The president-elect of the Iowa Soybean Association?s Board of Directors recently reflected on this year?s planting season with the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network via Zoom.
Sidney farmer Jeff Jorgenson raises corn and soybeans and has a cow-calf herd in Fremont County. He says southwest Iowa soybean growers were able to get crops in the ground at a rapid pace.
?Really for southwest Iowa it was a record,? Jorgenson said Tuesday morning. ?We had a couple rains that slowed us down for maybe a day or two, but there?s no question that it was a record pace. I talked to a lot of folks who were straight through corn, switch as quick as they can, and then straight through beans.?
It was a complete turnaround from last year?s spring planting season, according to Jorgenson. Fremont County was among the areas impacted by the Missouri River floods of 2019.
?Farmers have a pretty good memory of the year before of how tough it was to get the crop in the ground,? Jorgenson said. ?I think it added an urgency to it, that maybe at times we don?t have that urgency. This year was definitely like that coming off of 19? being so tough. It really went in fast and there was a lot that happened really, really fast.?
Jorgenson also took time to talk about recent work by lawmakers in the Iowa House and Senate to extend the fuel tax incentive for 11-percent biodiesel (B11) or higher blends. The action was praised by the Iowa Soybean Association soon after the measure?s passage.
?I think there was some nervousness with COVID if it was going to get overlooked,? Jorgenson said. ?It was going to run out at the end of the month and so we really needed to make sure that stayed in place, and it did. The governor is fully behind agriculture and always has been. It really helps having that leadership to get agriculture to where it needs to go.?
According to a statement from Iowa Soybean Association President Tim Bardole of Rippey, ?the incentive offers a 3-cent per gallon tax reduction for blends of diesel containing at least 11 percent biodiesel. Coupled with rural economic benefits, this legislation strengthens a vital domestic market for Iowa?s farmers and expands biodiesel availability across the state.?
Jorgenson?s Zoom video interview can be found on our Facebook page by clicking here.
