The Iowa AG economy has been in a downtur for months and months.

That affects not just farmers, but all of us.

We'll get a status update from Iowa Secretary of Agricultu Mike Naig on this edition of Iow Funding for Iowa Press was provi by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundat the Associated General Contracto of Iowa, the public's partner in Iowa's highway, bridge and munic utility infrastructure.

Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks s to serve their communities, prov jobs, and help local businesses.

Iowa banks are proud to back the you build.

Learn more at iowabankers.com.

For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers across Iowa and beyond.

Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide this is the Friday, April 25th edition of Iowa Press.

Here is Dave Price.

Hi.

Kay Henderson is off this we Well, it is planting season in o but what kind of markets will those crops have when they come out of the f From tariffs to bird flu to manufacturing layoffs the ag economy has taken a hit after hi Our guest today will help us better understand what is happening and may be ahe He is Mike Naig.

He's been here He's a Republican.

Iowa secretary of agriculture.

He was appointed secretary back when he succeeded Bill Northey.

He then won election to full ter later in 2018 and 2022.

Mr. Secretary, welcome back.

Good to see you.

It's good to be back.

It's always fun to be here this time There's a lot there's always a l going on in the spring.

Amen to that.

Across the table, Donnelle Eller who reports on agriculture, econ environment and energy, all thos for the Des Moines Register.

Welcome back.

Hello.

Thank you.

Hello.

And Erin Murphy, Des Moines bure chief for the Gazette in Cedar R Hello sir.

Hello.

All right.

We got a lot to get to.

we thought we would just go ahead and addre the elephant in the room to begi I'm sure you know what's coming but Erin would like to put it in the form of a question.

Mike, you are among the folks who have they are at least considering a run for governor in the wake o Kim Reynolds announcement that she will not seek reelection nex How does a potential candidate like yourself go about winning a Republican pr First and foremost, what we expect to be a crowded R primary for this seat.

Well, first of all, you know, two weeks ago, I thought that all I'd be thinki was whether I was running for re as secretary.

And, you know, that's a discussi that we were in with our family and had every intention that tha exactly what we would be focused Certainly the Governor's decision announcement was a bit of a surprise to to us And so what that causes us to do is to pause and say, we, we should take a look at this.

We've been encouraged by what we've been hearing from supporters and friends across the state to do just that And, boy, it's not something that you rush into We want to be thoughtful about i seeking a lot of advice, praying Talking about it as a family, you know?

Here's wh I still, at this stage of my life, I want I want to be of service to the state of Iowa, and I want about the best ways that I can d If that is, as secretary of Agri I will enthusiastically do that.

If, if it's something else, then we're going to we're going to take a look at th So what we're what we're thinkin right now and talking to folks and asking the questions is, is there a pathway for me, to do Is it something we're committed Is it something that we can be success Is it the right time?

All those things.

And, you know, we're just we're just through all those, those decisio So mostly I'm thinking about what does it mean for us and what do we bring, and not so about the field or potential fie I think here's the good news.

From a Republican standpoint, we've got a deep bench.

There are some great folks that are looking at this.

And, I'm I'm very confident that we're going to have at the top of the Republican tic in ‘26, a great candidate for go And, you know, I'm glad that the that kind of discussion that's h in this state.

It will I think it will be a bus Yeah.

And I don't want to spend too mu on this because we have so much Official office.

I but to that point you made about the pathway.

How much do you see the Trump voters in Iowa that however you want to call it wing of the party having an infl And what in this primary and wha candidate have to present to tho Well, I think the president will be very influential.

And President Trump said, had a couple cycles here in the state So it's absolutely a factor agai at this point.

Really the discussions and the t on, is on my side of the table.

It's on it's with our family and talking with and supporters about what's that look like for us.

And then, of course, as we get further down into this you know, all those things have to come in But but again, hey, and I went t a, I went through a, a congested a busy primary, five way primary with people who I consider to be and, people I have a lot of resp And I hope that, however, the primary shapes up for governor, for Republican side of things is that it's focu somebody's ability to serve their vision for the st and not about tearing each other but just getting getting, to the right place and the right for the general election in ‘26.

Can we be blunt?

Can you win a primary if Preside endorses Attorney General Brenna I I'm I'm not prepared to talk about any other candidat Those are the we're looking at what what the pathway looks like if there is one and how I can best serve our sta and again, if that's as secretar I'm going to do that.

I intend to be on the ballot in I will give you that one.

One way or the other, alright.

A I don't think my my, my desire t not has not been extinguished ju And I'm I think there's more that we can And, I want to be thoughtful abo So, as governor, are you prepare from talking about GMOs to gende affirming, surgeries?

I'm sorry, as as governor?

That I'm not here as a candidate for governor.

I mean, that's, this this was bo before that decision was made.

But you would have to broaden th that you're comfortable talking Of course, of course.

I get, you know, the range of is that I look at as Secretary.

our, our, a subset of what you h look at as governor and, certainly that's part of a consi And you're ready to tackle all of those difficult questions Well, I think what I said was we're we're considering it and we're having a lot of conver about it, and we're figuring out what the best, the best path is This is inside baseball, but are you already talking to s Potential staff.

Work.

Look, look, this is very much.

This is.

Trying to figure out how far along you are.

This is around my kitchen table.

This is about me getting into a planter tractor here in the next couple of weeks and giving a lot of thought to i That's not to say we're not talking to a lot of fo but but look, again, there's, there's a lot of people looking That's a good thing.

That's a healthy thing.

And we're going to give it a loo How do you as you step back, regardless of how you're plannin your current job or potentially another one, how do you assess our economy in this state?

Well, look, let's let's just take ag economy I mean, no, you know, lead into the program.

it's very obvious to us, we've been saying for the last t two years that there's a softeni of the ag economy, and we're pas it's not soften and softening no It's it's tough.

We've got a tough ag economy.

And of course, as I like to say, you can't imagine a strong Iowa without a strong agriculture eco And so that's, at its, at its co and so those are things that we' to have to feel our way through.

Right?

the overall health of the econom the health of the ag economy, those are things that impact Iow You know, there's been a lot of Go back to Governor Branstad, Go Reynolds leadership, this legisl putting Iowa in a great position whether it's because of cutting conservative, management of our state's budget.

We are in a great position, cert to be competitive in this countr to grow as a state, to be attrac to businesses and families.

And I, I really do believe that's our opportunity.

But, hey, there's no doubt about You've got, you've got, an economic challeng coming at us that we're going to we're gonna have to get through.

And that was the case before Pre Trump took office for his second And obviously now we're, as David alluded to a we're having new tariffs that are impacting trade.

Going back to the first term, we went through a 1.0 version of th Right.

And and we had some expor some trade markets lost.

there was federal assistance to, to farmers.

Here we are again.

Are we heading down the same pat Is there light at the end of the for farmers for this?

Yeah, I think much gets you shou and compare to ‘18, 19.

Look, as I've been saying, if you're surprised that Preside is using tariffs or the threat o in his economic policy or in his his efforts to achieve certain o with, folks like Mexico or Canada in terms of border sec and that sort of thing.

You haven't been paying attentio He ran for president three times talking about these Okay.

So that's that's one.

But you can go back to ‘18, 19 look at tariffs and some of the And you know did we get to a bet with trade negotiations or not.

There were new trade deals that were signed.

And so, you know we got to a new place w There were many non-tariff barri that weren't addressed with Chin that had long been trade irritan And so there was an effect, and it moved us in the right directi Now, here's a difference, though with where we are in the ag econ now versus then we had and there market facilitation payments that were made out of the Commod Credit Corporation by USDA.

We don't have the kind of buffer economy.

Profitability and margins are no where they were even then.

today again, we're in the year three now of of a downward motion in terms of on farm revenue.

So, that's a message that we've certainly sent to the administration and, to Secretary Rollins when she wa just a couple of weeks ago, is t a lot of room to absorb that sho So one, USDA needs to be ready to provide assistance if they ca But I tell you what, I'm encoura the idea that you've got countries coming to the table to better deals.

Now, how fast is that going to h And is it going to happen all at Of course not.

But I think if you can get to a place, if tariffs are used as a not as a strategy in and of them that can lead to some good outco Maybe it was in question a while whether it was going to be the s or the tactics.

It's clear now this was about tr to get countries to the table.

And, and that can be a very good for us to have a more diversifie and a fairer trade portfolio for the for U.S. agriculture.

Do you believe that will be the in, say, 2 to 3 years, that Iowa farmers will be in a healthier p because of the what we're going through right now?

Absolutely.

two things, right.

One is, this sort of also brings the opportunity to say, all right, if we're going to let more of what we grow domesticall Now, there are limitations to th You know, there are some products that we because we don't use them in the United States.

Pork is a good example of that.

There are certain cuts, beef to where you've got 100% of the that product goes outside of the If it doesn't, and then it's a w stream and has to be used some o But corn and soybean, let's unleash biofuels in this c Let's go year round access to E1 Let's go renewable biodiesel.

Let's, go sustainable aviation f We could use more of what we gro Those would be signals that coul So what you hope and certainly what we're advocating for, is un that domestic consumption, but needing to make sure that we an expanded trade portfolio.

But it's certainly, we're not going to replace China with, you know, year round E15.

That's that's right.

You can't China is awfully hard to Or Mexi Yeah.

You know, you talk you talk abou how do you replace China.

Well, it's not easily done with one country or another or o It really would have to be.

I mean, when it comes to soybean in particular, they are the dominant importer o And, and, you know, if you lose market share in that you're going to have to gain it somewhere else, or you're going to have to use that product in some other fashi So, no, you're correct.

It's not There are some game changing thi that could happen.

Look, India is a good example.

was with the governor in India in September of last year.

Famously protectionist country, largest democracy, largest count in the world, largest democracy in the world by population.

And, conventional wisdom is that it's going to take 20 ye or plus to open India to, us exp products.

And boy, they need a lot of what I mean that the gap between their productivi and their consumption is huge.

But if you have a President and a Prime Minister that decide we're going to have a trade fram I think those things can happen a heck of a lot faster than 20 y So I say that's a potential game that's hanging out there.

A lot of effort being put into I Perhaps that's a a new market th don't we don't even factor in to So you said that you are in conv with Secretary Rollins.

the first round of tariffs cost $23 billion.

Do you have any idea how much it might cost in a seco I don't, and I know USDA has dec to put an exact number on it.

I mean, the reality is, and, you you have to run.

You got to do that analysis.

And again, nobody look, nobody wants to be in a situatio where, where you need where you need assistance.

But we all know we know that tod the pork industry for instance, is already experiencing and has seen some price, fluctuation back a little bit, but had taken a dip.

You know, those are things you're going to have to calculate that and ag we don't want to be there.

But if we need to be, it's it's potentially is a large number.

I don't think we need to there's no holding back on that.

If it's a big disruption, you're to have to compensate for that s Speaking of numbers, one thing we have not been able to find ou is how many folks we lost who work for the USDA, in our state.

Do you have any idea what that f I don't have specific numbers.

And of course, some of that is i work in progress.

Yeah.

For sure.

And, and, you know, so the thing that we it's kind o that I'm putting out, we, we have great partnerships with We work closely with USDA, FDA, EPA on a variety of things.

Certainly in the conservation sp NRCs colleagues are critically i frankly, it drives home the importance of the state of I having a robust conservation infrastructure and effort is because we need to carry our our own weight as well.

But, we're not we're not aware yet of the, tota and what that will ultimately me The question that I, we keep ask and what we will ask every time an adjustment or a reorganizatio and this is things we know about are things that people might be speculating about is it So what's the what's the next st What's the so what this has happ what what does it mean to provide service to farmers?

Can we still get the amount of conservation work done?

What can we do to streamline a p I mean, that's the those are the right questions to be asking, not just about pur Well what about like bird flu an that's been kind of back and for Right?

Got rid of some people then mayb tried to bring some of them back So like bottom line are we are we worse off with some without some of these folks working to protect us, to resear to the kind of first responders, you know, to when something happ So I think this is a good example of where you'd say, I think we're I'm certain I'll j I'm anxious and I talk to others and say we're all anxious to sor the the American people said there needed to be a shock to th Donald Trump goes back to Washin and brings a shock to the system There's there's no doubt about t I think what everybody's anxious is that more strategic approach.

Now to, give Secretary Rollins the tools she needs, let her reorganize USDA in a way and then hold them accountable f to perform the mission I like I think Administrator Zel it, earlier this week or maybe last week of, we should aspire to have not not one person more or one perso less than we need to perform the and the mission of EPA.

That's the mentality that that there needs to be.

There's no argument.

I wouldn't make an argument.

I think we need more folks withi and with the animal industries portion of USDA.

and, you lose experience that can really hurt in an outbreak e And so, you know, that's something we certainly ar advocating for is the appropriat workforce and partnering with st I mean, that's the other opportu is that we end up having an oppo a chance to or where states are working together in a more c fashion with the USDA.

Well, I think there is growing c that, avian influenza is becoming a greater threat to do you think that we should be, vaccinating poultry?

Regardless of what kind of expor there might be?

Yeah.

So here we are in our going into our fourth year with high path H I think there's a lot of people well, why are we why why are we talking about vaccine now when we weren't willing to three years ago?

And I think the reality is it's because of how long it has laste And because if you look around the world, it's it used to be that one country o region would be experiencing hig and then it would move on.

It is not.

It's around the world So that I think, is the opportun to say, now's the time.

We we need the research to find, effective tools, effective vacci You've got to then think about how do you deploy it.

Are you vaccinating in advance of with everything, or are you just using it in an outbreak sit And the other piece is trade.

And you mentioned that.

Look, people view it differently If you're the number one egg producing state in the nation, y those hens are worth protecting and they've got a long lifespan.

And vaccine would help.

If you're a broiler state and you've got a much shorter ti that those birds are on the grou then you view this differently and trade can be, affected.

So it's not easy and it's not a silver bullet, but I believe those things are we can work through those things And we also should treat this to We don't want to sacrifice one sector for another.

So let's get to a place where we can, with trading partn see the changes we need to see.

By the way, we're not the only c that's looking at this.

There are other countries around the world, and that's sor why do I believe that can happen now, where it maybe wouldn't have a couple ago?

It's a different ball.

We're been at this too long and it's in too many places.

The HHS Secretary weighed in on this recently.

Robert F Kennedy Jr. and again, he's HHS.

He's not USDA, but he he said that he thinks that the, scientists and the government sh the bird flu just run its course in herds and, and the whole natu immunity thing there.

As someone who's dealt with multiple outbreaks now in your tenure here in Iowa, what what did you think of that?

Well, I don't think that's a workable solution at all.

Why not?

Well, you know, the whole concep trying to be proactive and conta virus like we do and unfortunate having to depopulate even some, you know, birds, the idea is tha trying to reduce the amount of v that's even available to be spre I always like to say imagine ten One is positive.

What you're trying to do is protect the nine by dealing w the one you don't want the one to become three five, seven, and And, and you think we've had, price issues with eggs and short Imagine if we didn't have that kind of effective effort.

so that that's where, that's whe And, you know, that's a moving target to you, y sort of go for that herd immunit and you say, well, that might work for this strain, but what about the next one?

It's just, you got to have a much more real approach.

Now, the other piece is, how do ahead of this to begin with?

Vaccine can help with that or as a strategy.

Biosecurity is the other key.

You want to prevent birds from getting sick to begin with.

That's really where you got you there as best you can because your, your tools are limited on the other side of trying to m And by the way, to the extent that this becomes you know, spilling over to other or potentially a human health issue is manage it effectively as an animal health issue, deal in that space and, you will prev from becoming those other things That's the mantra I think we should look at.

The USDA has been looking at different programs and cutting in some places, kind of freezing in some places.

And as we look in our state that has impacted some farmers who used to receive some of thes maybe make it more competitive s produce local produce for school for food pantries, child care ce all of those that you have been Choose Iowa, Yeah.

as a way to support.

But, you know, it can't compare at the same level with this this do we need to step in and greatly put more state funding behind something like Ch I think bottom line, we're looking at people beyond t the ag world who are losing out on a bunch of And is that what they're just go to have to get used to among in this kind of DOGE mentality?

Well, I think let's let's be cle about, the local food purchase assistance program.

look, we like that.

We like the concept, we like the It did some good.

Connected the dots between local and institutional buyers.

And that's one of those, you kno if your marketplace is the farme and it's a rainy day, well, you had a bad week and, yo and that's going to still be you maybe main outlet.

But if you're also marketing to or a food bank or a, a restaurant or something, you k you kind of ride through some of or you get predictability.

So the institutional buyers are thing.

It's really important.

But let's be clear, LFPA as it w it was a it was a Covid era.

It's a pandemic era funded progr We knew getting into it that it would have a I can, I kn we sat and had conversations tha there would be a cliff at the en People knew that.

and, and so you you have to get back to some nor when it comes to budgeting, the right place to have that kind of conversation or to or authorize that program is a f and do it in a way that's predic And, you know, at some point we simply have to unhook from an and move beyond these Covid era, pandemic era, funding streams, regardless of the the merits of the program are go Which means, hey, I think there' we need to fight for that in a new in a new place.

I mean, this is literally the ki of, farmers that you and the sta have been trying to support.

Abs They're doing a lot of the work that you guys have been advocati so it seems like why not just continue a program that really does work and effect if you're trying to use money ef Look, in fact, some of these folks have been do work for years and, you know, we launched Choose Iowa in 2023.

I want to give credit where cred There's been a lot of work done for many years to build this.

We're going to the next level.

I think bringing that kind of um and that kind of support.

We're investing millions as a st in to Choose Iowa grant programs we do have a very small pilot pr that does roughly the same thing we're asking for additional supp from the legislature to do this.

And we will be advocating, for a continuation of this effor at the national level at USDA, we think it's perfectly reasonable for USDA to be involved in something like But you've got to look again, this is back to the right?

Well, why why recreate the will?

That's what I don't understand.

Well, you may not have to.

You may be able to run the progr as it is.

It's the funding source, Donnell I mean, you can't you can't ignore that piece of i and funding things in a way that's not sustainable in terms of the source of that f If that's coming out of the CCC through normal appropriations.

I mean, that is actually somethi that's worth just, acknowledging the distinction fo We want something that can actua the test of time, be around, be something that you can plan f It doesn't have a cliff that dro at some point.

I mean, I think that's worth that's worth acknowledging I thi We're down to our last about 90 seconds here already.

I wanted to really quick ask you at the Statehouse, last time on you, were asked about eminent do carbon capture pipelines and sai you can see both sides of that i from both landowner rights and t to make certain products in Iowa given that debate.

And that's continuing and maybe even escalating up at the Statehouse this year, and landowners pushing even harder for, the, for example, a bill that would just straight out ban domain for hazardous liquid pipe Do you feel then compelled to ta a more firm position on that?

And again, also through the lens of a possible, different campaig Yeah.

Well, look, this continues to be it's a very emotional issu And I, I really do believe that we need to take this in two It is the CO2 pipeline piece its and the impact on ethanol and corn prices and l and all those things.

And then there is this question domain and the proper usage of i Look, here's here's what I'll say.

The you have to try to achieve some.

I normally I would say you should try to achieve balanc In this case.

You don't want bal You want the thumb of law on the on the scale of the landowner.

You want it to be hard.

You want it to be difficult.

You want it to be a least, least desirable option to use eminent Nobody likes it.

Nobody wants to but you got to have laws around that are that that folks know how to play by the rules and that there's due process and the courts adjudicate that if the legislature wants to that balance or slide that scale then so be it.

it should be rare.

It should be, the least desirable option to get somethin And, and there should be overwhe voluntary agreements in place before something like a project.

Use any project with eminent domain would go forward.

I think that content should cont to be our guardrails.

There should be more time because we're out of it, Mr. Secretary.

Thank you.

As always, if you missed any of or want to watch any other episo of Iowa Press, you can find them all at iowapbs Kay will be back in this chair n for everybody here at Iowa PBS.

I'm Dave Price, thanks for joini Funding for Iowa Press was provi by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundat the Associated General Contracto of Iowa, the public's partner in Iowa's highway, bridge and munic utility infrastructure across Io Hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communitie jobs, and help local businesses.

Iowa banks are proud to back the you build.

Learn more at iowabankers.com.