Corn

Late harvest, early winter storms leave crops stranded (01/07/10)
Corn still stands in fields in northwest Iowa and nearby states -- and without a winter thaw it will likely remain there until spring. "Right now there's not much you can do. You can't physically get in the field," said Joel DeJong, crops field specialist with Plymouth County Iowa State University Extension...

Racing the elements: Herbst and crew react to heavy autumn rainfall (12/11/09)
When the September harvest rolled around this year Darwin Herbst thought it would be business as usual. But that wasn't the case thanks to a very rainy October. Herbst, of Merrill, has been farming his whole life. This year was different for the Herbst farm and most farmers in the area...

When life was simple: Life on the farm was busy with work and fun times (12/10/09)
Editor's Note: This story is another in a weekly series looking back at life decades ago and remembering a time when people's lifestyle was very different than today. Life on the farm has many memories for Leonard Molzen. "I've lived on the farm all my life in the same township, Johnson Township," Molzen said. He moved to Good Samaritan Society-Le Mars in 2005...

Brunsville grain elevator adds capacity, speed (11/23/09)
Brunsville's Premium Feed and Grain upped the ante this harvest with a new 204,000 bushel storage bin and a new grain dump that can take in grain at the rate of 8,000 bushels per hour. The company's growth also included adding three new full-time jobs. Now Premium Grain and Feed employs 12 people, 10 of which are full-time...

Prehistoric people leave footprints in Loess Hills (11/12/09)
Eight hundred to 900 years ago the first corn farmers dwelled in the northern Loess Hills. Evidence of the prehistoric Mill Creek native people, as archaeologists have deemed them, and their villages and cemetery sites have been found in parts of Plymouth County and northwest Iowa...

Oh deer! It's that time of year (10/28/09)
With tree leaves turning golden and temperatures cooling, the fall season also brings a greater chance of car-deer accidents on roadways across Plymouth County. "We're starting to see an increase in vehicles hitting deer," said Plymouth County Deputy Paul Betsworth. "Once farmers start getting their crops in, they start chasing the deer out of the fields onto the roadways."...

Time to go? Canada Geese movement hints at season change (09/15/09)
On an average day at the Le Mars Municipal Park around 100 Canada Geese are mingling with other waterfowl. But lately they've been leaving the water and taking to the air in their famous V-formation. The geese are preparing for a change -- fall. Canada Geese (Canadian Geese is actually the informal term) migrate generally in September and October, but they'll probably be around for a while, according to Jeremy Kettmann, a park technician at Hillview Park in Hinton who studies birds' migratory patterns.. ...

Sweet corn stand goes back 20 years (08/04/09)
Under an ash tree, the worn black pickup truck owned by Lynn Buss sits in the shade, the bed piled high with ears of sweet corn. Buss, with the help of his children and grandchildren, bring their sweet corn to this hot spot by Bob's Drive-In, owned by the Kass family, each day during the hot months of summer...

Unusual ears: Sweet corn packs a surprise (07/29/09)
When Gary Junge was husking an ear of sweet corn, what he found caught him off guard. Inside the husks was not one ear of sweet corn, but two -- one regular size, and one miniature. Both ears were connected at the stalk. Iowa State University Extension crop specialist Joel DeJong said he's seen a few reports of these double ears...

Ethanol plant garners grain dealer license (06/16/09)
Plymouth Energy is back in the grain dealing business. On June 10, Plymouth Energy Grain, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Plymouth Energy, obtained a grain dealer license, which gives it the ability to purchase corn for the Plymouth Energy ethanol plant just north of Merrill...

Ethanol plant grand opening draws curiosity, praise (06/05/09)
Hundreds of visitors donned hard hats Thursday to watch a plant just north of Merrill do its thing: produce ethanol at the rate of 103 gallons per minute. "You read about these things, but you don't actually get to see them up close," said one Le Mars woman, waiting in line for a tour of the Plymouth Energy Ethanol plant during its grand opening...

The prairie returns: Pheasants Forever seeds Remsen habitat (05/20/09)
Seed by seed, row by row, a field just north of Remsen was transformed Tuesday. Land used to grow field corn last year has a new purpose: to provide habitat and help keep Remsen water clean. About 60 acres near the Remsen wells were tilled under and seeded as prairie Tuesday, thanks to a joint effort between the City of Remsen and Pheasants Forever. Local farmers donated time and equipment to help plant the seed...

Ethanol debate: Is your car ready for E-15? (03/12/09)
Currently, government rules allow non-flex-fuel vehicles to use only 10 percent ethanol in their gasoline. Politicians from Iowa are pushing for that to change. Earlier this week, newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, spoke in support of allowing higher blends -- 15 percent...

The harvest was plenty, and the workers were too (11/21/08)
Buck Pick was back in the field for harvest. The survivor of a tractor accident a little more than a month ago, Buck (Danny) Pick wasn't in his combine yet, but the 26-year-old rural Merrill man was surrounded by 40 friends, family members and neighbors getting the job done...

Corn oil plant seeks property tax relief from county (06/18/08)
A proposed $30 million corn oil plant near Merrill inched closer to reality this week. The Plymouth County Supervisors on Tuesday approved five years of property tax relief for Plymouth Oil L.L.C. The first year will be a 75 percent break declining to 15 percent in the fifth year...

Feller's hard work yields promising future (06/05/08)
This is the third story in a series looking at what plans and dreams local members of the graduating class of 2008 hope to pursue. At 6:30 in the morning, most high school graduates are only concerned with one thing -- sleep. While they study the inside of their eyelids, Brandon Feller is hitting his alarm clock and getting dressed for a full day of work on the farm. ...

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