ABORTION WAIT
Iowa’s attorney general says a 24-hour waiting period for abortions is now being enforced statewide. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled the waiting period was constitutional June 17, and it took effect Friday. Iowa abortion providers will schedule two appointments – at least a day apart – the first to certify the patient had an ultrasound and was given the option to see the image and the second for the abortion procedure. The court rejected a request from the governor to reopen the case earlier this week. She wanted the justices to consider a new legal standard making it harder to find other abortion restrictions unconstitutional.
FARMLAND RENT SEMINAR
Iowa State University Extension is hosting a series of seminars across the state about renting or owning farmland. Gary Wright is a farm management specialist with I-S-U Extension who’s based in Spirit Lake.
More than half of Iowa cropland is rented. Under state law, September 1st is the date by which a tenant or landlord has to notify the other party if they want to terminate a lease or rental agreement. Wright says at each seminar I-S-U Extension staff review market prices and the factors influencing 2023 cash rental rates for farmland.
Many farmland rental agreements have a flat, per acre rate. Flexible leases calculate the rental rate based on the costs of inputs like seeds, diesel and fertilizer as well as yields and the actual price for the crop once it’s sold.
The Plymouth County cash rent seminar will be Monday, August 8 , at 6 pm, at the Plymouth county extension office in Le Mars.
A survey of farmers, landowners, realtors, bankers and professional farm managers found cash RENT for high quality corn and soybean ground in Iowa averaged in the range of 250 dollars per acre for the CURRENT growing season. An average acre of Iowa farmland was valued at about 98-hundred dollars last fall. In May, a farm in Plymouth County sold for 25-thousand dollars an acre.
FUEL REPORT
Fuel prices in Iowa fell four cents this week, to a statewide average of 4 dollars, 58 cents per gallon. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship report says prices are a dollar, 64 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price was 4 dollars, 78 cents, down 9 cents from last week. Retail diesel prices in Iowa fell 6 cents, to a statewide average of 5.36. a year ago, diesel averaged 3.13 in Iowa.
