Wednesday January 4 Ag News

Nebraska Corn Board lauds judgment striking down California’s low carbon fuel standard

The Nebraska Corn Board celebrated the end of 2011 with a victory when Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill struck down California’s low carbon fuel standard.  Judge O’Neill found the standard unconstitutional by means of violating the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution.

“This is a great victory for Nebraska’s ethanol and corn industries and Nebraska’s economy as a whole,” said Tim Scheer, farmer director from St. Paul and vice chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board.  “This judgment will mean that the largest fuel market in the US will continue to be open to the benefits of corn ethanol produced right here in Nebraska and the Midwest.”

The low carbon fuel standard that had been in effect since April of last year had the goal of reducing green house gas emissions from transportation fuels by 10 percent by 2020.  While this was as admirable goal, it had many flaws including penalizing Midwest produced corn ethanol in favor of California ethanol.  “This is what the Judge ultimately struck down in his ruling,” said Kelly Brunkhorst, director of research for the Nebraska Corn Board.

The judgment also prohibits the enforcement of the low carbon fuel standard while the litigation or possible appeal is ongoing.

With twenty-five plants operating and producing nearly 2 billion gallons of ethanol in Nebraska, California’s 15 billion gallon transportation fuel market was an important destination for Nebraska.  “If we would have been shut out of that key market, it would have been devastating to Nebraska and other mid-western states,” added Brunkhorst. 

The original lawsuit challenging California’s low carbon fuel standard was filed in the Eastern District Court of California by the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Redwood County Minnesota Corn and Soybean Growers, and Penny Newman Grain against the California Air Resources Board in December of 2009.  The suit was filed on the basis of conflicting with Federal law, interfering with interstate commerce and discriminating against out-of-state ethanol producers and importers.

The Nebraska Corn Board thanks the Nebraska Attorney General’s office and five other state attorney generals for filing an Amicus Brief in support of the lawsuit.  “The filing of the brief, along with the collaboration from five other corn ethanol producing states, showed great support in the discrimination we saw in the standard,” concluded Scheer.



2011 Annual Report Now Available Online

2011 Annual Report CoverThe National Corn Growers Association Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Report is now available online. A printed copy of the report, which highlights the association's achievements over the previous year and features current financial information, will also be sent to all active members.

The 2011 annual report is now available for download here... http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=mhuvvzcab&et=1109038190810&s=40653&e=001FYdVf4w1THcTK3g9XniMDw-pRo6Rld5zMtVec1Hlc9X9UYFiBYvV09_VpX4wg7WoClN9ktPbOUkr5N_9zsQL1WmTT9BM4WzrMSCISoR9Kofyeg9bXGsFYaqBB_RbZuyrtxIJhNfYQ8xcSyxXNZo_oGwUaV7Ny7DobPlW3moYtAk=

"As the nation's leading trade association representing corn growers, we're proud of the work of our Communications team," said NCGA Chairman Bart Schott, a grower from Kulm, N.D., who served as president last year. "We've toiled tirelessly over the past year to proactively advance the image of corn growers and create opportunities to increase demand for their product. This report not only illuminates what grower contributions support, it also demonstrates the importance and effectiveness of these activities."

Themed "Success through Collaboration," the 2011 report spotlights efforts made by NCGA throughout the year that brought together various organizations from across the industry to multiply the effectiveness of efforts beneficial to agriculture as a whole.



NCGA Works with State Associations to Keep Candidate Views on Ag in the Spotlight in 2012

With the Iowa Caucus complete, the National Corn Growers Association continues its push to help keep farmers informed of candidate views and engaged in the presidential primary process as the race for the Republican nomination continues.  NCGA will continue to update the original Corn Caucus Project report card, offer expanded and updated information on the positions of the remaining Republican contestants and provide links to the caucus and primary schedule and a candidate tracker.

"With the 2012 Iowa Corn Caucuses behind us, I see the Corn Caucus project as a success. Corn farmers from across the state did their homework on the candidates, followed the campaigns, participated in local meetings, used the Corn Caucus report card and made sure agriculture issues were recognized and addressed by the candidates," said Iowa Corn Growers Association Senior Policy Advisor Amanda Taylor. "As we move toward the nomination, we look forward to continuing to engage the campaigns in issues important to America's corn farmers."

The National Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Growers Association, in partnership with the Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota and Nebraska Corn Growers Associations, released the original tool to help voters quickly determine where candidates stand on a variety of agricultural issues.

"As the primaries ebb and flow, candidates provide additional insight into the stances they would take on a variety of issues, including many that will affect farmers directly," said NCGA Grower Services Action Team Chair Brandon Hunnicutt.  "While NCGA does not endorse any candidate, we do want to help farmers and their allies stay up-to-date on where the candidates stand.  Through this project, we want to provide a useful tool that will help our membership make the most informed decision possible when they make their way to the ballot box."

Aimed at keeping corn farmers informed and engaged in the political process during the 2012 presidential campaign, the Corn Caucus report card and accompanying information offer succinct information gathered through a survey of major candidates on issues relating to NCGA's legislative priorities.

This year, the survey looked at candidate views on ethanol, farm programs, trade, the Environmental Protection Agency and transportation.  Awarding each candidate a letter grade for their farm-friendliness in subcategories of each area, the final report card offers insight into the strengths and weaknesses of candidate positions on agriculture.



Action Team about More than "Grower Services"

NCGA's Grower Services Action Team focuses on three areas for the organization: membership, leadership and communications. In each of these areas, 2012 will prove to be an important year for the group of 14 growers who, along with state and national staff assistance, keep a sharp eye on program efforts in these three areas.

"With membership setting records and a deeper level of state checkoff investment in core image programs, the Grower Services Action Team has its work cut out for it this year," said Nebraska corn farmer Brandon Hunnicutt, who chairs the team. "We challenge ourselves at each meeting to ensure our national organization is more relevant to our individual grower members and to provide them the tools they need to excel in leadership and communications with a robust slate of services."

Whether it's something as simple as a discount on cars or computers or as complicated as an advanced leadership training program, the Grower Services Action Team keeps the spotlight on a wide variety of ways NCGA members can benefit their farming operations or become better industry leaders. At its December 2011 meeting, the team approved some new member benefits that will roll out later this year to help members save money on certain purchases.

Thanks to support from Syngenta, the Grower Services Action Team manages a membership program that helps states recruit members and a two-tier leadership program, basic and advanced, that graduates new leaders each year to serve their state and national organizations.

"Through the years, Syngenta has really helped us a lot in building a bigger, stronger membership base," Hunnicutt said. "Once one becomes a member, usually recruited individually by fellow farmers, the next logical step is our outstanding leadership training program that has graduated about 500 grower leaders so far."

Finally, in the area of communications, the Grower Services Action Team provides advice and input on NCGA's involvement in such key programs as CommonGround, with the United Soybean Board, the Corn Farmers Coalition and the much broader U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, which NCGA helped create.

"NCGA has become a respected leader when it comes to building coalitions and alliances to move all of American agriculture forward," Hunnicutt noted. "It's a privilege to see, first-hand, how this all takes place and to work with a terrific team of growers and staff on programs that truly make a positive difference for our industry."

In addition to Hunnicutt, team members include Vice Chair Bill Berg of Ohio, Corn Board Liaison Bill Chase of South Dakota, Roscoe Eggers of Iowa, Lori Feltis of Minnesota, David Ford of Texas, Tom Haag of Minnesota, Kent Kleinschmidt of Illinois, Mark Klumb of South Dakota, Jim Rapp of Illinois, Herb Ringel of Indiana, Mark Scott of Missouri, Randy Woodruff of Wisconsin, and Cindy McDonald of the North Dakota Corn Growers Association.



Alfalfa Valuation Tool to Debut at Mid-America Alfalfa Expo & Conference

The Nebraska Alfalfa Marketing Association (N.A.M.A.) will launch an online alfalfa evaluation tool at the upcoming Mid-America Alfalfa Expo & Conference, to be held at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds in Kearney, Nebraska, February 7 and 8.

“The evaluation tool allows users to calculate a sound value of their alfalfa based on a nutrient comparable basis or a market comparable basis,” said Kyle Lechtenberg of Spencer, Nebraska, a member of the N.A.M.A. board who is helping to develop the tool. “The goal is to have a specific value for buyers and sellers to use as a starting point when marketing alfalfa, instead of simply asking neighbors or coming up with a ballpark guess.”

Lechtenberg explained that the nutrient comparable basis model allows users to input current prices of corn and soybean meal. The formula then provides a value of the alfalfa on a comparable nutrient basis. The market-based model, however, uses U.S. Department of Agriculture hay price reporting for inputs. It then adjusts those values based on the natural tendency of buyers to pay better for higher quality hay and flatten out for lower grade commodity hay.

“It will be possible to have both models weighted to get an average of the two,” he said. “This is useful in years like this when the market basis model shows a higher value than the nutrient basis model because of short hay supplies. It’s really a great tool that will benefit buyers and sellers alike.”

Lechtenberg said the model will be explained in detail at the Mid-America Alfalfa Expo & Conference and he encouraged those interested in learning more to attend. He said the tool, designed for N.A.M.A. members, will be accessible through the N.A.M.A. website, Nebraska-Alfalfa.com.

Sponsored by N.A.M.A., the Mid-America Alfalfa Expo & Conference is designed especially for alfalfa producers, livestock/dairy producers and others who are involved in alfalfa production, purchasing, hay feeding or processing.

Presenters include Dr. Al Dutcher, Nebraska climatologist, who will discuss weather patterns and forecasts for the coming crop year; Dr. Ron Hansen, ag economics professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who will provide a session on multi-generational family farm ownership; Dr. Rick Rasby, University of Nebraska-Lincoln cattle feeding expert, who will focus on nutritional information for cow-calf producers; and Trent Loos, well-known commentator, columnist and ag advocate.

Registration includes admission to all presentations and programs, a Tuesday afternoon reception, dinner Tuesday evening, admission to the large alfalfa industry trade show and the opportunity to bid in the fundraising auction that takes place Tuesday afternoon. The auction features a wide range of items including seed, harvesting equipment, supplies and other valuable products and services.

Registration is $10 per person in advance (tickets must be purchased by noon, February 3, 2012) and $20 at the door. Participants under the age of 18 are admitted at no charge. Registration is available online at www.AlfalfaExpo.com.



ISU: DDGS Production Could Reach 42 Million Tons

Production of dried distillers grains in the U.S. for the current marketing year is predicted to be slightly lower than the past year, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State University.

The AgMRC estimates DDG production for the 2011-12 marketing year could total as much as 42.5 million tons, compared to the preliminary 42.67 tons total for 2010-11. The decrease is attributed largely to several years of supply expansion, such as jumping 5.6 million tons between 2007-08 and 2008-09, and increasing 7.3 million tons between 2008-09 and 2009-10. 

The AgMRC also includes the "Estimated U.S. Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) Production and Use" balance sheet, which contains four years of historic data using supply and demand data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The balance sheet shows that in the marketing year just closed, DDG replaced an estimated 1.162 billion bushels of corn and an estimated 6.2 million tons of soybean meal that would have been fed to beef cattle. By acres, the balance sheet estimated that DDG replaced 7.6 million acres of corn and 5.86 million acres of soybeans.



Fertilizer Prices Continue to Shift Lower

Most fertilizer prices continued to decline for the fourth week in a row, according to fertilizer retailers tracked by DTN for the fourth week of December.

Seven of the eight major fertilizers had lower prices compared to the fourth week of November. Just two fertilizers showed price declines of any significance.

Urea featured a 9% decline in price compared to last month. The dry, nitrogen fertilizer now has an average price of $563 per ton. MAP had a 5% drop compared to a month earlier and now has an average price of $726/ton.

Five fertilizers had lower prices compared to a month earlier with relatively small decreases in price. DAP had an average price of $677/ton, potash $658/ton, anhydrous $802/ton, UAN28 $396/ton and UAN32 $444/ton.

The remaining fertilizer, 10-34-0, showed a slight increase in price compared to the fourth week of November. The starter fertilizer had an average price of $828/ton.

On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.61/lb.N, anhydrous $0.49/lb.N, UAN28 $0.71/lb.N and UAN32 $0.69/lb.N.

Six of the eight major fertilizers are continuing to show double-digit increases in price compared to one year earlier. Leading the way higher is 10-34-0. The starter fertilizer has skyrocketed earlier in 2011 but fell back in recent months and was 37% higher compared to the fourth week of December 2010.

Urea has jumped 18%, potash 17%, UAN28 16%, UAN32 14% and anhydrous 11% higher compared to a year earlier.

The two phosphorus fertilizers continue to bring up the rear. DAP is 5% more expensive while MAP is 2% higher compared to December of 2010.



Weekly Outlook: Hog Producers Follow Prudent Path

Hog production returned to profitability in 2011, but producers remain cautious about the future. This is evidenced by the modest expansion of the breeding herd as reported by USDA at the end of the year, said a Purdue University Extension economist.

"Limited expansion would seem to be the prudent path until more is known about 2012 crop yields and feed prices. This suggests no expansion of the breeding herd until mid-summer 2012," said Chris Hurt.

Pork production is expected to rise by 2 to 2.5 percent in 2012, but most of that increase is due to more pigs per litter rather than from larger farrowings. Exports are expected to remain strong so that the per capita pork availability in the United States will only increase by about 1 percent, he said.

"Pork demand will also be supported by smaller per capita supplies of beef and poultry in 2012. As a result, hog prices are expected to be down only modestly from 2011 levels with similar costs. This means another year of profitability is likely," Hurt noted.

According to Hurt, the breeding herd was up only 0.4 percent in the December inventory report from USDA. Market hog numbers were up about 2 percent for hogs coming to market through next May. Winter farrowings, which represent next summer's hog supply, were up about 1 percent.

"With the number of pigs per litter increasing about 2 percent, slaughter numbers will be up near 3 percent next summer. Fall hog supplies will be drawn from the spring 2012 farrowings where producer's intentions were down almost 1 percent. If so, this means fall 2012 hog slaughter would only be up 1 percent," he said.

Demand should remain favorable for pork in 2012. The U.S. economy is expected to continue to show signs of recovery and some modest improvement. Exports are expected to continue at a record pace in 2012, representing 22 percent of production, he said.

"Exports are expected to be near records for beef and broilers as well, according to USDA forecasts. The amount of pork available per person in the United States is expected to rise only 1 percent in 2012. However, competitive meat supplies will be lower. Beef availability will be down about 6 percent with poultry supplies per person down about 3 percent," he said.

Live hog prices averaged about $66 in 2011. Current forecasts are for 2012 prices to average about $65. Prices are expected to average in the very low $60s for the first quarter, and then move to the higher $60s for the second and third quarters before moderating to near $60 in the final quarter of 2012, he said.

Costs of production this year are expected to be similar to 2011 as well. The price of corn received by U.S. farmers averaged about $6.00 per bushel in 2011. Current futures are suggesting that the average will be about 20 cents higher in 2012. High-protein soybean meal at Decatur, Illinois, averaged about $335 per ton in 2011, and current futures markets expect that to be about $20 lower in 2012, Hurt said.

"Estimated profits above all costs in 2011 were around $15 per head and are expected to drop to about $10 per head in 2012. The strongest profits are expected in the second and third quarters with seasonally strong hog prices. Some profit is expected in the final quarter of 2012 due to lower corn prices if U.S. corn and soybean yields return to near normal," he said.

In summary, Hurt said that pork producers have remained cautious about expansion. The uncertain U.S. and European economies are an important part of that caution. Also contributing to that caution is the memory of large losses experienced in 2008 and 2009. Probably the largest uncertainty is the price of feed.

"Inventories of corn and soybeans remain very tight. Normal 2012 yields around the world should provide somewhat higher inventories and bring down feed prices. However, any yield reductions in major growing areas this year could push feed costs up once again," he said.

Given the hog and soybean meal price outlook for 2012, the breakeven corn price is about $6.75 to $7.00 per bushel. If corn prices stay at or below this area, hog producers could cover all costs or make a profit. If they move above this area, the 2012 profit potential could shift toward a loss, he said.

"These uncertainties suggest producers should continue to wait to expand until 2012 yields in the United States are better assured. This means expansion should not begin until mid-summer 2012," he said.



FDA Bans Class of Animal Antibiotics

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has decided to ban some uses of a class of antibiotics on livestock out of concern that bacteria that sicken humans are becoming resistant to the drugs.

Some extra-label uses of cephalosporin antibiotics, such as giving the drug to animals to prevent disease rather than to treat a specific illness, will become illegal. The ban is scheduled to take effect on April 5.

"At this time, FDA is concerned that certain extra-label uses of cephalosporins in food-producing major species are likely to lead to the emergence and dissemination of cephalosporin-resistant strains of foodborne bacterial pathogens," the agency said in a document released Wednesday. "If these drug-resistant bacterial strains infect humans, it is likely that cephalosporins will no longer be effective for treating disease in those people."

The FDA said it is also cracking down on cattle, swine and poultry producers that use the drugs "at unapproved dose levels, frequencies, durations, or routes of administration."

"Over the last decade there's been a rapid increase in cephalosporin resistance in farm animals and in sick humans and we hope that this [FDA] ban will...hopefully reduce it," said Steve Roach, a spokesman for the nonprofit group Keep Antibiotics Working, which favors restrictions on antibiotic use.

Cephalosporins are now widely used on chickens even before they are hatched, Roach said, and the practice of injecting the antibiotics directly into eggs will have to stop after the FDA ban is enacted.

Farm animals in the U.S. consumed 29.1 million pounds of antibiotics in 2010, according to the latest data released by the FDA last October. Of that total, cephalosporins accounted for about 54,000 pounds.

"We applaud FDA's move," said Laura Rogers, project director of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming. "This restriction is a victory for human health, as it will help ensure we can still rely on cephalosporins to treat life-threatening infections today and in the future."

Cephalosporin antibiotics are key in treating bone, urinary-tract and respiratory infections in humans, according to Pew.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.) said the ban is necessary but criticized the FDA for taking too long to implement it.

The FDA originally disclosed its intention to limit the use of cephalosporin antibiotics for food animals in July 2008, but reversed course and rescinded the ban about three months later after numerous complaints from the livestock and drug industries.

One of the complaints came from Pfizer Inc. (PFE), which produces cephalosporin antibiotics. The company said more time was needed to assess human risks.

"With over one million Salmonella cases in the U.S. each year, at least 30,000 Americans will contract cephalosporin-resistant bacteria every year," Slaughter said. "I'm glad the FDA is finally acting but how many Americans have needlessly been sickened in the meantime?"



2011 Record-Setter for KCBT HRW Futures, Exchange

The Kansas City Board of Trade set new annual volume records in 2011 for Hard Red Winter wheat futures and for the exchange as a whole.  A total of 6,582,673 contracts were traded at the KCBT in 2011, setting a new record with a 15.5 percent increase over the 5,697,874 contracts traded in 2010.  In the HRW wheat futures contract, a total of 6,342,782 contracts were traded, which also set a new annual volume record over 2010 volume with a 14.3 percent increase.  HRW wheat options volume traded in 2011 amounted to 239,891 contracts, a 62.1 percent increase over total 2010 trading volume.



CoBank Completes Merger With U.S. AgBank

CoBank, a cooperative bank serving agribusinesses, rural infrastructure providers and Farm Credit associations throughout the United States, announced that it has successfully completed its merger with Wichita-based U.S. AgBank. The merger, which formally closed on January 1, 2012, creates an $85 billion financial services institution that serves as a leading source of credit to the U.S. rural economy.

The combined bank's customer base includes agricultural cooperatives and rural power, water and communications service providers in all 50 states.

In addition, the bank offers wholesale financing to 29 Farm Credit associations that provide loans and financial services to more than 70,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in the west, northwest, southwest, central and northeastern parts of the country.

"We're delighted to have finalized this merger on behalf of our customer-owners across rural America," said Everett Dobrinski, chairman of the CoBank board of directors. "The merger builds CoBank's financial strength, greatly increases the diversity of our loan portfolio and expands our overall lending capacity.

The combined bank continues to do business under the CoBank name and remains headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, with Robert B. Engel in the role of president and chief executive officer. The bank retains its cooperative structure, with qualified borrowers earning cash and equity patronage in proportion to the amount of business they do with the organization.

For the first year following the merger, the bank will be governed by a 32-member board of directors consisting of the entire former CoBank and U.S. AgBank boards.

On January 1, 2013, the size of the board will be reduced to 24 directors elected by customer-owners in six geographic voting regions, plus between two and five appointed directors.

The merger occurs following a lengthy process involving consultation with customer-owners, federal regulators, and other Farm Credit System institutions.

The boards of the two organizations executed a Letter of Intent to merge in December 2010 and submitted a formal merger application to their independent regulator, the Farm Credit Administration, in March 2011.



Mosaic Earnings Beat Street's Forecast

Fertilizer producer Mosaic posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as higher prices helped offset a dip in phosphate sales and flat potash volumes.

The company warned that volumes may remain sluggish into the spring, as its distributors and farming customers remain cautious due to economic uncertainty.

"While we expect third quarter results to decline due to near-term macroeconomic uncertainty and cautious distributor purchasing behavior, we remain confident of the strong long-term demand prospects for our products," Mosaic Chief Executive Jim Prokopanko said in a statement.

For the fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 30, the company earned $623.6 million, or $1.40 per share, compared with $1.03 billion or $2.29 a share in the year-ago period.  Revenue rose 13 percent to $3.01 billion.



Iowa Climatologist Releases 2011 Weather Summary

With 2011 now complete, the State Climatologist for Iowa Harry Hillaker released a summary of the top weather stories from the year. The State Climatologist's office is within the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

"Preliminary analysis shows that in 2011 Iowa experienced an average temperature of 48.8 degrees or 0.7 degrees above normal and had a statewide average of 32.00 inches of precipitation or 3.27 inches less than normal," said Hillaker. "The result is that 2011 ranks as the 50th warmest year and 68th driest among 139 years of state weather records."

"The weather is always a hot, or cold, topic in Iowa, and Harry does a great job collecting the information and making it available to Iowans," said Bill Northey, Iowa secretary of agriculture. "There was no shortage of interesting weather events again in 2011 and this is a great list of the highs and lows."

The top Iowa weather events in 2011 in chronological order are:
-- Blizzard - Jan. 31-Feb. 2 (mostly on Feb 1) -- Snow fell statewide with over a foot of snow across southeast and east central Iowa. Storm totals of 18.5 inches at Lowden and a record-tying 18.4 inches at the Quad Cities. Strong wind gusts were also reported, with gust of 66 mph at Clinton. The simultaneous occurrence of the highest winds with the most intense rate of snowfall resulted in very poor visibility. The storm produced a statewide average of 7.4 inches of snow.

-- Tornados - April 9 -- A total of twenty tornadoes were reported on the evening of April 9, mostly across west central and northwest Iowa. The most damaging of the series was the very first storm which brought EF-3 damage to Mapleton.

-- Hot and Cold May - May 3 and 10 -- A nearly statewide freeze occurred May 3 with temperatures as low as 20 degrees at Sibley and Spencer. Lower May temperatures have been recorded only four times in the past 100 years in Iowa. On the 10th, temperatures soared into the nineties over nearly all of Iowa with Jefferson reaching 100 degrees. This was the earliest occurrence of triple digit heat in Iowa since April 22, 1980.

-- Wet Weather -- June -- Very wet weather prevailed across southeast Iowa with Keosauqua (16.14 inches) and Bloomfield (14.60 inches) recording the most rain of record at those locations for any calendar month.

-- Western Iowa Flooding - May through September -- Easily the largest weather event of 2011 was the flooding along the Missouri River. Record crests were set at gaging points near Mills County (June 30) and Fremont County (June 28). Major flooding persisted for several months in response to very wet antecedent conditions in the Upper Missouri basin, a large winter snowpack, rapid snow melt following an unusually cold spring and excessive upstream spring rainfall. Fortunately, no major rain events occurred in the Iowa portion of the watershed during 2011.

-- July Heat -- July -- Preliminary data show Iowa experienced its hottest July since 1955 and hottest calendar month since August 1983. Actual temperatures peaked at 102 degrees at Keosauqua on July 18 with a peak official heat index of 117 degrees at Spencer (also on the 18th).

-- Derecho - July 11 -- Widespread very high winds occurred across parts of east central Iowa in the pre-dawn hours of July 11 with winds estimated as high as 130 mph in Benton County. Later that same day Iowa's last tornado of the year touched down in Webster County. Iowa saw a very early start to the tornado season, with outbreaks on March 22 and April 9, but also the earliest end to the season since 1962.

-- Heavy Rain Storms - July 26-27 -- Very heavy rain fell across portions of northeast Iowa on the night of July 26 with the heaviest rains falling in the Dubuque area where the airport saw a record 24-hour total of 10.62 inches of rain and unofficial totals were as high as 14.5 inches. The rain contributed greatly to a record monthly total of 16.01 inches at the Dubuque Airport (old record 15.46 inches in September 1965 among 158 years of data in the area).

-- Record Hot Day - August 2 -- Temperatures soared across southeast Iowa in advance of a cool front with Fairfield recording an actual temperature of 106 degrees. This was Iowa's highest official reading since Washta reached 106 on July 19, 2006. Iowa City saw the highest official heat index that afternoon with a reading of 117 degrees.

-- Drought - July-December -- The high mid and late summer temperatures were a reflection of very dry conditions that rapidly developed in July. Southeast Iowa was the first area to turn dry (ironically after seeing record rains in June) with Fairfield recording only 0.17 inch of rain in July. Dry conditions spread to all but portions of east central and northeast Iowa by September. Relief in the form of several large rain events came to many areas in November and December but severe drought conditions persist at year's end over about the northwest one-quarter of the state. The late year dryness allowed for a very rapid completion of Iowa's harvest (98% of the soybeans harvested by the end of October). However, at the same time the state's pastures were in their worst condition in eight years.

-- Early Freeze - September 15 -- Nearly half of Iowa saw a freeze on the morning of September 15 with Mason City reporting a low of 26 degrees. This was Iowa's lowest temperature for so early in the fall since Sibley reported 23 degrees on September 11, 1955. At Jefferson and Cedar Rapids this tied for the earliest freeze on record.

-- Warm December - December 11-31 -- The last three weeks of the year were very mild with temperatures averaging 12.6 degrees above normal while an average of only 0.3 inches of snow fell across Iowa. This was a huge contrast from the previous four Decembers which were all unusually cold and snowy. However, more seasonal weather occurring during the first ten days of the month will keep the month out of the top ten for warmth and lack of snow (in fact, December 2006 was warmer and had less snow).