Do you like to garden and share your gardening experiences with others? Are you a plant enthusiast who looks forward to spring time and the outdoors?   Then the Iowa State University (ISU) Scott County Extension Master Gardeners wants you!

Master Gardeners are volunteers, trained by ISU in horticulture, who return service to the community through a variety of educational projects.  Trainees attend over 40 hours of classes and complete volunteer service.  Each master gardener has the opportunity to learn and share their unique skills and knowledge with others in a variety of way.

Each year this opportunity is extended to a limited number of residents of Scott County.  Classes are held Tuesday and Thursday evenings this fall at the ISU Scott County Extension and Outreach office, starting September 10th.  There is a fee which covers the training and reference materials provided by ISU Scott County Extension and Outreach Office.

If you are interested in joining the Master Gardener program, additional information and an application for the 2015 fall session is available at our website http://www.extension.iastate.edu/scott/.  The deadline for receipt of applications is July 31st.  Applicants can attend a Master Gardener informational session scheduled in August.  Send completed applications to Scott County Extension and Outreach, 875 Tanglefoot Lane in Bettendorf.  Call 359-7577 with any questions.

2014 Farm Bill provisions will expand opportunities in the biobased sector by promoting advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biobased product manufacturing efforts

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2015 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the release of a new report that shows the U.S. biobased industry is generating substantial economic activity and American jobs. He also announced changes under the 2014 Farm Bill that will create additional opportunities for growth in renewable plant-based materials, supporting the Obama Administration's efforts to develop a new, rural economy and promote creation of sustainable jobs.

"This report is the first to examine and quantify the effect of the U.S. biobased products industry from an economics and jobs perspective. Before, we could only speculate at the incredible economic impact of the biobased products industry. Now, we know that in 2013 alone, America's biobased industry contributed four million jobs and $369 billion to our economy," Vilsack said. "Today, we are also adding to the number of innovative products carrying USDA's BioPreferred® label and expanding options for our nation's biorefineries. This means small businesses and global companies alike can continue to harness the power of America's farms and forests to create new and innovative biobased products that are used all around the world."

According to the Economic Impact of the Biobased Product Industry report, each job in the biobased products industry is responsible for generating 1.64 jobs in other sectors of the economy. In 2013, 1.5 million jobs directly supported the biobased product industry, resulting in 1.1 million indirect jobs in related industries, and another 1.4 million induced jobs produced from the purchase of goods and services generated by the direct and indirect jobs.

The report builds on the "Why Biobased?" report released by the USDA in October 2014. Estimates are that the use of biobased products currently displaces about 300 million gallons of petroleum per year - equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road.

The Secretary also announced changes to include new forest products in the BioPreferred program, along with proposed changes to the former Biorefinery Assistance Program to assist in the development of cutting-edge technologies for advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biobased product manufacturing.

The final BioPreferred® program rules will no longer exclude mature market products (those that had a significant market share prior to 1972), providing consumers with more innovative wood products and other materials carrying USDA BioPreferred® label. Forest products that meet biobased content requirements, notwithstanding the market share the product holds, the age of the product, or whether the market for the product is new or emerging, also now meet the definition of "biobased product."

The Secretary also said today that USDA is making improvements to its Biorefinery Assistance Program (Section 9003). The program, which was renamed as the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program as part of the program's Farm Bill reauthorization, provides loan guarantees of up to $250 million for the construction and retrofitting of commercial scale biorefineries and biobased product manufacturing facilities. In a rule that will be published in the Federal Register next week, biorefineries that receive funding are allowed to produce more renewable chemicals and other biobased products, and not primarily advanced biofuels. Also, biobased product manufacturing facilities would be eligible to convert renewable chemicals and other biobased outputs of biorefineries into "end-user" products. The new regulations also implement a streamlined application process.

Created by the 2002 Farm Bill and reauthorized and expanded as part of the 2014 Farm Bill, the USDA BioPreferred program's purpose is to spur economic development, create new jobs and provide new markets for farm commodities. The BioPreferred program commissioned the independent Economic Impact of the Biobased Product Industry report, which is primarily authored by Dr. Jay Golden, Director of Duke University's Center for Sustainability & Commerce, and Dr. Robert Handfield, Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University's Poole College of Management.

The report found that the seven major overarching sectors that represent the U.S. biobased products industry's contribution to the U.S. economy are: agriculture and forestry, biorefining, biobased chemicals, enzymes, bioplastic bottles and packaging, forest products, and textiles.

The study also includes location quotients by state to show the impact of the industry on individual states. Seven case studies are presented from stakeholders such as The Coca-Cola Company and PlantBottle packaging, Patagonia, and Ford.

Today's announcement was made possible by the 2014 Farm Bill. The 2014 Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life.

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This proclamation would offer an additional option to assist affected producers in disposal of safe, virus-free manure and compost from affected sites

(DES MOINES) - On Monday, June 15, 2015, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed a disaster emergency proclamation for 18 Iowa counties adversely affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which would assist with disposal and clean-up efforts on affects sites.  The disaster proclamation can be viewed here.

The state of disaster emergency proclamation temporarily allows impacted chicken and turkey producers to dispose of manure and compost generated at a premise infected with HPAI as a Bulk Dry Animal Nutrient under Chapter 200A of Iowa Code. The material can only be moved off-site if the United States Department of Agriculture has certified that the material is virus-free. Normally, only un-manipulated animal manure qualifies for distribution under this code section.

This proclamation only applies to impacted chicken and turkey producers in the 18 counties with confirmed cases of HPAI. Counties included in this proclamation are: Adair, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Hamilton, Kossuth, Lyon, Madison, O'Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Sac, Sioux, Webster and Wright.

The proclamation is effective until July 15, 2015.

The proclamation of disaster emergency can be read below:

WHEREAS, beginning on April 13, 2015, and continuing thereafter, there have been seventy-six confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the State of Iowa; and

WHEREAS, highly pathogenic avian influenza is a contagious and economically devastating disease that has threatened turkeys, chickens, and other poultry in our state; and

WHEREAS, the spread of this highly contagious disease continues to threaten the public peace, health, and safety of the citizens of the State of Iowa and has the potential to quickly destroy private property and exhaust local resources and capacities unless its spread is stopped.  These facts provide legal justification for the issuance of this Proclamation of a State of Disaster Emergency. Iowa Code §§ 29C.1, 29C.2 (1), 29C.6 (1); and

WHEREAS, Iowa poultry producers typically dispose of animal manure generated by their facilities under the provisions of Iowa Code Chapter 200A, and

WHEREAS, Iowa Code § 200A.3 (6) requires that animal manure must be "unmanipulated" and composed of "primarily of animal excreta" in order to be considered "dry animal nutrient product" to come under the regulation of Iowa Code Chapter 200A.  As defined, Iowa Code § 200A.3 (6) creates a particular hardship for turkey and chicken producers on sites infected by highly pathogenic avian influenza by making them ineligible to dispose of their animal manure under the authority of Iowa Code Chapter 200A, and

WHEREAS, producers with sites infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza in the following eighteen (18) Iowa counties are adversely effected by the definition of "dry animal nutrient product" in  Iowa Code § 200A.3 (6): Adair, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Hamilton, Kossuth, Lyon, Madison, O'Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Sac, Sioux, Webster and Wright County.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, TERRY E. BRANSTAD, Governor of the State of Iowa, by the power and authority vested in me by the Iowa Constitution Art. IV, §§ 1, 8 and Iowa Code §§ 29C.6 (1), 163.3A (2) and all other applicable laws, and in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and the authority granted to it under Iowa Code § 163.3A, do hereby proclaim a State of Disaster Emergency specifically for the following eighteen (18) Iowa counties: Adair, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Hamilton, Kossuth, Lyon, Madison, O'Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Sac, Sioux, Webster and Wright and do hereby ORDER and DIRECT the following:

SECTION One. I temporarily suspend the regulatory provisions of Iowa Code § 200A.3 (6) requiring that animal manure be "unmanipulated" and composed of "primarily of animal excreta" in order to be considered "dry animal nutrient product" as defined by this section.  This suspension shall be effective only to manure and compost generated at a premise infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza and quarantined by the Iowa Department of Agriculture, in the counties delineated above, provided said material has been released for application in writing by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.  All other provisions of Iowa Code Chapter 200A shall apply to the above-described material.

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2015 - U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that eligible producers may now formally enroll in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for 2014 and 2015. The enrollment period begins June 17, 2015, and will end Sept. 30, 2015.

"The extensive outreach campaign conducted by USDA since the 2014 Farm Bill was enacted, along with extending deadlines, is central to achieving an expected high level of participation," said Vilsack. "We worked with universities to simplify these complex programs by providing online tools so producers could explore how program election options would affect their operation in different market conditions; these tools were presented to almost 3,000 organizations across the country. The Farm Service Agency also sent more than 5 million educational notices to producers nationwide and participated in over 4,880 educational events with more than 447,000 attendees. I am proud of the many committed USDA employees who worked hard over the last several months to provide producers support to help them make these important decisions."

The new programs, established by the 2014 Farm Bill, trigger financial protections for agricultural producers when market forces cause substantial drops in crop prices or revenues. More than 1.76 million farmers have elected ARC or PLC. Previously, 1.7 million producers had enrolled to receive direct payments (the program replaced with ARC and PLC by the 2014 Farm Bill). This means more farms have elected ARC or PLC than previously enrolled under previously administered programs.

Nationwide, 96 percent of soybean farms, 91 percent of corn farms, and 66 percent of wheat farms elected ARC. 99 percent of long grain rice farms, 99 percent of peanut farms, and 94 percent of medium grain rice farms elected PLC. For data about other crops and state-by-state program election results go to www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc.

Covered commodities under ARC and PLC include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium grain rice (which includes short grain and sweet rice), safflower seed, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat. Upland cotton is no longer a covered commodity.

The 2014 Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past six years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for the taxpayer. Since enactment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.