SAC CITY, Iowa - Popcorn was once commonly grown by Iowa farmers, and that heritage is part of what's being celebrated this weekend in Sac City, where the World's Largest Popcorn Ball will be made on Saturday.
Rhonda Lines is chief financial officer for Noble Popcorn, which is supplying the raw materials for the big project. Since 1995, she said, giant popcorn balls have been constructed every few years, drawing people from across the state of Iowa and the United States.
"It's just like 'Wow!' I was kind of taken back a little bit," said Lines, "because I thought, you know, 'Who's going to see a popcorn ball?' But there are many people that do this."
She said the goal is to break 2009's 2.5-ton ball and reach three tons this year.
Besides attracting visitors and bringing the community together, the Sac City event helps the local 4-H club. Lines said it's also partly a celebration for a crop that's being grown more and more by family farmers in Iowa.
"Some of the farmers are saying, 'You know what? I'm going to grow popcorn and I'm going to just sell it,'" said Lines. "I think there's a comeback on it."
It's scheduled to take about 12 hours to build the ball at Noble Popcorn in Sac City. Lines said it's truly a hands-on experience.
"I'm anticipating people to come and watch it get built or even participate," she said, "but I also think it'll be an ongoing tourist attraction once we put it back at the museum. And we built a new building for it."
Yes, a new building – part of the Sac City Museum in the center of town. Construction of what could end up being the World's Largest Popcorn Ball is to start at 9 a.m. Saturday.
More information is online at SacCountyIowa.com.
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Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has finalized its Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity rule, under the Packers and Stockyards Act this month. Advocates said it is a big step in addressing discrimination and even deception smaller livestock and poultry producers have faced for decades, from corporations they contract with to bring their products to market.
Aaron Johnson, policy co-director for the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, explained some of the long-standing concerns the rule addresses.
"One thing that we have documented in past reports is the tendency of integrators to present the terms and the potential benefits of the contracts they're offering during the recruitment process with growers in what we would assess to be deceptive terms," Johnson explained.
In addition to misleading contract terms, he noted some farmers were recruited within months of a plant being closed. He contended with the new rule, such issues can be prevented. It will go into effect 60 days after it is published, and producers will be able to use a Farmer Fairness Portal to submit their concerns to the Packers and Stockyards Division.
North Carolina poultry farms produce almost 8 million turkeys annually. Johnson emphasized the rule will work in tandem with another recent rule giving poultry farmers a more accurate estimate of the income they will receive with a contract. He believes even more could be done to strengthen protections for livestock and poultry producers in the performance-based payment system known as the "tournament system."
"One thing that hasn't been addressed by these two rules, as of yet, is really robust and targeted reform of the tournament system itself," Johnson stressed. "One thing I would highlight is that the tournament itself is one of the systemic facilitators of retaliation."
By "retaliation," he asserted some farms have had their contracts cut short and have even been driven out of business. He predicted more rules addressing issues in the tournament system and manipulation of cattle prices are expected.
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New agricultural census data show a significant increase in production value for New England farms over the past five years. There are nearly 31,000 farms and ranches operating in the region - a 5% decline from 2017. But those remaining farms grew their production value by nearly 32% to more than $3.5 billion.
Pam Hird, USDA state statistician, said the growth stems from more than just consolidation or an increase in food prices.
"We're using new technologies and new methods and learning things from our universities and our extension services. We're becoming more efficient at farming," she explained.
Hird added the census finds New England farms ranging in size from one to nine acres suffered the greatest losses and are part of the more than 20 million acres of American farmland lost to development and other factors over the past five years.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called the decline in operational farmland "a wakeup call" for America and noted that a majority of America's farmers still rely on second incomes unrelated to farming to make ends meet. Hird said the census reveals an increasing number of young farmers with less than 10 years of experience are helping sustain the region's farm sector.
"What we do is very important," Hird contended. "We're high on the list for organics. We produce hay and hay forage. We have cattle. We have cut flowers. We have honey and bees. Maple, of course, is very critical."
While the number of organic farm numbers declined by nine-percent from 2017, the value of organic sales increased slightly. Hird says more than 67% of regional farmers responded to the census, providing critical data that determines farm programs and services, disaster assistance and technology development.
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Iowa factory farms could cash in on new proposed carbon emissions tax-credit rules in California.
The new emissions standards would allow California to buy tax credits from Iowa and other states, to offset diesel emissions in California.
Though well known for polluting the state's groundwater, Iowa'a Commercial Animal Feeding Operations - or CAFOs - are considered less carbon intensive than wind and solar operations.
That's because some CAFOs have installed anaerobic digesters, which remove methane from liquid manure. Operators sell that methane as "environmentally friendly" fuel.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement member Brenda Brink said the rules would mean California could buy the tax credits from CAFOs instead of cleaner sources.
"You see what's going to happen then?" said Brink. "Wind and solar is getting shafted, because they're taking off like gangbusters and there's basically no greenhouse gas emission from them."
Supporters of the new rules argue emission tax-credit plans like these are designed with the greater global good in mind, and claim the goal is to reduce emissions planet-wide.
The public comment period just wrapped up. A decision is expected this spring.
Brink argued this emissions tax credit plan would encourage out-of-state and even international owners to build more CAFOs in Iowa - where, at more than 4,000, the state is already the nation's leader in large-scale ag operations by a factor of more than 3.5.
"Because it's such a sweet deal, it's pushing more and more production through factory farms" said Brink. "State governments see the sweet deal it is - 'Well, look, it's clean energy.' And so, it's just this huge P.R. thing that is not true."
Based on an interactive map, California will likely purchase emission tax credits in other parts of the country as well, where CAFO operators have installed anaerobic digesters.
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