One out of every 10 acres of Iowa farmland is owned by a single woman over the age of 75. Michael Duffy, an Iowa State economist said that fact, plus the aging of the state's working farmers, should see some change in land ownership over the  next several years. 
     For 2009, Iowa farmland prices dropped by 2%, spurred in part by declines in corn, soybean and livestock prices. The average price for an acre of Iowa farmland is now $4,371, the first drop since 1999. In the past decade, that price had risen by 145%, significantly more than the 128% increase posted by the consumer price index. 
  Duffy said the drop wasn't a surprise, but noted that earlier in the year he thought the drop would be closer to 5%. The price of farmland is especially important in Iowa because it is the state's largest single asset. Duffy made his comments to Dan Piller, a reporter for the Des Moines Register.
  He said the future is a ttough nut to crack, and a lot depends on whether or not inflation kicks into the US economy. For Dan Piller's full report on Iowa land prices, click here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912170349


     It's like acid on his soul, John Hines, told a group of agribusinessmen, describing his feelings about the mainstream media view of farmers and the environment. Agriculture is not the issue he told the monthly meeting of the Ag Issues Forum in Lancaster. Hines is deputy secretary for water management at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and has been particularly watchful of the state's agricultural community as it struggles to deal with Chesapeake Bay pollution.  He told the group that Pennsylvania's monitoring stations have, with one exception, recorded drops in the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment being borne by the Susquehanna River to the bay. A report on Hines's remarks by yours truly appears in the Lancaster Farming edition due in your mailbox on Saturday.


     So you say you like your fish already frozen, eh?  http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/wacky-ice-fishermen-go-to-extremes/1ab87nln3