Gazette Daily News Briefing, October 25
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for October 25, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service it will be cloudy Wednesday with a high near 70 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. Rain is predicted again for Wednesday evening, with a 100 percent chance of precipitation. New rainfall could reach as much as half an inch.
As the 2023 harvest comes to a close, farmers in east-central Iowa are seeing variable but overall lower than normal crop yields.
Lower yields concentrate in areas hit hardest by drought, like Benton and Linn counties, said Rebecca Vittetoe, an Iowa State University Extension and Outreach field agronomist for east-central Iowa. Earlier this month, that region marked the epicenter of the worst drought on record in Eastern Iowa.
For Iowa as a whole, the USDA forecasts average corn yields to reach 199 bushels per acre — one bushel less than its prediction last month. Its soybean yield forecast held steady at 58 bushels per acre. Forecasts for both crops are marginally less than last year’s yields.
The 10-year average corn yields for Benton and Linn counties hover around 195 bushels per acre. So far, Vittetoe has heard corn yields vary from 130 bushels per acre to more than 200 bushels per acre this year. Last year’s corn yields hovered around 218 bushels per acre.
Soybean yields in Linn and Benton counties will likely also be down this year, Vittetoe said, with early reports varying between 40 to 60 bushels per acre.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds welcomed Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani on a visit to Iowa Tuesday, praising the relationship between the state and country.
Osmani is in Iowa for the World Food Prize Week of Events, an annual conference put on by the global foundation based in Des Moines. She will give the opening keynote at the conference on Thursday.
Kosovo, a Balkan country that borders Serbia and Albania, became Iowa's ninth sister state in 2013 under then-Gov. Terry Branstad. The partnership includes a military partnership between the Iowa National Guard and the Kosovo Security Forces.
Osmani said Kosovo's partnership with Iowa is a reflection of the country's partnership with the U.S. at large.
Kosovo is one of the world's youngest countries, having declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Its independence was supported by the U.S.
Traffic fatalities in Iowa are higher than they’ve been at this time of the year for at least the previous five years — with more than 300 people killed so far, already surpassing the target that officials had hoped not to exceed this entire year.
The average number of traffic fatalities by Oct. 23 in the past five years is 268, but this year there have been 301, according to Iowa’s daily fatality count.
The number of traffic fatalities so far actually could be higher than what’s been recorded online by the state, since roadway deaths are considered traffic-related if they occur within 30 days of a crash. Two deaths also occurred Sunday and Monday in Iowa — one of a firefighter who died after two fire vehicles crashed into each other near Ionia, and the other of a 25-year-old who drove off the road early Monday in Davenport.
