By Senator Tom Harkin

On February 5th, our country marked the 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - a groundbreaking law that provides American workers with 12 weeks of protected ? albeit unpaid ? leave to recover from a serious illness or care for a new child or seriously ill family member. A recent update provides 26 weeks of family leave to families of injured service members and recent veterans.

The FMLA changed the landscape for hardworking Americans.  While we celebrate this progress, we realize there is still work to be done when it comes to helping working families, and that includes guaranteeing paid sick time to individuals that work hard, earn it, and deserve it.

In the coming weeks, I will introduce the Healthy Families Act, a bill that would allow workers to earn up to 56 hours, or seven days, of paid sick time per year.  Workers would earn one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.  Employers that already provide paid sick time will not have to change their current policies, as long as their existing time can be used for the same purposes. Employers can also require workers to provide documentation supporting any request for leave longer than three consecutive days.

The United States is the only developed nation that does not guarantee paid sick days to its workers, and our economy and productivity suffer as a result. Contrary to popular belief, not absenteeism, but "presenteeism"? when a sick employee shows up to the workplace, infects other employees or customers, and is unproductive because they are not feeling well ? is the greatest cause of lost productivity due to illness. One study found that a lack of paid sick days ? and thus the inability to distance oneself from co-workers ? contributed to an additional 5 million cases of the H1N1 flu during the 2009 outbreak.

Seventy percent of low-wage workers ? those least likely to be able to afford a lost paycheck or lost job ? have no paid sick days. This group is largely workers in jobs that have frequent contact with members of the public, including food service, hospitality, nursing home care, and child care. Their lack of paid sick leave poses a public health threat to all of us and our loved ones. Shockingly, nearly two-thirds of restaurant workers have reported cooking or serving food while sick. Workers' rights should matter to everyone, but they matter even more when you consider that your next turkey sandwich might be served with a side of the flu.

But perhaps most important, under the Healthy Families Act, workers would have the security of knowing that when illness strikes ? as it undoubtedly will ? they will be able to tend to their families and themselves without losing their jobs or their income. This bill will provide health, peace of mind and security for America's workers and their families ? and that's something that everyone deserves.

For more information, please visit http://www.harkin.senate.gov/ or follow Senator Harkin on Facebook and Twitter.

A PDF version of this article is available by clicking here.

 

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There are new opportunities to harvest corn stover in two regions of Iowa - near Nevada in central Iowa and near Dubuque in eastern Iowa. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will host two meetings, one in each part of the state, to address emerging opportunities related to stover harvesting for the biomass feedstock needs of local industries.

The central Iowa meeting will be held Feb. 28 at the Iowa Arboretum near Madrid, Iowa. This meeting is in collaboration with DuPont and will look at the use of corn stover in cellulosic ethanol production. The eastern Iowa meeting will be held on March 6 at the 4-H Building at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds, Dubuque, Iowa. The eastern Iowa meeting is in collaboration with JELD-WEN Fiber of Iowa to discuss use of corn stover as a fiber material. Both meetings start at 12:45 p.m.

Stover harvesting can impact economic, agronomic and water quality production factors. The meetings will address many of the positives and negatives of stover harvesting and discuss how stover harvesting can be managed within corn production. Crop producers, land owners, crop consultants, agronomists, service providers and others with an interest in stover harvest and its
removal from farm fields are encouraged to attend.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach meeting speakers include : John Sawyer and Antonio Mallarino, soil fertility specialists; Mahdi Al-Kaisi, soil management specialist; Chad Hart and William Edwards, agricultural marketing specialists; Matt Helmers and Kapil Arora, agricultural engineering specialists; Mark Licht and Virgil Schmitt, field agronomists; and Kelvin Leibold, farm management specialist. Industry speakers on the agenda include : Dr. David Ertl, technology commercialization manager, Iowa Corn Growers Association; Dennis Penland, DuPont business development manager; Andy Heggenstaller, agronomy research manager, DuPont; and Gardner Lance, general manager, JELD-WEN Fiber of Iowa.

A noon lunch will be sponsored by industry partners prior to the start of the meeting at no cost to the participants, however pre-registration is required. Industry representatives will be available to meet with participants during lunch and at the close of the meeting.

Registration forms for the Feb. 28 Boone County meeting are available from the Boone County Extension Office by calling 515-432-3882, or online at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/boone/. Registration for the March 6 Dubuque meeting are available from the Dubuque County Extension and Outreach Office by calling 563 583-6496, or online at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/dubuque/.

There is no fee to attend this meeting. Registration is required for correct meal and handout counts. Walk-in registration the day of the meeting will only be accepted if space is available.

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Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the University of Nebraska are teaming up to offer a feedlot roundtable session at six Iowa locations on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 12:45 to 3:45 p.m. Iowa State Extension beef specialist Russ Euken said the feedlot roundtable sessions are offered annually in Nebraska for feedlot operators and interested agribusiness people.

"ISU Extension and Outreach and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension have a cooperative agreement that provides for the sharing of livestock educational resources and programs," Euken said. "The Internet allows us to offer this popular Nebraska roundtable session at selected Iowa locations. The speakers and subject matter are sure to draw interest from our state's beef
community."

Temple Grandin from Colorado State University is the featured speaker from the Nebraska program site. She'll speak about animal welfare challenges for the beef feedlot industry. She's followed by Stephen Koontz, also from Colorado State University, who will present a market outlook and information on issues related to formula pricing for fed cattle. This presentation is prerecorded for the program.

The afternoon's schedule concludes with an overview of beef feedlot industry related research and projects at Iowa State University, by Dan Loy and Stephanie Hansen.

The $10 fee covers proceedings, meeting costs and refreshments, and is payable at the door. However, you're asked to preregister no later than Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the location you will attend to ensure adequate materials and refreshments.

Iowa roundtable locations and preregistration contacts
• Delaware County Extension Office, 1417 N Franklin St., Manchester. Contact Denise Schwab,319-472-4739 or dschwab@iastate.edu
• Howard County Extension Office, 132 1st Ave. West, Cresco. Call 563-547-3001
• Kossuth County Extension Office, Hwy 18 E, Algona. Call 515-295-2469
• Postville Vet Clinic, 110 Hyman Dr., Postville. Contact Julie Christensen, 563-568-6345 or juliechr@iastate.edu
• Sac County Extension Office, 620 Park Ave., Sac City. Call 712-662-7131 or email xsac@iastate.edu
• Wallace Learning Center Armstrong Farm, 53020 Hitchcock Ave., Lewis. Contact Chris
Clark, 712-769-2600 orcclark@iastate.edu

For more information please contact your local county extension office or an ISU Extension and Outreach beef specialist.

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"Deny the acceptance of failure."  Those are the 'fighting' words Mark Kelly hears every day from his wife, former Tucson Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D) AZ.  Giffords, who struggles to recover from a 2011 assassination attempt, is a motivating force in Kelly's life.  He shared his story as keynote speaker at the 94^th American Farm Bureau annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.

What struck many farmers in the audience is not just Kelly's commitment to his wife's rehabilitation, but his 'pull yourself up by the bootstraps' life story.  Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut, has commanded a space shuttle, circled the globe and flown 39 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm.  He claims he wasn't a top-of-the class scholar, outstanding athlete or 'Top Gun' pilot.   Instead, Kelly says it was hard work that got him where he is today.   He's neither spoiled, nor bitter; he's motivating.  That's the same quality I see in so many Iowa farmers today.

When I was a reporter, I found that half the farmers I met would rather go out and dig post holes, than go on-camera and do an interview.  The other half wanted to throw reporters into postholes.  I'm glad to see that mindset changing.  We have more than 100 Iowa farmers in our Iowa Farm Bureau 'Speaker Corps' who are ready to share their perspectives, do interviews and engage the public and their communities.  There are many examples of this:  Justin and Jennifer Dammann, who have not only shared their perspective and their family time with Iowa radio, newspaper and TV reporters, they even hosted a German TV crew on their Essex cattle farm during the height of the drought in August.  Another great 'ag-vocate' is longtime cattle farmer Bill Couser from Nevada, who shares his story with Iowa, national and international media as well as leaders from around the globe.  Larry Sailer, a Franklin County hog farmer, engages thousands of consumers through Facebook and Twitter, and has even welcomed strangers to his farm for a 'blogger tour.'

The days are long in farming, but these farmers and so many others always make time to share their story, do a media interview, host a farm tour; these activities are the 'rocket fuel' of motivation that keeps them going and keeps the positive stories of farming and food production circling the globe.

These farmers aren't just preaching to the choir and doing the 'easy' interviews with ag reporters who understand them and will always work to put them in the best light.  They are talking to national reporters, young men and women who've never been on a farm, whose stories will shape opinions on food production for millions.  Do some of these reporters have agendas?  You bet.  But, as Mark Kelly would tell us, there is nothing to be gained by always doing what is safe; what is expected; what is easy.

We shouldn't be afraid of the hard interviews.  And we certainly shouldn't start digging postholes and ignoring the requests, either.  Consumer choices and lifestyles have evolved with the times and so have farmers and food production.  Getting out ahead of the message, understanding the factors that bring change, reading the trends, embracing innovation, is always something farmers have done.

There is a huge hunger for our perspective.  People love farmers, not just for what they raise or what they grow, but for who they are.  We will not give up telling our story.  Failure to communicate, in this day and age, is not an option.