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Farming: another essential amidst the world crisis

Jack Cooper plants beans with a 16-row planter in a field east of Garwin on Thursday noon, April 30. The backdrop is the Vienna Wind Farm. With corn crops in for a lot of farmers, they have turned to their soybeans for the spring 2020 planting season. News-Herald/John Speer

Concern mounts as the turmoil in meat processing is evident in Iowa and across the nation amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Iowa Premium at Tama has been back in operation after a short shutdown while the Tyson pork plant at Waterloo is shuttered. But not everything has stopped by a long shot on the farm scene.

“A lot of acres have been planted in the past week,” Cheryl Bruene, Tama County State executive director for Iowa State Extension and Outreach told The News-Herald, “Warm and mostly dry conditions have warmed soil temps to the mid 50’s, making conditions favorable for planting both corn and soybeans about a week ahead of the five year average planting date. Many local farmers are well into corn planting and have a good start on the soybean acres.”

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in his weekly Iowa crop report comments, “Iowa saw a second straight week of considerable planting progress across the state.

“The planning of input providers and farmers, combined with favorable weather conditions, has the growing season off to a strong start,” said Secretary Naig. “The great progress has been a bright spot in a time with many disruptions due to COVID-19.”

And, U. S. Senator Chuck Grassley had this to say in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Americans from coast to coast hunkered down to stop the spread of the virus. Office workers, including my staff here in Washington, adapted to work from home,” said in a statement Monday afternoon.

“But not all Americans can do their jobs from home. Many must work away from home to provide essential services for our communities.”

“I’m talking about workers who harvest, process and deliver our food.”

He goes on to recognize the crews who provide sanitation services and keep our communications, transportation and energy grids running, America’s postal workers and truck drivers who deliver mail and transport goods and grocery store clerks and factory workers.

“On behalf of Iowans and the rest of America, I thank the front line workers who are on the job, working away from home, in the line of duty.”