement officers also see the danger of stalking or identity theft when
Facebook users post personal information, such as their cell phone number or
address.
Dana North, 19, an ISU sophomore from Ames, said she's received several
Facebook messages from guys she doesn't know.
"They would make comments about my profile or my picture or wanting to meet,
things like that. I was flattered by some, and some weren't that creepy," she said.
"But some really were."
Employers are also turning to the Web to learn more about applicants.
Recruiters for Pella Corp. may do Google searches on potential hires to see
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information that might not be on their resumes, said Kathy Krafka Harkema,
spokeswoman for the Iowa-based window manufacturer.
"'Blogs are great things. They are also public information," Krafka Harkema said.
"It's very important to consider in this information age: Your private life can be
public very easily."
Facebook creators are disturbed by the trend of tracking student behavior
through the online directory, spokesman Hughes said. "That's not why we started
it," he said.
Students can use Facebook's privacy settings to ensure that only friends can
look at their profiles, but some people said that cuts the fun out of Facebook.
"We're working with an age group that is experimenting and testing their
boundaries," said Jim Dally, a detective with the UNI police. "I'm all for people
meeting each other, but be careful how you do it."
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Des Moines Register
1/21/06
Pasture profits workshop topic
WOODHULL - Unlocking the profit potential of pastures is the focus of a
University of Illinois Extension workshop from 9:25 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 15 at the
Homestead in Woodhull.
A $20 pre-registration fee per person for lunch and handout material is due by
Feb. 8. Registration at the door will be $25 per person.
Charlie Brummer, Iowa State University forage crop breeder will discuss
"What's New in Legumes?"
Dave Feltes, Extension IPM educator, will comment on "Managing Thistles, Wild
Carrot, and Multiflora Rose."
"Managing Forage Plant Disorders" will be presented by Justin Sexten,
Extension specialist beef, and Jim Morrison, Extension crops educator will share
suggestions for "Improving Pastures by Renovation."
Dean Oswald, Extension animal systems educator, will illustrate "Illini-Graze:
How it Can Help Graziers," and Steve Hollister, NRCS agronomist will talk about
"EQIP Contracts-Make them Work for You."
A grazier panel will round out the workshop commenting on "How I Profit from
Pastures."
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Des Moines Register
1/23/06
Podcasts for class: New way to learn?
By Lisa Livermore
Some Iowa university students this year have been asked to turn off the Black
Eyed Peas on their iPods and tune into a talk about the art of making a database.
This fall, professors across the state began to experiment with putting audio and
visual files of their classes online. Now, during the spring semester, more are
allowing students to watch or listen to course content on computers and, if they
wish, download it onto their MP3 players or cell phones, following a national
trend that emerged in 2004.
This gives students flexibility to watch or listen to lectures at their leisure and
allows distance education students to forgo scheduled viewings of classes at
Iowa Communications Network rooms, professors said. They said it
revolutionizes studying for tests, allowing students to re-experience lectures,
rather than simply cracking a textbook and reading notes.
"When I have tasks for chores around the house, I'll throw on the iPod and listen
to a lecture," said University of Northern Iowa graduate student Andrew Krumm.
"I use it walking around campus as well."
Critics say this new method could rob students of the chance to brainstorm with
peers in class. It also increases the "digital divide," a term used to describe the
benefits wealthy students have over those without personal computers or
portable, digital audio devices.
Iowa academics are following the lead of other schools, such as Duke and Drexel
universities in the East , which have handed out iPods to some of their students
to encourage them to use the devices to study.
University technology service representatives in Iowa said it's impossible to
estimate how many professors have adopted this approach.
William Callahan, associate dean of the College of Education at UNI, said if
podcasts are used to encourage students to come more prepared for class
discussion by listening to a lecture first, the technology can be helpful — though
not for everyone.
"From my perspective, this technology isn't available to everyone yet," he said.
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"You have a digital divide influencing the opportunity to learn."
Supporters of putting class material online to watch or hear say the environment
is too competitive to hold back. "We can't cater to the lowest common
denominator," said Joe Monahan, an information technologies specialist at Iowa
State University.
Educators say that students can make lecture content mobile using any sort of
digital audio device, such as an iPod or another MP3 player. In the first 11
months of 2005, about 23 percent of Apple iPod sales went to college-aged
consumers, according to the NPD Group Inc., a market research firm in Port
Washington , N.Y.
Marc Franke, with Information Technology Services at the University of Iowa,
also pointed to a 2005 study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison that
showed that 97 percent of students own either a desktop or laptop computer,
while 35 percent own an MP3 player.
In 2001, 26 percent of students owned a laptop, compared with 56 percent in
2005, according to the study. Desktop computers are becoming less popular
among students, data shows.
"The cost of computers has gone way down," Franke said.
Professors at Iowa universities have taken both cautious and adventurous leaps
into the world of podcasting and posting visual and audio class materials online.
Dave Collins, a lecturer in the marketing department at the U of I, said he
permitted his students to download only final review sessions and one popular
lecture he gives at the end of the semester with job search tips.
Daily lectures don't make it onto the class Web site, he said.
"I think (one of) the worst learning environments in school is in large lecture
formats," he said. "There's lots of distractions in the room going on, lots of people
doing things.
"But it does do a couple of things. It forces people to be somewhere and teaches
them how to pay attention."
Fairfield resident Patty Richardson, whose son Brook Richardson is an ISU
student, said putting class content online would help students like her son, who
has watched classes on his laptop. That flexibility helped him schedule time for
work, a job search and involvement in student orga- nizations.
"I think the type of student he is, it would be fine," she said. "I don't think it would
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be for everyone. . . . I guess I feel some students need to interact with other
students to get the whole meaning of the class. Interacting with other people, you
see it from other viewpoints you hadn't picked up."
Leigh Zeitz, a UNI associate professor in the curriculum and instruction
department , makes recorded classes available on a Web site that gives students
instructions for listening to the recorded files of the class or subscribing to a
podcast to download onto their digital audio devices.
He experimented with the method during a class last semester with the initial
purpose of making it more convenient for distance education students, who
otherwise would have had to go to a nearby ICN classroom and watch the class.
The beauty of this podcast, Zeitz said, is it is free. "This," he said, "is power to the
people."
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Des Moines Register
1/21/06
Metro record
Prairie Meadows helps Warren County work
The Warren County Economic Development Corporation announced it has
received $10,000 through a Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino community
betterment grant program.
The money will help achieve some of the 12 recommendations made by a
research group at Iowa State University to promote Warren County.
Prairie Meadows donates about $3 million to Iowa organizations annually.
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Des Moines Register
01/24/06
Mrs. Clark's Foods cooks up big goals
It aims in '06 for $1 million in net income
By ANNE FITZGERALD
REGISTER AGRIBUSINESS WRITER
Mrs. Clark's Foods of Ankeny has set a big goal for this year: $1 million in net
income.
That's more than four times the food maker's income for 2005, the company's
second successive year of posting a profit, the company announced Monday. In
addition, the cooperative-owned company's board of directors is pushing Mrs.
Clark's to increase that figure to $5 million by 2010.
Mrs. Clark's parent company, AGRI Industries, is optimistic about its outlook,
despite cost pressures and industry consolidation that have combined to force
other small-scale and mid-sized food makers to sell out or close shop.
"We're on a course of continuous growth," Jerry Van Der Kamp, chief executive
officer of AGRI Industries, said Monday. "We're becoming a better and better
company with more sophisticated capabilities, and the marketplace is looking for
that."
Mrs. Clark's makes sauces, salad dressings and pasteurized juices for the retail
market and food-service industry. Most are private-label products sold by other
companies.
Net income at Mrs. Clark's totaled $238,788 on gross sales of $64.2 million for
the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, officials said Monday. That's down slightly
from the previous year, when net income totaled $240,084, but well ahead of the
company's performance in fiscal year 2003, when Mrs. Clark's reported a net
loss of $1,764,016.
Ingredient costs — a major contributor to the loss reported two years ago —
have stabilized, boosting profit margins, Van Der Kamp said. Prices for soy oil,
the No. 1 ingredient expense at Mrs. Clark's, skyrocketed two years ago after
soybean prices nearly doubled to about $10 per bushel on cash markets in Iowa.
But soy oil costs have receded, following two consecutive bumper soybean
crops.
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Those costs could fall further if South America harvests a bumper soybean crop
this year, said Robert Wisner, an Iowa State University Extension economist.
"If the crops down there come through OK weather-wise and yield-wise, I would
expect there would be somewhat lower prices both for soy meal and soy oil in the
next eight to 10 months," Wisner said Monday.
AGRI Industries has pared down to increase its focus on Mrs. Clark's and
another core business — grain handling and merchandising.
AGRI is building its new partnership with Bunge North America Inc. AGRI's
portion of AGRI-Bunge net income totaled $759,581 for fiscal year 2005, the first
full year of business for the venture, AGRI reported.
AGRI, a cooperative owned by farmer-owned co-ops, formed the venture with
Bunge in 2004 after Agri Grain Marketing, a business that had been owned jointly
by AGRI and Cargill Inc., was dissolved.
High fuel prices and barge-freight rates have challenged AGRI-Bunge, officials
said. Even so, the grain business handled more than 110 million bushels of grain
during the past fiscal year.
"Overall, I think it was a fairly good year," Van Der Kamp said, speaking at
AGRI's annual meeting in Ankeny, home for AGRI.
But fuel and freight costs continue to pressure profits in the current fiscal year.
Adverse weather, including hurricane damage along the Gulf Coast, has caused
problems. Storms halted exports from Gulf of Mexico ports last fall and caused
logistical snags on the upper Mississippi River. In addition, barge-freight rates
rose even higher, creating additional challenges for AGRI-Bunge, Van Der Kamp
said.
"Barge freight was just nuts," he said. "I had never seen anything quite like it."
AGRI invested in improvements at the Mrs. Clark's plant last year to speed
production and improve product quality, he said.
For instance, the company replaced a 2-inch line for carrying water to a juice
mixer with a larger line, increasing the mixer's efficiency.
AGRI also installed a rack system in the warehouse at Mrs. Clark's to make
better use of storage space.
In addition, the company replaced propane-fueled lift vehicles with lifts powered
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by electricity, which eliminated carbon dioxide emissions and reduced
temperatures in the warehouse.
Containing costs continues to be a challenge, with costs for such items as plastic
bottles and caps increasing along with petroleum prices.
AGRI cut costs by not hiring a new chief executive for Mrs. Clark's.
Van Der Kamp has been serving as chief executive of AGRI and Mrs. Clark's,
roles he expects to continue, while AGRI builds its grain-handling and foodproduction businesses.
test
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Des Moines Register
01/24/06
'Lost' will be later this week on WOI
By REGISTER STAFF REPORTS
Central Iowa addicts of "Lost," one of the highest rated TV dramas this year, will
have to wait a little longer for their next fix.
WOI-TV, an ABC affiliate that covers 33 counties across Iowa, has a contract to
broadcast Iowa State University men’s basketball games live. Wednesday’s
game at Missouri starts at 7 p.m., which means "Lost’’ will be pushed back to 9
p.m. — or later if the game runs longer. (Regardless of the start time, though,
"Lost’’ will air in its entirety, station officials say.)
"We are making a conscious effort to put our hit shows on at reasonable times,
and at the same time, serve our longstanding Cyclone basketball fans,’’ said
Doug Sawyer, promotion manager at WOI.
"Lost’’ will be pre-empted three more times on WOI this season. It will air at 9
p.m. Feb. 8 and 15, and not until 10:35 p.m. Feb. 22 (although that broadcast is
scheduled to be a summary of the season so far, not a new episode).
Wednesday night’s schedule on WOI, assuming the ISU game ends by 9 p.m.
has been amended.
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Des Moines Register
01/25/06
Dateline Iowa
By REGISTER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
Man who threatened FBI ruled insane
A Marshalltown man accused of mailing rat poison and threatening to blow up an
FBI office has been ruled innocent by reason of insanity.
Anana Gundo Nariboli, 47, was charged last year with threatening to use an
explosive, mailing threatening communications and obstructing the use of mail.
On Jan. 11, U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt ordered that Nariboli be committed
to a mental institution.
Nariboli had been in custody since June 1, when the FBI arrested him at his
Marshalltown home.
A federal complaint alleges that on Feb. 11 Nariboli mailed a letter to Dow
Chemical Co. in Milwaukee threatening to blow up an FBI office.
It also says Nariboli mailed an envelope containing a powdered substance to the
admissions building at Iowa State University in Ames.
According to court records, Nariboli admitted sending the letters – Also ran in:
WOI-IA; WHO-TV, IA; WQAD, IL; KCCI.com, IA; Radio Iowa
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Des Moines Register
01/25/06
Today in Iowa
A lecture titled “Affirmative Action and Other Strategies to End Discrimination and
Racism” is at 8 p.m. in the Sun room of the Memorial Union at Iowa State
University.
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Detroit Free Press
1/22/06
Specialized Web site helps farmers find soul
mates
BY LAURA BRUNO
City slickers looking for a roll in the hay. That's who Tami Linne found on Internet
dating sites.
Linne is a 42-year-old combine and tractor driver in Burr Oak, Iowa. A threepiece suit won't do. She needs a man who can get mud on his boots.
"They all lived in the city," Linne says. "Why would they be interested in a farm
girl?"
Then www.farmersonly.com came along.
The men on this site know the difference between tractors and combines.
"The site is a blessing," Linne says. "I'm talking to some real gentlemen now."
Although big Web sites boast thousands of members, single farmers -- lready
dating-challenged by virtue of their isolation and long work hours -- find slim
pickings.
Until farmersonly.com founder Jerry Miller tapped into a real need.
While city folk might think their dating scene is a minefield of complications,
single farmers can beat their worst tale of woe. Try breaking a date on account of
a sick steer.
"Working 5 to 9, Monday through Sunday, and being out in the middle of
nowhere -- that combo is really something," says Miller, a married publicist for the
Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association in Beachwood, Ohio, a suburb of
Cleveland.
Although you don't have to be a farmer to join the site, you do have to
"understand the traditional farm values," Miller says.
The response he receives from thankful customers makes him believe that he's
addressing a serious problem. He kicked off the site in May with a couple
hundred people. Now, with membership surging to 10,000, the numbers tell the
story, he says. "There are a lot of lonely people out there."
Single farmers
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From suburban New Jersey to the Kansas plains, single farmers tell Miller it's
nearly impossible to find someone willing to play second fiddle to the demands of
a farm. It's hard selling a life of isolation, time constraints and economic
uncertainty. The pool of available mates keeps shrinking.
Eric Fynaardt is a 23-year-old Searsboro, Iowa, crop farmer. In his town of 160
people, 10 are single. Two are women.
Fynaardt hopes farmersonly.com will help in his search for a wife.
The women on the site understand farm life, he says. Most other women "think
we're hillbilly hicks tied to our land," says the college-educated Fynaardt. "Girls
say, 'I don't want to date him. I don't want to go back to the farm. I want to
explore city life.' "
Warren Rowland, a divorced 68-year-old retired Oklahoma farmer, says he would
not want to be in his 40s and be single. "I look at single farmers in their 30s and
40s, and I think they have a terrible time finding someone," he says.
The Census Bureau keeps no figures on single farmers, but there were 2.1
million farms in 2002, down from 3.1 million in 1964. The average farmer's age is
55. Churches and communities used to provide matchmaking forums, but they
may no longer exist or are no longer adequate in isolated regions with small
populations, says Paul Lasley, a sociology professor at Iowa State University.
Increasing isolation
With shrinking farmland across the United States, small farmers find themselves
increasingly isolated and working long hours to stay afloat. They face different
challenges from other singles, Lasley says, because their work is their life.
"Farmers live with their business," Lasley says. "It's not only an occupation. More
significantly, it's a lifestyle."
Blain Newsome can relate. The 24-year-old Dublin, Ohio, equestrian coach was
wary of Web dating. But after checking out farmersonly.com, she became a
convert.
Two months into her online experiment, Newsome met a 27-year-old farm
equipment salesman. They live less than 2 miles apart in Dublin. Newsome
works long hours at Autumn Rose horse farm, and he's on the road a lot; still,
they've found time for several dates.
"There's no way we would have met otherwise," Newsome says. "I spend 24/7 at
the farm."
A former president of Future Farmers of America, Newsome says she tried
dating city boys. It never worked.
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She says, "I don't want to baby-sit some city boy who is afraid of stepping in
poop."
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Farm News
01/13/06
Expert recommends lower soybean seeding
rate
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Farm News
01/13/06
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Farm News
01/13/06
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Farm News
01/20/06
Extension hosting clinics around state
By RANDY MUDGETT- Managing Editor
SCRANTON — David Wolf spends a lot of time in the lambing barn this time of
the year while his 100-head of ewes come into lambing. On Monday, he shared
his operation with the public and Iowa State University Extension during a
lambing workshop.
Wolf’s Suffolk, Dorset and crossbred sheep operation is largely labor intensive,
as most operations tend to be during lambing season. Producers simply spend
many of their waking hours in the barns, watching and caring for their baby lambs
during this crucial time of the year.
‘‘If I was a sheep, I’d love to live here,’’ said Dan Morrical, Extension sheep
specialist. ‘‘The barn is insulated in the ceiling and the south is open to clearly
defined large pens built on a dirt floor. This is an excellent environment for raising
lambs.’’
Wolf, who farms near Scranton, allowed Extension to host the meeting in his
barn for the first time this year. The idea of the workshop was to attract other
producers who have questions on their operations and about specific questions
on the lambing procedure.
Dennis DeWitt, Extension livestock specialist, said Wolf’s lambing barn lends
itself to an efficient, busy time of the year for the producer. ‘‘I like how David has
the operation set up so small pens can be setup near the main pens, giving the
ewe and the lambs time together during the crucial first three days of a lamb’s
life.’’
Several questions did come up during the meeting on the most desirable type of
building to own and operate that is most effective and efficient for the producer.
Morrical said he does not like cement floors when it comes to raising sheep.
Instead, a hard-packed dirt floor that receives sufficient bedding is more
desirable for a sheep operation.
‘‘I am always one who is impatient as I have a hard time waiting for nature to
take its course,’’ Morrical said. ‘‘As soon as I see a ewe getting ready to give birth
I like to pull the lamb, get it cleaned up myself, get it on its feet and make sure it
sucks right away. Many would say nature will take care of that for you, but when
you are raising show sheep, it is tough to sit back and wait for nature.’’
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Recognizing birthing problems is almost second nature to producers who spend
the many January hours in the lambing barn. Wolf, who used to manage a 300head herd and is now raising a 100-head of ewes, said there are times when you
have 20 ewes lambing at the same time, so time really goes fast in the barn.
Morrical said sheep operations should closely monitor feed intake to help ewes
through gestation and birthing. A thin ewe or a extra heavy ewe can tend to have
problems at lambing time. ‘‘I am always concerned with the diet of ewes near
lambing,’’ Morrical said. ‘‘Hay should be restricted and thin ewes should be given
extra feed.’’
One of the most important tips for all sheep producers is to be ready for lambing
season. Barns should be dry, well ventilated with adequate room to setup
lambing pens. Often the case is lambing comes during an extremely cold time of
the year, meaning producers should have a system to warm lambs if necessary
in the event hypothermia sets in. DeWitt recommends that producers build a
small system called ‘‘a hot box,’’ so lambs can be warmed quickly and readily
returned to its mother.
‘‘I really like the ‘hot box’ idea and it is simple to build,’’ DeWitt said. ‘‘One of the
best sources of heat that can be best controlled is a hair dryer, but if you put
more than one lamb in the box, make sure you mark it and return it to the right
mother.’’
Morrical said sheep often reject the wrong lamb, making it difficult to graft a
newborn to a ewe who may have lost their young. And, as far as production
feeding methods go, producers should look at feeding corn, soybean meal and
corn stalks, rather than feeding expensive alfalfa to sheep.
DeWitt said in his own operation, he will not feed expensive hay while corn stalks
deliver the needed feedstuff for sheep at a fraction of the cost.
Wolf demonstrated a couple of his own production methods to attendees of the
workshop, methods he uses for his lambs that are largely market and showworthy lambs. Wolf said he double bands his lamb’s tails, tags them promptly
within a few days of birth and then once the lambs are steady, the mother and its
lamb(s) are returned to the open pen site in three to five days.
‘‘A lot of producers also have jobs in town, so they end up spending a lot of their
free time in January in the lambing barn,’’ Morrical said. ‘‘For most of us, we
know that ewes will have their sheep around feeding times and we like to see
them have them between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Now, all we have to do is convince
the sheep of that notion, too.’’
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Indianapolis Star
01/20/06
At this site, city slickers needn't apply
Matchmaker eases loneliness on the farm
By Laura Bruno
(Morris County, N.J.) Daily Record
Urban types looking for a roll in the hay. That's who Tami Linne found on Internet
dating sites.
Linne is a 42-year-old combine and tractor driver in Burr Oak, Iowa. A threepiece suit won't do. She needs a man who can get mud on his boots.
"They all lived in the city," Linne says. "Why would they be interested in a farm
girl?"
Then www.farmersonly.com came along.
The men on this site know the difference between tractors and combines.
"The site is a blessing," Linne says. "I'm talking to some real gentlemen now."
Although big Web sites boast thousands of members, single farmers -- already
dating-challenged by virtue of their isolation and long work hours -- find slim
pickings.
Until farmersonly.com founder Jerry Miller tapped into a real need.
While city folk might think their dating scene is a minefield of complications,
single farmers can beat their worst tale of woe: Try traveling 200 miles round-trip
for a dance. Or breaking a date on account of a sick steer.
Although you don't have to be a farmer to join the site, you do have to
"understand the traditional farm values," says Miller, a married publicist for the
Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association in Beachwood, Ohio, a suburb of
Cleveland..
He kicked off the site in May with a couple hundred people. Now, with
membership surging to 10,000, the numbers tell the story, he says. "There are a
lot of lonely people out there."
From suburban New Jersey to the Kansas plains, single farmers tell Miller it's
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nearly impossible to find someone willing to play second fiddle to the demands of
a farm. The pool of available mates keeps shrinking.
Eric Fynaardt is a 23-year-old Searsboro, Iowa, crop farmer. In his town of 160
people, 10 are single. Two are women.
He's new to farmersonly.com, but he hopes it will help in his search for a wife.
The women on the site understand farm life, he says. Most other women "think
we're hillbilly hicks tied to our land," says the college-educated Fynaardt.
The Census Bureau keeps no figures on single farmers, but there were 2.1
million farms in 2002, down from 3.1 million in 1964. The average farmer's age is
55.
With shrinking farmland across the United States, small farmers find themselves
increasingly isolated and working long hours to stay afloat. They face different
challenges from other singles, says Paul Lasley, a sociology professor at
Iowa State University.
"It's not only an occupation. More significantly, it's a lifestyle."
The 1980s farm crisis saw children discouraged from the lifestyle. Farmers sent
their kids to college, and many didn't return.
That's David Stigge's reality. Girls at his Washington, Kan., high school left for
college and never looked back. Stigge and his brother stayed on the family farm,
overseeing 900 head of cattle and nearly 600 acres of wheat, corn and alfalfa.
Now, 53 and never married, he has given up. The odds are against him, he says.
Suburban New Jersey farmers have it tough, too.
Anne Giller single-handedly runs Degage Gardens, an organic vegetable, flower
and herb farm 50 miles outside New York City in Rockaway Township, N.J. New
Jersey farmland is shrinking, and farmers tend to be older and married.
In Rockaway, a suburban haven for young families, most of Giller's customers
are mothers.
Giller, 39, wants to share her life with a man who makes her laugh and supports
her dreams. She's just not sure how to find him.
"There is a lack of time. I have 8 billion children to watch over," Giller says of her
many plants and seeds.
So far, she is reluctant to try Web dating.
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Blain Newsome can relate. The 24-year-old Dublin, Ohio, equestrian coach was
wary of Web dating. But after checking out farmersonly.com, she became a
convert.
Two months into her online experiment, Newsome met a 27-year-old farm
equipment salesman. They live less than 2 miles apart in Dublin.
"There's no way we would have met otherwise," Newsome says. "I spend 24/7 at
the farm."
Newsome, a former president of Future Farmers of America, says she tried
dating city boys. It never worked.
She says, "I don't want to baby-sit some city boy who is afraid of stepping in
poop." – Also ran in: AZCentral.com, AZ
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Innovations Report, Germany
1/23/06
Magnetic misfits: South seeking bacteria in
the Northern Hemisphere
Magnetotactic bacteria contain chains of magnetic iron minerals that allow them
to orient in the earth’s magnetic field much like living compass needles. These
bacteria have long been observed to respond to high oxygen levels in the lab by
swimming towards geomagnetic north in the Northern Hemisphere and
geomagnetic south in the Southern Hemisphere. In either hemisphere, this
behavior would also lead them downward in the water column into areas with
their preferred oxygen level. But an unusual bacterium in New England has been
found doing just the opposite, a magnetic misfit of sorts.
Scientists have dubbed the bacterium the barbell for its appearance. In a study
reported in this week’s issue of Science, researchers from the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Iowa State University used genetic
sequencing and other laboratory techniques to identify the barbell, which was
found coexisting with other previously described magnetotactic bacteria in a local
marine pond in Falmouth, MA. They also found dense populations of a small,
unidentified rod-shaped bacterium that showed a similar "backwards" behavior.
Magnetotactic bacteria concentrate large amounts of iron within their cells, far
more than all other marine bacteria. They could play a significant role in iron
cycling in stratified marine environments, particularly ponds and salt marshes.
Lead author Sheri Simmons of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution says
magnetotactic bacteria are found throughout the world in chemically stratified
marine and freshwater environments. They can reach high densities under the
right conditions and will swim along the magnetic field axis and up or down in the
water column to locate their preferred or ideal living conditions. If oxygen levels
are too high or too low, they will seek a layer in the water column where the level
is just right.
The scientists collected samples of the barbells and rods at Salt Pond, a marine
pond that is seasonally stratified near the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Using a rowboat and a new water sampler
designed and built by WHOI engineers, the team collected samples at various
depths in the pond in the summers of 2003, 2004 and 2005. Much to their
surprise, they found high concentrations of bacteria that swim toward
geomagnetic south when exposed to high levels of oxygen, the opposite of all
previously described swimming behavior in magnetotactic bacteria. They also
found magnetotactic bacteria with a mixture of north and south polarities.
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The coexistence of magnetotactic bacteria with north and south polarity in the
same environment contradicts the currently accepted model of magnetotaxis,
which says that all magnetotactic bacteria in the Northern Hemisphere swim
north and downward to reach their desired habitat when exposed to high-oxygen
conditions.
Simmons and colleagues Dennis Bazylinski of Iowa State University and
Katrina Edwards of WHOI studied the bacteria under laboratory conditions, and
say the behavior of the bacteria in situ could be different from laboratory
behavior. Their results, however, suggest new models are needed to explain how
these magnetotactic bacteria behave in the environment.
"Only a few species of magnetotactic bacteria have been cultivated in the lab,"
Simmons said. "We need to develop more methods to do that since we cannot
observe their behavior directly in the environment. We are also interested in how
much iron these bacteria sequester in nature. What is their distribution and
abundance, and how does that affect the chemistry of their environment?"
Also ran in: PhysOrg, VA; YubaNet, CA; EurekAlert
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Iowa Farmer Toady
01/14/06
Rising glyphosate use boosts need for good
management
By Tim Hoskins, Iowa Farmer Today
Weed specialists continue to warn farmers about the potential for weeds to
develop glyphosate resistance.
Mike Owen, Iowa State University weed specialist, says farmers should use
every weed-control tool to delay the development of glyphosate (Roundup)
resistant weeds.
This comes as more farmers are using more glyphosate in their crop production.
While 90 percent of the soybeans planted in Iowa are glyphosate tolerant, the
amount of acres planted to herbicide-resistant corn has increased from 10
percent in 2004 to 14 percent in 2005.
At the same time, the list of glyphosate-resistant weeds continues to grow.
Within the past year, resistant common ragweed has been reported in the
Missouri. However, the glyphosate-resistant biotypes of these weeds are
believed to be restricted to a few fields.
In Missouri, fields with resistant weeds have been in continuous soybean
production for a number of years and have undergone nine years of glyphosateselection pressure.
Owen thinks with the consistent use of glyphosate on resistant soybean and corn
rotations, the frequency of resistant waterhemp likely will increase dramatically in
Iowa unless more diverse weed-management tactics are used.
“It is inevitable that we will have glyphosate resistance,” he says.
Other local potential resistance could develop with common lambsquarters and
Asiatic dayflower.
Other weeds in other states might be developing glyphosate-resistance, such as
common lambsquarter, giant ragweed and morning glory.
Common lambsquarter has wide spread resistance to triazine and ALS inhibiting
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herbicides. There are suspect populations of common lambsquarters in Indiana,
and Ohio that may have glyphosate resistance.
There are also anecdotal evidence to suggest glyphosate resistance may be
evolving in Ohio and Indiana. However, the existence of resistant giant ragweed
has not been confirmed.
Marestail or horseweed is the most widely scattered glypho-sate-resistant weed
with resistance confirmed in 14 states.
With the potential of glyphosate-resistant weeds developing, Iowa farmers are
advised to take measures to help preserve the technology.
One of the ways to help delay the development of glyphosate resistance is to use
a residual herbicide. Another way is to make sure the initial application is done in
a timely matter to protect crop yield.
Owen thought some glyphosate applications were being made later and were not
protecting crop yield.
When there are delays with glyphosate applications, there is a chance of
escapes. The weed escapes could eventually develop resistance.
Owen says 30 percent of a weed population could develop glyphosate resistance
before farmers see a problem in their fields.
Another way to delay the development of glyphosate resistance is to rotate
between a glyphosate-tolerant crop and non-tolerant crops.
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/14/06
Capitalizing on corn-fed
By Jeff DeYoung, Iowa Farmer Today
Iowa corn-fed beef has the reputation for being some of the best in the United
States, and a new project might soon be able to introduce it to the rest of the
world.
The Iowa-80 Beef project is looking at how a possible brand name might be
viewed as well as the potential to involve Iowa cattle producers.
The project is a joint effort of the Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State University
and the Center for Agricultural Development (CARD).
John Lawrence, beef center director and an ISU Extension livestock
marketing economist, says the project is slowly moving forward.
“This will be a process verified program (PVP),” he says. “We are visiting farms
to identify producers who already do or could be quality certified for this
program.”
Producers must be able to meet requirements to be certified, but Lawrence notes
they might change when the conditions are finalized.
“When you make a claim about a product, you have to be able to prove it,”
Lawrence says.
He says the project also will need a packer that has been certified in the Beef
Export Verification program for shipments to Japan and other nations.
“Because we are going to be relatively small, it may be better for us to work with
one packer, where the cattle can be slaughtered and processed at the same
location,” Lawrence says.
After a few producers are identified for the program, he says they will be audited
by the USDA to ensure requirements are being met.
“We are really still in the pilot phase,” Lawrence says.
“We are doing this to learn. We’re trying to get a handful of producers who qualify
or are willing to make changes in order to qualify for the project.
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“Once we have a small group approved by USDA, we will look to increase the
number of producers.”
Although many producers might meet the feeding and genetic requirements, they
might lack the necessary paperwork, Lawrence says.
“A lot of it is going to have to do more with actual documents and records. They
are going to need that documentation.”
Custom feedlots, for example, could be able to meet the certification
requirements sooner than others, Lawrence says.
“Those that work closely with customers and can document the feed use may
already meet most of the requirements,” he says.
Producers who use artificial insemination or only Angus bulls need to be able to
provide proof of the necessary genetics, Lawrence adds.
When producers are identified and verified by the USDA, Lawrence says the
Iowa-80 beef will be test marketed with consumers.
“Our main goal is to have a branded product producers can participate in, and
our second goal is to learn as much as we can and even write a manual that
others may follow,” he says.
“As we move toward branded products, you are going to have to be able to back
up your claims with your customers. We will be able to do that with this project.”
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/14/06
Little new in weed control
By Tim Hoskins, Iowa Farmer Today
This coming growing season will see only a few new products or significant label
changes for chemical weed control.
“It is a pretty stagnant year,” says Bob Hartzler, Iowa State University weed
specialist.
One of the new herbicides is Impact 2.8SC from AMVAC. Impact is a postemergent to control broadleaf weed and some grasses in corn.
“It is a good product, but it is hard to project where it will fit in the market,”
Hartzler says.
The Impact label is raising some concerns in the weed community. The label has
an 18-month restriction on soybeans in Northern Iowa.
That raises some questions about possible carryover effects.
“They are being cautious, which is good.” Hartzler says. “In our field plots, we
have not noticed any (carryover) problem.”
Hartzler says Impact is in the same class as Callisto and Balance.
Researchers have seen limited and short-term carryover from Callisto and
Balance but nothing affecting soybean yields.
Callisto’s label has been changed, clearing it for pre- and post-emergence control
in sweet corn. Lexar and Lumax labels are expected to be cleared for preemergent weed control in sweet corn before the 2006 season.
SelectMax has a new formulation that does not require additional adjuvant when
used with a “loaded” glyphosate product, Hartzler says.
It means some ease for farmers wanting to control volunteer Roundup Ready
corn in Roundup Ready soybean fields.
“It simplifies things,” he says of the new formulation.
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Radius is another new product. It is a mix of Define and Epic.
Hartzler says 15 ounces of Radius will provide the same control as 15 oz. of
Define 4SC and 1.7 oz. of Balance Pro.
This is a different ratio used in Epic. He says the ratio change is to provide better
grass control.
Resolve is a new herbicide for short-term control in foxtails and certain broadleaf
weeds.
The label is cleared as a post-emergent in corn up to a foot tall. It is expected to
be cleared for pre-emergent use for 2006.
Hartzler says Resolve is trying to compete with a similar chemical, such as Dual.
The price will be a factor, he adds.
The product does not provide full-season protection by itself and will be used with
other strategies.
“Resolve could be good enough,” he says.
Milestone is a herbicide for pastures and CRP land. It is strong on composite
family weeds, such as thistles, sunflower and cocklebur.
It has a shorter residual than picloram (Tordon) or clopyralid (Stinger).
Another herbicide is Propel, a private brand offering that has the same active
ingredient as Outlook.
There are other new formulations of herbicides.
Boundary 6.5 EC is a new formulation. Hartzler says the new formulation
reduces the active ingredient for better handling.
Gramoxone Inteon 2S was developed to reduce human toxicity when ingested.
Graamozone Max is a 3 pounds/gallon formulation.
Therefore, the rates also changed to maintain the same amount of active
ingredient per acre.
The last change is Synchrony STS 28.4 DG. The old Synchrony STS was a 42
percent dispressable granule.
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/14/06
Aflatoxin find may have ramifications for
farmers
By Tim Hoskins, Iowa Farmer Today
CEDAR RAPIDS -- The effects of aflatoxin found in a shipment of U.S. corn in
Japan could trickle back to some Eastern Iowa farmers.
Japan recently found the toxin in a shipment of U.S. corn. Since then, it has
tested for the toxin, Charles Hurburgh, a grain quality specialist with Iowa
State University, said during a Crop Advantage Series here.
Aflatoxin is produced from the growth of the fungus, aspergillus flavus, on corn
and other crops.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might get more stringent with alfatoxin
rules after the Japanese discovery.
“Somebody will get audited by the FDA,” Hurburgh warned.
He said regulations require farmers who know they have aflatoxin-tainted corn to
document they sold it to a proper channel.
When it is known corn has alfatoxin, tracking the grain becomes required. It also
considered an “adulterant” and can not be blended.
The U.S. standard for alfatoxin is 20 parts per billion (ppb), which is equal to
seven kernels of corn in a rail car, Hurburgh said. Any corn under the 20 ppb can
be used in exports and for human use.
The standard in Japan is 20 ppb; in Europe and Mexico, it is only 10 ppb.
If a sample tests above 20 ppb, it can used in different animal feeds. Corn below
100 ppb alfatoxin level can be feed to breeding animals.
Corn with less than 200 ppb alfatoxin can be fed to finishing swine. The grain can
be fed to finishing cattle if it has less than 300 ppb.
Hurburgh said not to feed corn with aflatoxin to dairy cattle.
“The dairy industry is testing,” he noted.
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Dogs and cats are more sensitive to aflatoxin than humans. Therefore, he
cautioned pet owners to be cautious, particularly if the pet food contains “corn
screenings.”
One pet food company has issued recalls due to alfatoxin found in its products.
Overall, alfatoxin is treated differently than in previous years.
Some crop-insurance settlements were paid to farmers who had alfatoxin in their
corn.
The sampling methods to determine the amount of damage varied from company
to company, sometimes within companies.
Hurburgh said farmers could be audited by the FDA if they took a crop insurance
settlement for alfatoxin.
Although the USDA is unlikely to forward a farmer’s name who received a crop
insurance settlement, the information would likely be given to the FDA if the
agency requested it from the USDA, he said.
In addition, Hurburgh said the ethanol industry is starting to tighten its
requirements on alfatoxin.
Recently, the Cargill plant in Eddyville reduced the allowable limit of alfatoxin
from 20 ppb to 10 ppb. The tighter requirements are partly due to dried distillers
grains (DDGs).
The ethanol process increases the concentration of alfatoxin four times as the
starch is removed and other parts of the kernel are kept for the DDGs.
Hurburgh reasoned: While there is plenty of DDGs for feed, why give livestock
feeders a reason not to purchase the product?
This year, there were problems with the way fields were sampled for crop
insurance purposes, he said. One of the main problems was the sampling
method was inconsistent.
“Field samples will never be as good as bin samples,” he said.
In addition, some field samples were taken based on visual inspection by either
the producer or crop insurance adjuster.
Random testing of strips is better than visual choice when field sampling,
Hurburgh said.
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He said he plans to work toward improvements on crops sampled for alfatoxin.
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/14/06
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/21/06
SCN yield trials provide tips on nematode
control
By Tim Hoskins, Iowa Farmer Today
Greg Gebhart checks soybean plants in the SCN screening process in a
greenhouse at Iowa State University. Gebhart screens SCN-resistant soybean
varieties at ISU.
Farmers can use this year’s Iowa State University’s soybean cyst nematode
(SCN) yield trials to learn a few lessons about managing the tiny pest.
Greg Gebhart, who helps run ISU’s yield trials, says the effects of SCN were
seen in this year’s yield trials.
In the Central district at the yield trial, near Cambridge, the test was conducted in
a field that had been planted to corn for seven years prior to the test. The site
tested to have 1,815 SCN eggs per half cup of soil in spring before planting.
In the fall, the locations planted with the soybean varieties susceptible to SCN
had 5,091 eggs per half cup of soil.
Gebhart says that site was a good one because it shows the number of the SCN
in the soil and how long they can last.
That site also shows SCN management can last several years in the future.
At that test site, the conventional test showed a 4.9-bushel benefit to planting
SCN-resistant varieties. That was close to the overall state average of about 5
bu. per acre benefit of planting SCN- resistant soybean varieties.
While soybean cyst nematodes can damage soybeans under any environment,
the effects can be greatest in dry conditions.
In the West Central yield trial site near Jefferson, the Roundup Ready yield trial
also showed how resistant SCN varieties can slow the reproduction.
In the spring, the average number of SCN eggs per half cup of soil was 3,713. In
the fall, where the SCN-susceptible varieties were planted, the number of SCN
eggs per half cup of soil was 19,250.
In the fall, the SCN-resistant varieties had an average of 2,915 SCN eggs per
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half cup of soil.
“It shows SCN resistance can reduce the reproduction of SCN,” he says.
That same site and test had one of the greatest differences in yields.
The susceptible variety had an average yield of 44. 9 bu./acre. The resistant
varieties in the same test had a average yield of 52.3 bu./acre.
In general, the SCN yield trials showed higher SCN reproduction levels in drier
areas and lower levels in wetter areas of the state.
To manage SCN, Gebhart says farmers should monitor nematode levels in their
fields. Then plant a non-host crop if levels are moderate to high.
When the field is rotated to soybeans, plant an SCN-resistant variety, he advises.
When the field returns to beans in future years, the resistant source should be
changed to avoid selecting for an SCN population that is not affected.
The Northern district, which had sites at Albert City, Mason City and
Fredericksburg, had an average difference of SCN count by 5,380 eggs per half
cup of soil.
The average resistant yield was 54.9 bu./acre, while the district-average
susceptible yield was 49. 2 bu./acre.
In the Central district, which included sites at Jefferson, Cambridge and
Shellsburg, the yield difference was 5.7 bu./acre. The average SCN-resistant
variety was 52.1 bu./acre, and the average yield for the SCN susceptible variety
was 46.3 bu./acre.
The difference in the number of SCN eggs between the resistant and susceptible
varieties was 10,492 eggs per half cup of soil.
The Southern district test sites — Lenox, Melrose and Crawfordsville — had a
yield difference of 4.8 bu./acre. The average yield for the SCN-resistant variety
was 57.6 bu./acre, and the average yield of a susceptible variety was 52. 8
bu./acre.
The SCN-susceptible variety had 5,374 more eggs per half cup of soil than
where the resistant variety was planted.
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/21/06
Reducing emissions is air-monitoring project
goal
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/21/06
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Iowa Farmer Today
01/21/06
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KRVO, MO
1/23/06
Organic Greenhouse
By Danielle Wagner
(MAHARISHI VEDIC CITY) Green is the theme at a 15,000 square foot, certified
organic greenhouse near Fairfield, Iowa.
"There are specific documents that need to be filled out and at least three years
of not using chemicals on the land," said Maharishi Vedic City Director of
Economic Development Kent Boyum.
Now mostly lettuce fills the rows, but in February they'll plant cucumbers,
peppers and tomatoes.
During certain times of the year, as much as two to four tons of produce leaves
the greenhouse.
"I believe and there's a lot of other people that believe our produce is tastier,"
said Farm Manager Dean Goodale.
Goodale said according to lab tests, organic produce contains more nutrients.
That's because not using chemicals allows more minerals and sugars into the
plant.
"People who say there's no difference in the crops the way their grown, and it's
simply not true, and there are people who appreciate that and that really is our
niche," said Goodale.
A lot of what's grown here stays in the Fairfield area, but the greenhouse also
ships to stores and restaurants in Iowa City and Chicago.
This greenhouse practices in-soil production.
Goodale says typically in-soil production can create disease in the soil, but that
can be prevented.
He also said organic growing helps prevent pests.
"Once you get the health of the crop and the quality of the crop to a certain point,
the pests don't really take an interest in the crops," said Goodale.
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The greenhouse has received several grants from the USDA including two
energy efficiency grants for wind turbines and solar panels.
Organic farming is more intensive and expensive, but those in the industry claim
the end product is worth the extra effort.
If you'd like to learn more about organic farming, the Iowa State University
Extension is offering a workshop on January 26th. The program is from 9 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. at the Hotel Ottumwa, and the cost is $20 at the door.
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Marines.com
1/20/06
Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Cheerleading is normally found in high school gyms and football fields, but as the
basketball season revs up at the Combat Center, the Cheer/Dance team
prepares to boosts spirits across the courts here.
This year, forty girls between the ages 7 and 12 are scheduled to cheer and
perform dance routines during the Combat Center’s youth and mens basketball
games throughout the season.
The girls will prepare for a scheduled guest appearance at the Staples Center
when the Los Angeles Clippers meet the Washington Wizards March 25.
The girls are split into two groups by age. Half of the girls are in the 7- to 8-yearold group, led by Sheila Keim. The other half is in the 9- to 12-year-old group, led
by Nicole Brown.
The two coaches have years of experience in cheer and dance, but have never
led such a large group of girls, said Keim.
“We were approached by a representative from the Marine Corps Community
Center about coaching the girls,” she said. “When we saw the turnout of girls, we
felt overwhelmed at first, but we’re very optimistic about the whole thing.”
The coaches put the routine together before the practices started in the
beginning of this month. They decided that during the performance at the Staples
Center, the girls would perform to the song “Shake Your Tail Feather,” by the
Cheetah Girls from the “Chicken Little” soundtrack. The girls are scheduled to
perform as one big squad in a three-minute routine during halftime.
“The song is really popular among the girls,” said Keim. “They’re really excited
about the performance.”
The girls practice twice per week at the Community Center, an hour per group.
They spend half the hour working on cheer fundamentals and the other half on
dance.
The girls are now learning there is a lot more to cheer/dance than the routine,
said Keim.
“We have to strengthen their core so it is easier to perform the moves in the
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routine,” she said. “At the beginning of each practice, we stretch and do a small
number of calisthenics fit for their ages. We have them do five to 10 push-ups,
and 20 sit-ups, which is good for the jumps they will perform.”
Starting physical activities at a young age enables young girls to get a sense of
how the body works, develop different learning styles and focus skills, said Keim.
Parents know there is a lot more the girls get than dance moves and cheers, said
Kimberly Tidwell, mother of eight-year-old Muranda Tidwell.
“Its good for her confidence,” she said. “Also, by keeping active, kids stay out of
trouble. I like to use extra activities to push my children to get good grades. They
know if they don’t get good grades, they can’t participate in their choice of
activities.”
Although Muranda is young, it is important to instill her parents’ beliefs early and
the importance of excelling in school, said Tidwell.
“I like to dance because it’s a fun activity and you get to express a lot,” said
Muranda, who recently wrote an essay in school about the cheer and dance
team she’s so proud of.
According to the Iowa State University Web site, ISU conducted a study about
extra-curricular activities and concluded that children involved learn characterbuilding lessons, lifelong skills and social skills. The study goes on to say extracurricular activities might even save some at-risk students who might otherwise
drop out of school.
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Monmouth Daily review Atlas, IL
1/23/06
United States poet laureate makes visit to
Burlington
By Matt Smolensky
BURLINGTON - The community of Burlington, Iowa hosted a special guest on
Saturday, as a large crowd converged on the Burlington Golf Club to hear a
poetry reading by the Poet Laureate of the United States, Ted Kooser.
In what was the first visit by any poet laureate in history to Burlington, Kooser
entertained those attending the reading with 22 of his works, including a fairly
even mix of his older poems as well as some newer pieces.
The author of 10 collections of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize winning
"Delights and Shadows," Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, in 1939. He would
eventually become the first poet laureate from the Great Plains region of the
United States. He earned a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University in
1962, later securing a master's degree from the University of Nebraska in 1968.
Over the years, Kooser has earned two National Endowment for the Arts
fellowships, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, the James Boatright
Prize, and a Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. He is also a visiting
professor in the English department of the University of Nebraska.
According to the author, and evidenced by his selections in Burlington on
Saturday, Kooser's work often focuses on the ordinary. Common themes among
his work include a large number of poetic portraits of randomly observed
individuals (for example, "Student," "The Rollerblader," and "Skater"), in-depth
and original descriptions of ordinary household items ("The Spiral Notebook,"
"Telescope," and "A Deck of Pornographic Playing Cards"), and unusual look at
common activities (for instance, "The Urine Specimen").
"The ordinary is really quite remarkable," said Kooser of his preference for such
subjects, "I'm very interested in the weight of small gestures."
In addition to his readings, Kooser also took the time to speak to the audience
about being the poet laureate, as well as offering his comments on poetry in
general and taking the time for a brief question and answer session at the end of
the presentation.
"Writing is a matter of communication," said Kooser, who offered an indictment of
the current trends of poetry, saying, "We [poets] have lost a sense of the
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audience."
Through his focus on everyday activities and commonplace sights and sounds,
Kooser explained that he is trying to bring poetry back to the readers and was
frequently critical of other modern poetry, calling much of it "cryptic" and
suggesting that the trend in poetry has been toward the unintelligible.
According to Kooser, the critical community has not always been kind to his idea
of poetry.
"They [the critics] are a little uneasy about me," he said, "I've had a couple
vicious attacks on me by reviewers. They don't like poetry that anyone can
understand. I've stopped reading anything written about me."
Kooser described a poem in general as "a perfect piece of order in a small
space," adding that, "When a poem is finished, everything is in its perfect place,"
even if some of it ends up there through "a lucky accident."
Kooser's visit to Burlington was sponsored by the Society of Great River Poets,
and was funded through grants and contributions from the Witte Foundation, the
Burlington Fine Arts League, Great River Medical Center, Burlington Bank &
Trust, F&M Bank and Trust, Comfort Suites, The Drake, Big Muddy's, Brueck
Construction, The Burlington Golf Club, and several anonymous donors.
The U.S. poet laureate is a one-year position (though most appointees have held
the job longer) appointed by the Librarian of Congress, a post currently held by
James H. Billington. Kooser has received the appointment in both 2004 and
2005.
The title of poet laureate has been in existence since 1937, when the
appointment went to Joseph Auslander. Famous U.S. poet laureates of the past
include Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Frost, and Robert Fitzgerald.
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Newstarget.com, Taiwan
1/23/06
Iowa State student designs solar handbag
The solar handbag can power a cellphone or any small device that uses a USB
port because it is covered with laminated solar panels. The student hopes to put
it on the market for under $300.
Iowa State University student Joe Hynek, and professor Mark Bryden hold solar
purses designed by Hynek.
The 27-year-old mechanical engineering doctoral student at Iowa State
University has designed a solar handbag that can power a cellphone or other
small electronic device through the power of the sun.
He hopes eventually to market the Solarjo Power Purse to environmentally
conscious consumers who want to reduce electricity use, all while looking good.
"I'm hoping this product raises awareness of the capabilities of solar power and
will reduce e-junk," he said during a campus interview.
He drew on his experience at Iowa Thin Film Technologies, where he worked as
an intern in 2001.
The black, rectangular purse is covered with laminated solar panels, which
resemble a very thin camera film separated by white lines.
Mike Coon, chief operating officer with Iowa Thin Film Technologies, said the
company has developed its products to integrate with fabric and be capable of
charging electronic devices.
"It's a great application for leveraging our lightweight solar technology for
portable use," he said of the purse.
"Much of life today is in the niches, between things instead of in the main field ..."
Three patent disclosures have been submitted on various aspects of the design,
he said, adding that there's a couple more in the works.
A female undergraduate student has been carrying the purse around campus to
test its capabilities.
"It gets me a lot of attention if I carry it," Hynek said with a chuckle.
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Hynek also is getting a quick introduction to the business world, looking for
investors and manufacturers and deciding how many handbags he could
produce for the first batch to be sold.
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Quad City Times, IA
1/21/06
Victor listed among top financial advisers
James Victor, a financial adviser with Smith Barney, has been ranked as one of
the top financial advisers in the nation by Research magazine, Smith Barney
announced.
Victor, a financial columnist for the Quad-City Times, is listed in the “Winner’s
Circle State-by-State” ranking. The list appears in the January supplement to
Research magazine.
Financial writer RJ Shook screened more than 7,000 financial professionals for
his “Winner’s Circle.” The rankings are based on criteria related to ethical
standards, professionalism and success.
Victor, 59, of Davenport, has been at Smith Barney for about 32 years, with 33
years in the industry. As a part of the Victor/Kraft Group at the firm, he provides
individual investors and high net worth clients with investment and advisory
services focusing on wealth management.
A graduate of Iowa State University, with a bachelor’s in industrial
administration, he is a member of Smith Barney’s Director’s Council.
He has written a column for the Times since 1985. For the past 16 years, he also
has been a financial commentator for KWQC.
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Saturday Evening Post
January/February 2006
The Tip Of The Iceberg
Will icebergs be the answer to the world’s growing thirst for
potable water? The author of Man of La Mancha believes his
long-ago vision is no longer an impossible dream.
One of the lasting results of the Titanic disaster was the agreement, in
1914, by 16 North Atlantic nations to establish the International Ice Patrol to
look out for icebergs in the North Atlantic shipping lanes. Nowadays, the
patrol uses ships and airplanes equipped with radar, underwater sonar
equipment, and the latest forecasting technology to log all icebergs and
report their existence to every ship in the area. Many lives have been saved
as a result of this patrol.
By Dale Wasserman
Synopsis: There can never be more water on earth, and of all that exists, only a
tiny fraction is potable. Of the potable water, much is disappearing, as the levels
of the world’s great inland lakes retreat and as fresh water becomes polluted. At
the same time, water needs are increasing with the rise in world population. In
the U.S., desert cities such as El Paso, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Las
Vegas, Nevada, are drawing up plans to pipe in water over long distances,
competing with other populated areas for precious water resources. Water is a
basic human need, but is it a basic human right? In the conclusion of his article,
Dale Wasserman looks at the emerging answer to that question and a possible
solution to the looming worldwide water crisis.
When a commodity is in short
supply but faced with growing demand, it is inevitable that the price must rise.
Potable water is in short supply. The demand is growing and the price is rising.
What is also inevitable is that business interests will sense profit. In the case of
water supplies, it has already happened that global corporations, more powerful
than local governments, increasingly dominate the business, operating
waterworks at near-monopoly rates proportionate to their size and power.
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Providing water to communities has traditionally been a local affair, run by small
local companies or cooperatives fundamentally nonprofit in nature—which has
made them vulnerable to being bought up by the handful. This is precisely what
the great corporations have been doing, with the result that the water supply of
entire countries has been corralled into ownership by consortiums, which control
the supply and dictate the price.
The price, of course, goes nowhere but up.
The case of Bolivia is currently an example; price hikes have stirred unrest and
outright rebellion. The people of Bolivia cannot survive without the water, nor can
they pay the prices imposed by the foreign corporations that have bought control
of the sources. The situation has already provoked violence and deaths; much of
the population has taken to the streets battling police and soldiers in what the
people are calling La Guerra de Agua—the Water War. The national government
has found it necessary to impose martial law.
The entity, which the people of
Bolivia are fighting, is a consortium dominated by a company based in the United
States: the Bechtel Corporation, whose directors include a former Secretary of
State, George P. Shultz. But this is a bit unusual; the waterworks of the world are
generally in the hands of a trio of European companies which dominate the field.
One of them is Suez, of France. Another is Vivendi Environment, also of France;
Vivendi now runs over 8,000 water systems in more than 130 countries. Suez
owns systems in 130 countries; one of those countries is the United States, and
one of those systems is that of Atlanta, Georgia. But in all likelihood the largest of
the three is RWE (Rheinisch-Westfalische-Elektrizitatswerk-Aktiengesellschaft) of
Germany, whose tentacles spread far and wide and produce astonishing profit. A
recent headline on the financial page of the London Times: “RWE shares post
double digit gain.”
The biggest American player is, of course, Bechtel. Other
corporations, however, are joining the parade. Among them are General Electric,
ITT Industries, Siemens AG, Tyco International Ltd., and the Danaher
Corporation.
Bolivia may be an extreme case, but it is not an exception. Most
Third World countries find themselves in a similar situation: corporations have
bought control of their supply in the global water business that thereby controls
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the availability and the price.
According to the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, “Water is the last infrastructure frontier for
private investors.” Obviously, those capable of such investment have taken note.
Consequently, we now have an interesting paradox: a substantial part of the
earth’s population cannot afford the one utility that is absolutely necessary to
sustain life. The battle for control of that utility is still in its early stages, but its
implications are daily becoming clearer.
Almost three fourths of all the fresh
water in the world is locked up in the polar ice caps. It has been accumulating
there for the past three million years—snowfall adding successive strata, which
compress into ice and form the purest, pollution-free form of water on earth.
About one eighth of this is in the Greenland ice cap. Responding to global
warming, its glaciers are melting at a surprising rate, pouring rivers of fresh water
into the sea, which is, unsurprisingly, rising. This is the threat that movies are
playing upon: that the rising sea will eventually overwhelm New York and a host
of coastal cities in both hemispheres. By inference, it will drown all of
Florida.
Well, yes, it probably will. But with the plentitude of other threats, the
most horrendous of which are coming from mankind itself, it seems foolish to
worry overmuch about this one.
Greenland bergs, which calve off the glaciers
where they meet the sea, are mountainous in shape, with four fifths of their mass
under water. They have a tendency to tip over, to tumble as melting alters their
balance, and in tumbling to spawn outlaw waves similar to tsunamis. Such a flipflop would account for the otherwise mysterious wave which, in March 2005,
came out of nowhere to pummel a cruise ship, terrify its passengers, and inflict
damage. Of course these bergs have an even greater capacity for damage;
witness the one calved off the famous Ilulíssat Glacier which, in 1912, floated into
the northern sea lanes and brought about the death of a ship called
Titanic.
The bergs of the Antarctic are very different beasts. They are born of
ice shelves, not glaciers, and they are not mountainous but flat topped; indeed,
they look much like the mesas of my home state, Arizona. In size, too, they are
commonly compared with states—Antarctica bergs have been noted as
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comparable to Rhode Island, Delaware, or even Connecticut.
The Antarctic ice
cap contains two thirds of all the fresh water on earth. Now there’s a fact worth
repeating: the Antarctic ice cap contains two thirds of all the fresh water on earth.
It is also the purest water on earth; its snow strata were laid down before man
had opportunity to pollute; indeed, much of it was there before man in his present
form even existed. Word of its unique quality reached the civilized world in 1773
when Captain Cook took note of it and collected 15 tons of fresh ice water for his
ship, Resolution. To this day, cubes of Antarctic Ice are the caviar of the
commodity.
Trillions of tons of ice drift north from Antarctica each year and
simply melt away. Several years ago, a flat-topped berg measuring 90 by 35
kilometers detached from an ice shelf and drifted along the Antarctic Peninsula
for many months. It was estimated to contain enough fresh water to supply
Washington, D.C., for several thousand years.
In the year 2000, a berg
somewhat larger than the state of Connecticut, designated by the maritime
authorities as B-15 and nicknamed “Godzilla,” broke loose from Antarctica’s
smaller pieces designated respectively as B-21 and B-22. (These fragments
were merely the size of Rhode Island.)
In its virgin state, B-15 was estimated
to measure approximately 4,000 square miles. No accurate measure of the water
it contained was ever calculated, but by fair estimate it would equal all the water
in Lake Michigan and possibly even that of Lake Superior. By any measure, it
would have quenched the thirst of the United States for a good long time.
The
Antarctic contains 90 percent of the world’s ice. In fact, the ice cap on Antarctica,
three miles thick, is so heavy that it presses down the continent and warps the
world into a slightly pear shape. If the land-based portion of Western Antarctica
were to melt, the oceans would rise by at least 20 feet. If all of Antarctica were to
melt, the oceans would rise by 50 feet...or possibly more? We don’t really know;
on this subject we enter a fog of speculation. Nobody knows. Possibly that’s for
the best.
What is worth consideration: if the Antarctic has a huge supply of
fresh, pure water which is going to waste—and if the rest of the world is suffering
from a growing shortage of the stuff—why don’t we get the two together? Make a
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plan? Strike a balance? Solve a simple-minded equation to the benefit of
practically everybody?
The paradox has been noted, and consideration has
moved from the realm of science fiction to sober studies of practicality. There
have even been certain halfhearted stabs at resolving it. In the 1970s, a Saudi
Arabian prince announced a plan to tow icebergs from the Antarctic to his
homeland in the expectation that this liquid bonanza would cause the Arabian
desert to bloom and to triple his nation’s food supply. After great fanfare the
project faded when, upon commissioning studies, the Saudis found that their
plan, which they envisioned as a fleet of giant oceangoing tugs towing a berg and
using 88 to 100 million gallons of diesel fuel, wouldn’t pay off economically. Even
with the Saudis navel deep in oil, it would be too costly.
The Saudi attempt
made one thing clear: towing an iceberg was the wrong way to go about it.
Subsequently, the Saudis, along with the Arab Emirates, bent all their efforts
toward desalinization of seawater. It was an effort which worked and which still
does—but only on a very limited scale and at a prohibitive cost per gallon.
For
a truly scientific run at the idea, we must look to a man who was authentically
qualified and of impeccable credits in his field. Before Joseph A. Connell
developed a singleminded passion for moving bergs from the Antarctic to
California, he had demonstrated a talent for imaginative inventions. He had, for
instance, built a plant to recover methane gas from garbage at a landfill on the
Palos Verdes Peninsula in California. After the laughter died down, the voters
observed something interesting: it worked—and an olfactory nuisance had been
converted to an asset.
Further, Connell had invented the Cryostart, a system
for starting jet engines, still in use at airports around the world. Additionally, he
held more than 80 worldwide patents in the fields of energy, water and
cryogenics. But in later life, when Connell had no need of more money or fame,
he turned all of his considerable talents to the problems of bringing icebergs from
the Antarctic to the lands needing them most. In his hands, difficult problems
became amenable to solution, and he set about answering questions and
outlining realities.
Of the many problems raised by the proposition, the most
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important, by far, was that of propulsion. By what means could a berg a thousand
times larger than the largest ship ever built be moved and steered? To this
Connell set a firm condition: “The iceberg must be self-propelled,” he said. “It
must use no ships and no fuel.”
No fuel? For this we must reach back to an
inventor of an era earlier than Connell’s, the 19th century French physicist,
Nicolas Carnot. It was Carnot, a pioneer in thermodynamics, who observed that
differences in temperature generate energy and devised a system of heat
exchangers which used no fuel but were capable of running turbines.
This is
not the place to expatiate upon how, exactly, the system works. It is enough to
say that it did work. Did it work well enough to perform the task at hand? Not at
that stage of development. But 30 years have passed, and technology has been
advancing in great gulps. Problems raised in the utilization of bergs may today
have answers which were unavailable to Connell. No systematic attempt has
been made to find them.
Connell had been thinking small for reasons of
practicality and penury. However, he made a precise proposal: he would select a
berg about the size of Manhattan and install a crew of 40 to 50 upon its flat top,
plus all the equipment they would need for living and for operation of their vessel.
Such equipment would include solar-heated living quarters, a helipad, and a
monorail to carry personnel from stern to stern. He budgeted the enterprise at
$65 million and applied for a loan to the World Bank, which had earmarked $1
billion to improve water resources in needy countries. Sadly, he was overtaken
by death before he could implement his plan. But he had shown how it could be
done, and had pointed the way for others with similar ambitions.
What is
notable about Connell’s plan is that he envisioned it solely as an aid to
agriculture, which in turn would dramatically increase food supply in the region
selected. In the case of the first berg, the water was to go to vast agricultural
works in Baja California. In Connell’s time the shortage of drinking water had not
yet approached current dimensions, nor actually even been clearly
foreseen.
Time has imposed a difference. In the time that has passed since
Connell planned and plotted, there is no longer thought of accessing the
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Antarctic for water to stimulate agriculture. Indeed, agriculture is now seen as a
villain in the misuse of water: the far greater proportion of drinkable water from
aquifers goes to the cultivation of sorghum and soybeans. The great Ogallala
Aquifer, supplying eight states of the American Midwest, is an example. Depleted
by 200,000 wells sucking water for the fields, this underground “sixth Great Lake”
would require 50 times its present rate of recharging merely to remain
stable.
Nineteen seventy-seven seems to have been the year in which interest
in the harvesting of Antarctic icebergs peaked. In that year an extraordinary
conference was called, to take place at Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa.
The formal name of the conclave was “First International Conference and
Workshops on Iceberg Utilization for Fresh Water Production, Weather
Modification and Other Applications.” The conference was sponsored by,
among others, the National Science Foundation, the King Faisal Foundation, and
the U.S. Coast Guard. The names of the scientists attending were a roll call of
fame in the field. Some 40 countries were represented, among them Australia,
Canada, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Libya, Monaco,
Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, United Kingdom, and the United
States. The manifesto of the conference read, in part, as follows: “In a planet of
plenty, people have started to realize that a time of scarcity is approaching. The
earth’s resources of energy, fresh water and minerals are depleting at an
accelerating rate. Human consumption is doubling again and again....
Consequently, scientists and engineers are in active search of
solutions....
“The vast amount of fresh water and energy stored in icebergs
has stirred the curiosity of those of us who like to believe that everything has
some ultimate use.... Until recently the efforts to explore the feasibility of using
icebergs as water sources has been limited to inventions, to appraisals and to
brainstorming. The peculiarity of the concept has inspired the imagination of the
expert and the layperson alike. The thrill of the subject matter has attracted the
comic writer and the serious investigator. The novelty of the topic has stimulated
the innovative ability of many entrepreneurs....”
The findings of the conference
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were gathered into a volume of 760 pages which, with meticulous attention to
detail, including numerous photos and drawings, explored every aspect of
corralling, powering and steering Antarctic icebergs to needy destinations.
A
generation later, the question arises: why hasn’t it happened? Why haven’t the
aims of the Conference been accomplished? Because of technical difficulties? Of
course, they are enormous. But when did technical difficulties ever paralyze
American ingenuity? Or possibly the cost? Indubitably high. But compared to the
billions which cities have earmarked to reach out for water which, in all likelihood,
isn’t even there...?
Of perhaps we are awaiting a crisis, one of the sort which
frightens people into action. There are hints that we may not have to wait much
longer.
In the meantime, those state-sized “Godzillas” of fresh pure water
circle the Antarctic continent endlessly until they disintegrate and are lost forever.
Article reprinted from the January/February 2006 issue of The Saturday Evening
Post magazine. Read more at www.satevepost.org, © Copyright 2005 Benjamin
Franklin Literary & Medical Society, All rights reserved
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Sioux City Journal, IA
01/19/06
ISU researchers study Iowans' opinions of
windbreaks
By Nicole Paseka Journal intern
Brian McNaughton walks Wednesday through a windbreak he planted on land he
owns along U.S. Highway 20 west of Lawton, Iowa. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
Last summer, Brian McNaughton spent 20 hours each week planting and
watering a windbreak on his property near Lawton, Iowa.
He plans to build a house nearby the trees as the windbreak matures.
"The problem is people build a house and don't realize the wind blows out here,"
McNaughton said, eyeing the lines of young evergreen trees he planted last
summer.
They go by many names. In Iowa, they are usually known as "windbreaks." In
other states, they are sometimes called "shelterbelts."
But whatever name they go by, windbreaks prevent soil erosion, provide a haven
for wildlife, bolster crop yields, protect buildings from wind and can even improve
the quality of life for people who live near them.
"If you don't have a shelterbelt, the productivity of the soil is slowly being eroded
away," said Carl Mize, associate professor of forestry at Iowa State
University. A windbreak is a barrier of trees and shrubs planted in rows along
the edge of a field or house.
ISU researchers are studying Iowans' opinions of these "shelterbelts."
Questionnaires were recently mailed to 3,000 randomly selected Iowans.
Half were sent to farm operators and half to non-farmers, said Robert Grala, a
former graduate student of Mize's who is now an assistant professor at
Mississippi State University.
"We'll see how people value windbreaks and if they think they're aesthetically
pleasing," Grala said.
The study is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
National Research Initiative and will be completed by mid-2007.
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The researchers said they will use the information they collect to assist
landowners and public agencies in preparing better windbreak designs and
developing better policies about windbreak establishment.
The study concentrates mainly on Iowans' perceptions of windbreaks -- "how
much shelterbelts are worth or not worth," Mize said.
"What we're hoping to do is get information we can give to policymakers," Mize
said. "If they become serious about encouraging the development of shelterbelts,
this could give them information as to what they could do to encourage farmers
to develop shelterbelts."
McNaughton is not a farmer. He planted a windbreak for environmental as well
as practical reasons. He had already installed a Riparian strip near a creek on
the property and planted several acres of wildflowers.
"This whole thing is about a wildlife refuge, so when I put my house out there,
there are all kinds of animals and birds," McNaughton said.
He said the windbreak, made up of rows of evergreen trees, deciduous trees, red
dogwood and giant lilacs, will protect his house from the wind and save him
money on energy bills.
McNaughton is not sure when he will break ground on the house because he
recently broke his leg while working on a "practice house" on the north side of
Lawton.
McNaughton is just happy the wildlife around his home will have a safe haven.
"The birds better like me because they've got a place to live," he said.
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Springfield State Journal Register, IL
1/21/06
Coming together
By Chris Young
Wading into the cold, clear streams of far northeast Iowa puts Jene Hughes in
touch with the very roots of his sport.
"The limestone spring creeks are very much like the English chalk streams that
gave birth to the sport of fly-fishing," says Hughes, who teaches English at Iowa
State University and is the author of "Iowa Trout Streams, A Guide to the
Streams and Rivers of Northeastern Iowa's Bluff Country."
Those spring-fed creeks also are links to the region's geologic past. During the
last glacial period, the glaciers bypassed a section of northeast Iowa, southeast
Minnesota, southwest Wisconsin and northwest Illinois.
This region is called the Driftless Area, referring to the lack of glacial deposits
called drift. Since massive sheets of ice didn't bulldoze the area, streams
continued to cut deeper and deeper, sometimes below the water table. In those
places, water trickles out of the limestone and feeds the creeks with cold, clear
water.
And that cold water can support trout, including brook trout, a native species.
Today, any angler or conservationist, like Hughes, with a special connection to
the unique landscape of the Driftless Area can get involved in its preservation.
That's because last December, Trout Unlimited and various partners received a
multistate conservation grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Sport Fish
Restoration Fund. The grant of $192,500, spread over two years, will help
coordinate planning and restoration in the four-state area through various
partners including Trout Unlimited, the Fish and Wildlife Service, four state
departments of natural resources and others. It is one of four pilot projects that
are part of the National Fish Habitat Initiative. The idea is to establish federal
funding dedicated to restoring the nation's important fisheries.
Partners also will be working with an additional $263,000 from the Natural
Resources Conservation Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Trout Unlimited says wide-scale restoration in the region will provide economic
and environmental benefits to local communities.
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While the Driftless Area is geologically unique, it still is beset by some of the
same problems plaguing other waterways.
Sedimentation caused by changes in land use, including agriculture, and runoff
from development can threaten the fragile environment.
Hughes says even small habitat improvement projects can pay big dividends, a
point echoed by Trout Unlimited. However, John Welter, a member of Trout
Unlimited’s National Board of Trustees from Eau Claire, Wis., said he believes
coordinated work between all interested parties over entire watersheds can
produce even greater benefits.
“It doesn’t do us any good to treat an ailing stream if we don’t look at the whole
watershed and try to look at the root causes,” Welter says. “Everyone comes in
with their own perspective and once they realize how valuable it is to work
together, they can really expand their vision from their little piece of the puzzle to
the whole watershed.”
Rain falling on upland areas eventually drains into stream valleys. Welter says
that’s why Trout Unlimited is trying to include conservation groups beyond those
concerned with fishing.
“We’re reaching out to other groups like Pheasants Forever and the prairie
enthusiasts,” he says. “A project that is good for sediment control and fisheries
also can be good for birds and the animals that live in those areas.”
“It is absolutely essential for everyone to realize how the parts fit together.”
Welter says the Driftless Area already has benefited from 75 years of
conservation efforts,
accomplishments he says that Trout Unlimited wants to build upon.
He gives the example of the West Fork of the Kickapoo River in Wisconsin, a
river once written off as unable to support trout. It is now listed as one of Trout
Unlimited’s 100 top trout streams in America.
“Trout numbers were low if not nonexistent,” he says of spawning beds and deep
pools that had been drowned by sediment. “We’ve learned that putting our
money into habitat instead of hatcheries ... leads to a lot healthier fishery.”
Hughes tells similar stories about streams in Iowa.
“The conventional wisdom was that Iowa streams were too warm and trout
wouldn’t reproduce,” he says. “Yet we were seeing fingerlings.”
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Hughes says special regulations have helped trout, notably the introduced brown
trout, which have started to reproduce on their own in a few Iowa streams. A few
wild brook trout still persist in a handful of places, Hughes says.
“The streams will sustain it as long as we continue to practice catch-and-release
(in areas where trout are reproducing naturally) and continue to maintain a
stocking program for those who just want to have a fish fry,” he says. “As long as
the naturally reproducing trout are protected, things will be OK. Because the
serious fly fishermen will want to catch wild trout.”
The brook trout, a fish that actually is a species of char, is native to the eastern
United States, where water is clear and cold enough to support them.
“And what we found is we not only established good brown trout habitat, but
when we did, water temperature got cooler as land use improved,” he says. “Now
we’re finding we can support brook trout in a lot of areas of the Driftless.”
“They say you can’t be too rich or too thin, but there may be a time when we
have streams with reproducing trout and a harvest program.”
Hughes says the film “A River Runs Through It,” about trout-fishing brothers in
Montana, “released a lot of pent-up interest” in fly-fishing.
Along with the hundreds of people Hughes says he helped teach the art of flyfishing, a sizable community of anglers exists.
“Without enough citizen support, we wouldn’t be getting the special regulations;
we wouldn’t be getting the conservation support,” Hughes says. “And those
people I’ve taught are all the
people who’ve gone up there to work (on habitat restoration projects).”
Of Trout Unlimited’s 150,000 or so members, just over 11,000 live in the four
states containing the Driftless Area.
“There are TU chapters in areas that don’t have any cold-water streams, like
Chicago,” Welter says. “But they are involved in areas not where they live, but in
areas where they go to fish.”
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The Minnesota Daily, MN
01/20/06
Value rankings omit U
The University’s Morris campus, though, came in ninth in one
category of the national rankings.
By Jamie VanGeest
The University’s Twin Cities campus isn’t a great value, according to Kiplinger’s
magazine.
When the personal finance magazine recently came out with its “100 Best
Values in Public Colleges” list, the school was absent from the rankings.
But another University of Minnesota campus fared better — the Morris campus
came in at No. 55.
For out-of-state tuition, the list ranked the school at No. 9.
“I think (the University’s Morris campus) makes lots of lists as a best buy
because it offers an experience that’s the equivalent in almost every way of a
private liberal arts college at a dramatically lower price,” said the University’s
Morris campus Chancellor Sam Schuman.
The University’s Morris campus is highly selective in admissions and does not
have a need for teaching assistants as their faculty to student ratio is 13:1,
Schuman said.
The University’s Morris campus first-year student Amber Holm said she agreed
that her school should be highly ranked.
Holm said she gets one of the best educations for a good price because Morris
students receive a private school education that isn’t $30,000.
“The town of Morris is really boring, but the school is really good,” Holm said.
Schuman said that when organizations make lists like this, the Morris campus
and the Twin Cities campus aren’t often compared.
Last year, the University’s Morris campus ranked No. 4 for public liberal arts
colleges on a U.S. News & World Report list.
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Rankings mean a lot to those who do well in them, wrote University News
Service director Dan Wolter in an e-mail.
He is very proud of the fact the University’s Morris campus is listed as a great
bargain for students in and out of state, he wrote.
Graduation rates have been an issue for the University’s Twin Cities campus
when it comes to national rankings, but rates have been steadily increasing,
according to Wolter.
Wolter said he views the Twin Cities campus as a great bargain as one of the
best public research universities in the world at an affordable price.
Rather than rankings, Wolter suggested looking at the 30 percent increase in
students applying to the Twin Cities campus as evidence of the school’s quality.
First-year dental student Katie Torscano said she thinks the University’s Twin
Cities campus is worthwhile because it’s cheaper than out-of-state schools and is
close to her home.
Continuing education student Jennifer Kuyava, who has attended the University
since 2000, said she has noticed significant tuition increases since then.
“I think (the University’s Twin Cities campus) is out of reach for many people,
and I have had to make a lot of sacrifices to go here,” Kuyava said.
The University’s Morris campus costs $8,204 per year, and the school doesn’t
charge nonresident tuition.
Tuition and fees for the University’s Twin Cities campus is $8,854 per year for
Minnesota resident undergraduate students. For nonresidents tuition and fees
are $20,484 per year.
The estimated cost for an in-state resident at the University’s Twin Cities
campus is $18,430. For nonresidents who are not part of the reciprocity
agreement, the cost is $30,060, according to financial estimates on the schools’
Web sites.
Other Midwest state schools fared better in the finance magazine’s examination.
Wisconsin made three appearances on the list, with Wisconsin-Madison ranked
at No. 15, Wisconsin-La Crosse at No. 36 and Wisconsin-Eau Claire at No. 69.
Three Iowa schools also made the list. Iowa ranked at No. 47, Iowa State
University of Science and Technology ranked at No. 71 and the magazine
listed Northern Iowa at No. 97.
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According to Kiplinger’s Web site, the list is based on academic quality and
costs. Academic quality counts for two-thirds of the calculated score
The list ranked academic quality based on the percentage of the schools’ firstyear students who scored 600 or higher on the verbal and math components of
the SAT or 24 or higher on the ACT.
The magazine also looked at admission rates, first-year retention rates, student
to faculty ratios, and four- and six-year graduation rates.
KIPLINGER'S TOP 10
The chart below shows the top 10 schools offering the best tuition values as
determined by Kiplinger’s magazine.
SCHOOL
IN-STATE COST
OUT-OF-STATE COST
1. North Carolina-Chapel Hill
$12,029
$25,827
2. Florida
$10,284
$24,412
3. Virginia
$14,522
$31,442
4. College of William and Mary
$14,045
$30,315
5. New College of Florida
$10,628
$26,386
6. Georgia
$11,804
$24,024
7. SUNY at Geneseo
$13,710
$19,970
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8. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
$16,796
$30,882
9. Binghamton University (SUNY)
$14,740
$21,000
10. Washington
$13,356
$27,653
OTHER MIDWEST UNIVERSITIES IN THE TOP 100:
15. Wisconsin-Madison
16. Michigan-Ann Arbor
36. Wisconsin-La Crosse
47. Iowa
55. Minnesota’s Morris campus
69. Wisconsin-Eau Claire
71. Iowa State University of Science and Technology
97. Northern Iowa
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UPI
1/21/06
Gene controls cereal grass architecture
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- A gene in cereal grasses plays an
important role in controlling plant architecture, a team of U.S. scientists reported.
Cereal grasses such as rice, wheat and maize -- which provide most of the
world`s food -- are borne on axillary branches, whose branching patterns dictate
most of the variation in form seen in the grasses.
Maize produces two types of inflorescence -- the tassel, male pollen-bearing
flowers; and the ear, female flowers and site of seed or kernel development. The
tassel forms from the shoot apical meristem after the production of a defined
number of leaves, whereas ears form at the tips of compact axillary branches.
Normal maize ears are unbranched, and tassels have long branches only at their
base.
The ramosa2, or ra2, mutant of maize has increased branching of inflorescences
relative to wild type plants, suggesting that the ra2 gene plays an important role
in controlling inflorescence architecture.
The findings -- by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of California at
Berkeley, Iowa State University, the University of Illinois and Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory in New York -- are published in The Plant Cell.
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Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
1/21/06
Lego event acts as learning vehicle
By EMILY CHRISTENSEN
The computerized machine made of Lego building blocks motored slowly toward
its first destination.
The Hansen Elementary students let out a sigh of relief and cheer as the
machine hit its first mark. But as the machine made its way toward its next goal,
releasing a dolphin from a Lego net, they knew their luck wouldn't hold out. The
machine was going to miss.
"This is kind of frustrating," said sixth-grader Furkan Pecen. "It does it perfectly
one time, and then it doesn't work. On the table you have a 50/50 chance it will
work. If we start it just a little off, it can mess up the whole thing."
The students have put in weeks of work to prepare for today's State of Iowa First,
or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, Lego League
Tournament at Iowa State University. Their Lego robot will compete against
more than 60 other teams from across the state in a field competition that
includes releasing the dolphin, deploying a Lego submarine and cleaning up a
cargo accident. If they win, they could be off to the First Lego League World
Festival in Atlanta's Georgia Dome this April.
A second Cedar Falls team made up of Holmes Junior High students also is
competing in today's competition.
The robots are built using Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System
technology. Dave Easton, an agricultural engineer at John Deere Product
Engineering Center and the Hansen team coach, said the students must create
the robot using only unaltered Lego pieces. After creating the machine the
students then must learn the programming skills used to make the robot run.
Even though sixth-grader Erik Olsen joined the team a little late because of
soccer, he still had time to learn how to program the robot.
Fifth-grader Jordan Pascual said the whole competition has made him look at
Legos in a whole new light.
"The first day the junior high team came in and explained how this worked. I
thought we were just dumping out Legos and making things," he said. "I wish I
had all those gears at home, though."
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The tournament isn't all computer programming and Lego building. Each team
also is responsible for a research-based project. State experts will be on hand to
interview the teams about their topic of choice --- the Hansen students chose
ways to improve destroyed coral reefs --- and another panel will question them
about how teamwork played into their preparation.
Pecen said the group learned just how important it was to be prepared during a
preliminary competition in Cedar Rapids last year. The boys had only just begun
their research project and were interviewed by "a person who really knew his
stuff," said Pecen.
"We lost a lot of points, because we couldn't answer his questions," he added.
But this time they will be ready. Pascual and fifth-grader Raud Kashef said they
put many hours into the project between then and now.
"This time I think we will get a lot of points for our project," Kashef said.
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