Home News KLEM News for Thursday, January 16

KLEM News for Thursday, January 16

RURAL ECONOMIC SURVEY

The Rural Mainstreet Index, a measure of economic helath in 10 states, including Iowa, fell for the 16th time in 17 months. The January index increased to 42.3, from December’s 39.6. Both figures are well below growth neutral. The survey indicates farm land prices fell, as did farm equipment sales. Rural bankers surveyed say one in five grain farmers expect a negative cash flow for 2025. On a positive note, regional exports of agriculture and livestock goods in the past year rose 6.2%, or 673 million dollars. The top destination for farm exports was Mexico, accounting for 48% of regional farm exports.
Iowa’s index dropped to 40.7 in January, down a point from December. Farmland prices dropped, but new hires increased. Iowa export revenue dropped by 25 million dollars, or 1.6%, in the past year. Mexico was the top destination for Iowa farm products, at 65% of export volume.

 

LCSD APPROVES APPLICATION FOR AT-RISK/DROPOUT FUNDS

The Le Mars Community School Board this week approved an application for at-risk/dropout prevention funds in the next fiscal year.  The application requests 421-thousand dollars, with a 140-thousand dollar local match, for a total of 561-thousand dollars.  The amount requested follows a formula based on a percentage of the district’s certified enrollment times the district’s per pupil cost.  The funding will provide support systems to students returning from dropping out of school and those considered at risk of dropping out.  These measures include funds for an At-Risk Coordinator, and teachers and assistants for the district’s Alternative High School and High School Success Center.  The application will be submitted after the district approves its budget.

 

COUNTY RECORDER QUARTERLY REPORT

Plymouth County Recorder Jolynn Goodchild presented the latest quarterly report to the Board of Supervisors this week.  Between October and December, Goodchild’s department took in over 152-thousand dollars in fees.  The county’s share was 55-thousand dollars.  The rest was the state of Iowa’s share.  Most of the fees came from transfer taxes, mortgages and passports.  The Recorder’s office processed 1069 documents in the quarter, one-third of them vital records.  Nearly two-thirds were ATV, snowmobile and boat fees.  There were 22 marriage applications in Plymouth County in the latest quarter.

 

FISCHER NAMED PRESIDENT OF EDGE DAIRY COOPERATIVE

Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative elected a new president during the group’s annual business meeting at the 2025 Dairy Strong conference.

Heidi Fischer of Hatley, Wis., was elected president. Fischer is a long-standing, active member of Edge and previously served as Edge’s vice president.

Edge also elected two board members,. One of them is Christina Zuiderveen of Black Soil Dairy near Granville, Iowa.  For the past several years, she has been involved with Edge’s Committee on Political Affairs.

Edge is based in Green Bay Wisconsin. The cooperative fulfills requirements of the Federal Milk Marketing Orders as a verification cooperative for dairy farmers. It also provides representation on federal policies that affect members and collaboration with other agriculture stakeholders.

 

CHIEF JUSTICE PROPOSES REFORM OF MAGISTRATE SYSTEM

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen is recommending a reduction in the number of magistrates – private attorneys the state is paying to oversee some court proceedings, like pre-trial hearings.

Christensen says magistrates in just eight counties ARE spending about half of their time on work from the bench and magistrates in 16 other counties are ALMOST spending the required amount of time as a judicial officer. The rest spent most of their time in private practice.

But still being paid to spend 31 percent of their time as a magistrate. Christensen is asking the legislature to repeal the requirement that each county have a magistrate.

Christensen says some magistrates and judges have asked her if this will hurt rural county seat communities. The chief justice argues it’s likely to mimic the so-called “Work Share” program for clerks of court, as the workload from larger counties is redistributed to clerks in small counties so court filings are processed as quickly as possible.

Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant is the Republican who leads the House panel that will draft the budget for Iowa’s judicial branch. Lohse says it’s clear magistrates in some areas of the state aren’t being used effectively.

The chief justice asked Lohse and other lawmakers to raise pay for judges as well as the private attorneys appointed to represent indigent clients. The legislature has increased funding for indigent defense in each of the past three years, but Chief Justice Christensen says the pay needs to be higher to get more attorneys to take on indigent clients — many of whom are juveniles.

 

STUDY SUGGESTS IOWA’S PORK INDUSTRY WORTH $15 BILLION TO IOWA ECONOMY LAST YEAR

A new study from the Iowa Pork Producers Association finds the hog industry contributed more than 15-billion dollars to Iowa’s economy last year. Association spokesman Kevin Hall says the study, which is done every four years, identified nearly 52-hundred pig farms statewide who produce one-third of the nation’s pork, reinforcing Iowa’s position as the number-one pork producing state. Hall says the industry is vital to Iowa’s economy, creating more than 120-thousand jobs. Among those jobs, the study says 64-thousand are in hog production, 39-thousand are in hog slaughter, and another 16-thousand jobs are in hog processing. The study says the top five Iowa counties for hog inventories are: Washington, Sioux, Lyon, Plymouth, and Hardin. Among those, Washington, Sioux and Lyon counties each have more than one-million pigs.

 

IOWA LAWMAKER PROPOSES BUYING SOUTHERN MINNESOTA

A central Iowa lawmaker is proposing that Iowa buy the nine southern Minnesota counties that are on the other side of Iowa’s border.  State Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, is sponsoring a bill to start the ball rolling.

Bousselot is an attorney who was former Governor Terry Branstad’s chief of staff. He’s now operating a real estate business, but isn’t suggesting now much the State of Iowa would pay Minnesota for those counties.

Bousselot, who is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, says it’s a very serious proposal.

Democrats like House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst says buying part of Minnesota would be an inappropriate use of Iowa tax dollars.

Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner says Iowa lawmakers have enough to do for the people in Iowa’s existing 99 counties. Changing state borders requires an act of congress. Bousselot notes it was last done in 1961, when Minnesota agreed to cede  land to North Dakota because of a change in course of the Red River of the North. Bousselot suggests there would be immediate agricultural investment” in those nine counties if they become part of Iowa.

Luverne, Iowa, was founded in 1880 and sits on the border of Kossuth and Humbolt Counties. It was named after Luverne, Minnesota, which is in the southwest corner of the state to our north. It would take over two and a half hours to drive from Luverne, Iowa, to Luverne, Minnesota, which is part of the Sioux Falls, South Dakota metro.