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Northey feels closer to U.S.D.A. spot, but timeline for final vote not known

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Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey during a hearing on his nomination.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey’s nomination to a position in the U.S.D.A. cleared the committee level in the U.S. Senate last week, but he isn’t sure when the final step will take place.

“I’ve kind of given up making predictions, we are a step closer but still need that full Senate approval. So we’ll see when that happens — it could happen in the short term or it certainly could be awhile yet,” Northey says. Northey says he continues to work at his current job and is doing what he can to prepare when the final approval comes.

“As we think about getting folks ready — whoever that next secretary is — we make sure that we have all the documents that help that next secretary learn what the department is doing to make that transition really easy,” Northey says. “We have great folks at the department. I am very blessed to have folks who know what they are doing, do a great job.” Northey was nominated on September 1st to become the U.S.D.A. Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation. He’s been waiting for the process to take its course since then.

“It does seem like it is getting closer. It’s getting a little more real now as a possibility — but again — I don’t know if that’s months away are days away,” according to Northey. Northey became Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture in 2007.

Harvest still behind with yields looking better than expected

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The harvest progress last week, but still remains well behind.

The warm weather last week allowed farmers to get in a lot of combine time as the corn harvest moved ahead by 10 percent and the soybean effort by 29 percent.

State Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey says after worries about a late start and drought, farmers have been seeing some good things. “For the most part yields have been good. Most of the folks have been happy,” Northey says.

He says some farmers are seeing better yields than they figured to have a few months ago. “Even those area that had a real dry part of the summer…their yields are definitely down from last year. But they may be better than what they thought they would be going into harvest,” Northey says. “Our yields have been good in northwest Iowa as well, harvest has been moving along. Thank goodness we had a dry week last week.”

The U.S.D.A. crop report Monday showed that 23 percent of the corn crop has been harvested — which is the smallest percentage by this date since 2009 and more than two weeks behind average. The bean harvest moved to 61 percent — but is also the smallest percentage harvested by this date since 2009. Northey says cooler weather doesn’t help with drying the crop — and as we head into the last full week of October — the urgency increases for farmers with crops still in the fields.

“We all look around the corner, we know November is coming. We all remember that a couple of decades ago there was a Halloween storm that buried a lot of crops out in the field, and folks have that in their mind, and the clock is ticking,” Northey says. “So, there are folks who will spend a lot of hours (in the field) when it finally gets fit.” When the harvest conditions are right you can see combines crisscrossing the fields day and night.”

“We hope that they’re all safe and certainly everybody out on the gravel roads and the highways needs to watch for that farm equipment,” according to Northey. “They’re working hard and sometimes it’s hard to be able to see some of the other traffic that is on the road as well.”

Northey farms near Spirit Lake and says he’s gotten all his beans harvested, but not the corn.

Trade trip increases optimism for return of ethanol, poultry exports to China

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Members of an Iowa trade delegation to China are expressing optimism that markets for trade of several products will be reopened with that country.

One of the big items is ethanol and the byproduct from the production of ethanol known as dried distillers grains or DDG’s.

Iowa Corn Growers Association president Kurt Hora, spoke about the issue during a conference call from the country.  “To be able to gain market access for those two products would be huge here in China. We know what a difference they’ve made to our livestock and our environment there in Iowa, and we know we can help them make a difference here,” Hora says.

He says they are also hoping to get broader acceptance of biotech corn. “We’ve been able to utilize biotech traits and looking for approval of the rest of the traits that’s helped us clean up our water and clean up our environment there in Iowa,” Hora says. “And we hope that they will embrace those traits and accept them so we can use them worldwide and get them over here.”

Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey.

Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey says China used to be a major importer of DDG’s, and Iowa as the nation’s leader in ethanol production has felt the loss of that market. “Losing that market for the DDG’s has impacted the profitability of our plants. Ethanol itself needs to come in here this market as well. There’s additional taxes recently on ethanol — so that is extremely limited now,” Northey.

The avian influenza outbreak that struck Iowa caused China to stop importing those birds. Iowa Turkey Federation executive director Gretta Irwin says she had some good talks with the Chinese representatives.

“The experience I think has been very mutual and very warm and friendly,” Irwin says. “And so for us in the turkey industry to have that opportunity to someday hopefully sell back into China a safe quality turkey product to meet their growing need for protein is very exciting for us.” It is the first trip for Irwin to China. She says they discussed importing turkeys for use in homes and also for commercial use.

“We’re seeing some very strong interest in fast food restaurants in China to be adding some turkey products,” Irwin explains. “So I am leaving here very optimistic and just very exciting for everything that we’ve been seeing here. It’s been an exceptionally wonderful experience.” Discussions are also underway on other poultry products such as chickens and eggs.

Kevin Stiles of the Iowa Egg Council says there are talks of exporting chickens from both countries. “I think we are in agreement that there are opportunities for U.S.D.A. to closely evaluate that opportunity for them to ship cooked poultry into the United States,” Stiles says. “And I think they realize that there are also opportunities for regionalization so that we can resume (shipping) poultry and poultry products into China.”

The regionalization he mentioned involves Chinese officials inspecting individual areas of the United States that were free from avian influenza and could import products. Stiles says they hope to eventually be able to export eggs to China.

“Several people we talked to thought that that was an opportunity. We’ve got some protocol that needs to be put in place,” Stiles says. He says they see that more of a long-term opportunity three to five years down the road. Stiles says the Chinese officials have been pleased with the added biosecurity since the bird flu outbreak and that has made the export of poultry more possible.

“We are getting close, I think they are appreciative of all that we do to guard against further outbreaks of avian influenza and limit any outbreaks that might occur,” Stiles says. “And so there’s a renewed confidence in our biosecurity efforts in Iowa and the entire United States.” Governor Kim Reynolds led the delegation to China.

April showers bring May worries about corn planting

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We’re more than a month into spring, yet frost, flurries and snowfall are again in the weekend forecast. It’s annoying for many Iowans who want to start enjoying the outdoors but it’s a huge financial threat for many farmers who can’t plant their crops.

Dennis Todey, director of the U.S.D.A.’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says it’ll stay rainy and cold for a while.

“The models are keeping some of the heavier rain further to the south, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, but even if that does happen, we have soils that are still wet and we’re going to have cloudy, cool conditions,” Todey says. “Those are not situations to be able to warm soils up very quickly.”

The weekend forecast calls for up to an inch of snow possible across parts of northern and western Iowa on Sunday into Monday, with rain over the rest of the state. That rain likely won’t let up either.

“There is still the potential for a couple of systems coming through over the next week to ten days which are bringing a lot of moisture with them,” Todey says. “We have to keep an eye on those and see exactly who gets the rainfall out of this and how much.” Todey says it may be the middle of next month before we’ll see much of a change.

“There are hints that maybe toward the second week of May there will be a little bit of a pattern shift away from this,” Todey says, “but that’s going to be late enough to have some people concerned at this point.” Iowa Agriculture Secretary, Bill Northey, says things vary a great deal across the state.

He says some of the areas that have been wet haven’t gotten started at all, while some areas in southeast Iowa and some up near the Minnesota border got started with some planting.

Northey, who farms near Spirit Lake, says farmers are poised to get the planters moving as soon as they get dry weather.

“Folks can cover a lot of ground pretty quickly once it does gets nice. But I know as we get into late April, folks are starting to get anxious to get that corn in the ground,” according to Northey. It looks like the month of April is going to slip away before that dry weather appears, but Northey says there’s still some time before things get too serious.

“Even the first week of May is certainly fine,” Northey says, “once we get past the seventh or tenth of May — then farmers are getting nervous. They’ll still plant corn in many cases rather than switching to beans at that stage. But, starting to really get anxious once we hit the May time period, and especially a week or ten days into May.”

Northey knows what farmers are going through as he says he hasn’t been able to get into the fields and get any of his corn planted yet.

(Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton contributed to this report)

12 new urban water quality demonstration projects announced

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Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds with Governor Branstad and Ag Secretary Bill Northey.

Governor Terry Branstad, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds  and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced today that 12 urban water quality demonstration projects have been selected to receive state funding.

“Obviously water quality is a very important issue in this state. And this announcement is the next step for the Iowa Water Quality Initiative, which is continuing the effort to improve the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy,” Branstad says. Reynolds says the communities of Ankeny, Burlington, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Clive, Denison, Des Moines, Emmetsburg, Readlyn, Slater, Spencer, Urbandale, Windsor Heights and Waterloo are participating.

“The projects will focus on conservation measures that capture storm water and allowed it to be absorbed into the ground. And reduce a property’s contribution to water quality degradation, stream flows and flooding,” Reynolds says. She says the projects will each get some money.

Display shows the 12 water quality projects.

She says the state will supply $820,840 dollars and $1.8 million will be supplied from other sources. Ag Secretary Northey says this is the third time that urban conservation projects have been funded through the Water Quality Initiative and there are currently 22 active or completed urban demonstration projects across the state. He says they add to what’s being done in rural areas.

“We provided more than 30 million dollars of support to demonstration projects and practice adoption in rural areas and nearly $2.5 million dollars in urban projects. Our approach in rural areas is to offer a statewide cost share to farmers interested in trying over crops, no till, strip till, nitrification inhibitors,” Northey says.

He says the demonstration projects play a key role in developing ways to improve water quality. “The demonstration projects have helped us to identify gaps in the current state and federal programs. And it has also allowed us to be able to be more effective in driving adoption of these practices,” Northey says. “It’s also allowed us — as the lieutenant governor mentioned — to work with lots and lots of partners across the state.”

Water quality has been a key issue in the state, with some groups saying these projects are taking too long. They also say the Iowa Water Quality Initiative that was established in 2013 hasn’t come close to achieving its goal of a 45 percent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus released into state waters. Governor Branstad says they are making progress.

“First of all we know this is a long-term problem that we need to address. And by having a growing source of funding, we think that we can speed up the progress that is being made,” according to Branstad. “We’re pleased that there is progress being made — obviously we want to see more progress being made — and this long-term, reliable source of funding will make it possible for us to do that.” Northey says the demonstration projects have laid the groundwork for continued water quality improvement.

“What we’ve been doing is building the base, building the understanding ,the skills and now what we have this in place, is the understanding of where we would spend those next dollars as we make additional contributions. And how we would bring lots of other folks into this effort,” Northey says. The new projects were announced at the governof’s weekly news conference with reporters.

Here’s a short summary of each of the new projects:

Parkway Watershed in Prairie Trail – City of Ankeny
Grant award: $70,030 Total project: $140,062
Description: This project brings together local partners to build on stormwater management efforts within in the Prairie Trail area in Ankeny and will serve as a model for future installations of similar practices in community. Practices that will be installed as part of this project include a stormwater wetland, sediment forebay and native seeding in the Saylor Creek Watershed, which will be coupled with and education and outreach component to showcase the benefits of installation.

Implementing and Educating: Stormwater Management for Education Institutions in Black Hawk County (Cities of Waterloo and Cedar Falls) – Black Hawk Soil and Water Conservation District Grant award: $105,500 Total project: $493,500
Description: This project will partner with three local educational institutions including Cedar Falls Community School District, Hawkeye Community College and the University of Northern Iowa to install stormwater management practices at respective campus locations and in alignment with the goals of providing educational opportunities focused on demonstrating project water quality benefits. Practices that will be installed as part of the project efforts will include multiple bioretention cells, native planting, and permeable pavement.

Tama Building Permeable Alley – City of Burlington
Grant award: $75,000 Total project: $191,650
Description: The City of Burlington will be installing a permeable alley for this project as part of downtown historic redevelopment project in a highly visible area. This project will serve as a catalyst for stormwater management and water quality project in the community and will provide a model for future efforts.

Infiltration Practices along 6th Street SW Corridor – City of Cedar Rapids
Grant award: $100,000 Total project: $206,600
Description: The City of Cedar Rapids has brought together a team of local partners to build on current stormwater management efforts underway in the community with the goal of promoting benefits of water volume control along with improved water quality. The practices that will be installed as part of this project consists of two bioretention cell systems which will treat and reduce stormwater volumes along the 6th street corridor area.

Clay County Fair Centennial Plaza (City of Spencer) – Clay County Fair Association
Grant award: $50,000 Total project: $100,000
Description: This project will support a strong local partnership group brought together to lead efforts in the development of the new Clay County Fairgrounds Centennial Plaza project by incorporation of urban conservation and educational components. This project will include installation a permeable pavers and bioretention cells along with education signage, outreach and demonstration components in a highly visible area to support local urban water quality improvement efforts.

Downtown Denison Urban Conservation Project – City of Denison
Grant award: $73,560 Total project: $147,120
Description: The City of Denison will be installing four bioretention cells and one permeable paver system in the downtown area as part of this project. This retrofit demonstration project will offer multiple water quality benefits, along with strong local support and community involvement, in a highly visible area with the goal of using this project as an example for future community infrastructure projects.

Five Island Lake Campground Urban Watershed Project – City of Emmetsburg
Grant award: $49,250 Total project: $98,500
Description: Five Island Lake has recently undergone extensive lake restoration activities and is transitioning to protection of their investment by also protecting the surrounding land. Project grant funds will be utilized to install multiple bioretention cells and native seeding as part of a former dredge silt site which has been repurposed into a new campground. These practices will blend into the new campground and showcase benefits of these practices to campers and park guests.

Fourmile Creek Watershed Project Sediment Basin Forebay and Stormwater Wetland – City of Des Moines and Fourmile Watershed Management Authority (WMA)
Grant award: $75,000 Total project: $150,000
Description: This project will coincide with the implementation goals of the Fourmile Creek Watershed Management Plan to improve water quality and includes two major components, a sediment basin forebay and a stormwater wetland. These practices will work together to reduce sediment and stormwater pollutants from entering Fourmile Creek Watershed and provide education and outreach opportunities to promote future projects in Fourmile Creek.

Walnut Creek WMA Project Implementation: Urbandale and Clive Nutrient Treatment/Flood Storage Wetlands (Cities of Urbandale and Clive) – The Nature Conservancy
Grant award: $45,000 Total project: $90,000
Description: This project will implement several stormwater wetlands which have been identified in the Clive Greenbelt and Walnut Creek WMA Master Plans. The wetlands targeted for construction will be accomplished through restoration of stream oxbows and will provide multiple benefits including nutrient reduction, flood storage and riparian habitat. Educational opportunities will be incorporated into the project with the goal of providing expanded opportunities for future similar installations.

City of Readlyn Urban WQI: Initial Steps toward a Large Scale Effort- City of Readlyn
Grant award: $70,000 Total project: $167,500
Description: This catalyst project will support a strong local partnership brought together with the common goal of building a stormwater quality management program within the City of Readlyn. This project will partner with the SRF Sponsored Projects Program to install a series of bioretention cells in an area of town which has been historically subject to large stormwater runoff volumes.

City of Slater Permeable Paver Project – City of Slater
Grant award: $100,000 Total project: $200,805
Description: This project will incorporate a permeable paver system and enhanced raingarden into the existing municipal city pool parking lot within Earl Grimm Park. This highly visible project will manage runoff and improve water quality in the headwaters of Fourmile Creek, which is directly adjacent to the planned project site.

Colby Water Quality Demonstration Park – City of Windsor Heights
Grant award: $7,500 Total project: $17,000
Description: The goal of this project is to create a water quality themed demonstration park within the city owned Colby Park. The City of Windsor Heights will be installing three stormwater management practices as part of this project including a rain garden, soil quality restoration, and native landscaping, which will serve to provide education and demonstration for a variety of public events.

More information about the initiative can be found at http://www.CleanWaterIowa.org

Governor and other Republicans respond to King’s tweet

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Governor Terry Branstad.

A racially-charged tweet from Iowa Congressman Steve King is prompting criticism from both sides of the political aisle. King, a Republican from Kiron, sent out a tweet Sunday indicating he supports a right-wing Dutch politician who opposes immigration and has spoken against Islam.

King’s tweet says, “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.” Democrat Howard Dean called King “a total ignoramus,” but King’s tweet earned praise from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who tweeted in all caps, “GOD BLESS STEVE KING!!!”

That prompted Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann to issue a statement, saying Duke’s words are “absolute garbage” and disagreeing with King, adding: “We are a nation of immigrants and diversity is the strength of any nation.”

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad responded today during his weekly meeting with reporters. “I disagree with what Steve King had to say and we certainly don’t want David Duke and his kind to come to Iowa,” Branstad says. Branstad was pressed about whether King’s comments are becoming a bigger problem for Republicans.

“You know, Steve King is Steve King, so we all know that,” Branstad says. Branstad was asked to explain what he meant. “He from time-to-time says things that we just don’t agree with and we’ve always been honest with that,” Branstad says. “We’ve worked with him on a lot of things and some of the things that he says we just think are wrong and we disagree with.”

Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds responded to the question if King’s comments represent the feelings of people in the Fourth District he represents.”I don’t believe it’s reflective of Iowans or Iowa values, so we disagree, I strongly disagree, and I do not believe that that is reflective of Iowans throughout the state,” according to Reynolds. Branstad also commented on whether King’s statement reflects “the values” of the Fourth Congressional District.

“This statement certainly doesn’t,” Branstad says. “On some things like renewable energy, we work with him on, and certainly he’s got a district that’s got more renewable energy than any other congressional district in the country. And obviously that’s something that we care deeply about and he does as well. But we disagree with this kind of a statement.” Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey was at the weekly news conference to talk about another issue. Northey was asked about King’s statements as he endorsed King in the last election.

Northey says he supports the comments of the lieutenant governor and governor on the issue. “You know Iowans are very clear about how they feel about these issues. I’ve certainly been a supporter of the congressman on many, many issues, and would continue to support him on those issues and disagree with him on others,” Northey says. Northey says he supports King on agriculture and renewable energy issues, but says there are times when there are disagreements with King, as he says there are with anyone.

“You know there’s comments that are different than lots of other folks would make. And I think everybody is an individual and we treat everybody as an individual,” Northey says. ” I think the governor said it right that ‘Steve King is Steve King’ and every person is different and take it at face value.” The governor followed up and said they have to “look at the totality of the situation with each individual.”

Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelly also contributed to this story.

Iowans react to nomination of U.S. Agriculture Secretary

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The nomination of former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as the new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture is bringing a mixed review from the head of Iowa’s biggest ethanol and biodiesel-backing organization.

Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says he’s hopeful Perdue will be receptive to getting behind the many benefits of renewable energy.

“Former Governor Perdue has long ties to agriculture and I think out of a lot of the people they were looking at, he’ll do a fine job and we’ll look forward to working with him,” Shaw says. “He probably comes with a little bit of a Southern livestock perspective on renewable fuels which is not always that positive.” Iowa is the nation’s number-one producer of biofuels. Shaw says he’s concerned none of President-elect Trump’s cabinet picks are openly on-board with renewable fuels.

“You can look at the cabinet nominations as a whole and there is no one there from the Midwest and there’s no one there that has a positive track record on the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Shaw says. “That doesn’t mean everybody’s been negative. Some of them just haven’t said anything.”

Shaw says he’s hopeful Trump will be sharing his pro-renewable fuels standard views with each cabinet nominee.

“We would’ve hoped that someone there, when they get that group together, would’ve been able to bring a perspective that was more positive to renewable fuels,” Shaw says. “It’s a little worrying that there’s not that voice around the table.” While Perdue is the final cabinet member to be nominated to the incoming administration, Shaw says it’s still possible other somewhat-lesser-ranking officials will still be appointed who are ethanol-friendly.

“Why don’t we ensure that there are some Midwestern voices?” Shaw says. “Why don’t we ensure that there are some pro-RFS voices, especially at the EPA, so that there’s some internal balance, so that when the EPA leadership team gets together to discuss things, someone around that table has a positive view of renewable fuels that matches the president?” Iowa has 43 ethanol refineries statewide that produce more than 4 billion gallons each year.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey on Perdue:

“Governor Perdue has a very good reputation within the ag industry and I look forward to working with him as he leads USDA. He has a strong background in agriculture, having grown up on a farm, is a veterinarian and has worked in the agribusiness sector. USDA is a critically important partner for our Department and I’m excited to continue that strong working relationship around issues of animal health, soil conservation, water quality and many others.”

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, a member of the Senate Ag Committee on Perdue:

“Throughout the last eight years, the picture painted of the state of our agriculture economy is far rosier than the realities on the ground. Iowans lead our nation in pork, soybean and corn production, and folks want strong leadership and forward thinking in the Department of Agriculture. Too often, agricultural priorities fall to the wayside, and we need to address head-on the many urgent issues that plague our farmers and producers.

“As a veterinarian, Mr. Perdue understands the agriculture industry, and has executive branch experience as a former governor. I look forward to thoroughly vetting him for this position before our committee.”

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley on Perdue:

“The Secretary of Agriculture oversees a broad swath of very important American policy that helps feed and fuel the world. Understanding and having an appreciation of the institution of the family farm like we have in Iowa and the Midwest, which is the strength of American agriculture, is important. This is especially true as we think about policies that will enable the next generation of farmers to make a living producing the food and renewable fuels the world needs. I look forward to meeting with Governor Perdue and learning his views on agriculture.”

Harvest down to the final days in most of state

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corn-combine-300x203The recent spell of warm and sunny weather has allowed many farmers to either finish come very close to completing this year’s harvest.

The latest U.S.D.A crop report shows 94 percent of the corn crop has been harvested — and for the first time this year the harvest is not behind the five-year average. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey talked about the harvest during a stop in northwest Iowa.

“It’s really coming along very good, we have some parts of Iowa that are done, and the tillage is done and fertilizer going on the ground,” Northey says. He doesn’t expect it to take too much longer before all the combines have finished their work.

“We do see a lot of progress, the forecast is good, the conditions are very good now, the corn is drying down and I would imagine within the next week or so there won’t be too many acres left in the field,” Northey says.

The numbers he’s hearing on the harvest are good for corn. “Average yield in Iowa across all acres expected to be199 bushels and acre,” Northey says. “And 59 bushels and acre for soybeans. Again that’s a record.”

Northey, who farms near Spirit Lake says his harvest is completed after some weather setbacks. “We had a little wet spell in the middle, so we had a little bit of mud in the middle. And I had a little too much rain in May when I planted some of the corn, so we had some stand issues. My corn crop wasn’t the best I’ve had — it was a little bit better last year than this years,” Northey says.

The Agriculture Secretary says he has some post-harvest work left to do before wrapping everything up for the years. While harvest is winding down in most of the state, southwest and south central Iowa still have more than 10 percent of the corn crop and almost 10 percent of the soybean crop remaining to be harvested.

(Reporting by Dennis Morrice, KLEM, Le Mars)

Iowa Ag Secretary expects more focus on farming from Trump administration

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Ag Secretary Bill Northey visits with Bill Tentinger of Le Mars.

Ag Secretary Bill Northey visits with Bill Tentinger of Le Mars.

President-elect Donald Trump won strong support during last week’s election from voters in rural America and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey thinks the new administration will put a new, much-needed focus on farmers and farming.

“I think there will be a lot of attention paid to agriculture,” Northey says. “I don’t think that means new support programs or those kinds of things. I think it’s just going to be a very free market-oriented administration, not looking to spend extra dollars but definitely looking at rolling back regulations that aren’t doing what they should be doing.”

While Trump is on record saying he doesn’t like most, if any, of the current trade agreements, Northey does not think it means Iowa’s many millions of dollars in ag exports are in jeopardy.

“In some cases, the trade agreements have been very, very important and in some cases, certainly there is enforcement that could be better,” Northey says. “Maybe future trade agreements can be better than what they are but we need trade.” Northey, a Republican, sees trade agreements as being highly beneficial to agriculture, especially to Iowa agriculture.

“I’ve heard some folks for President-elect Trump that have said they’re supportive of trade,” Northey says. “They need better enforcement and if other areas saw as much positive for trade as agriculture did, they would have been in favor of trade deals.” Northey says Iowa is “a good example of the things that can work” with respect to international trade.

(Story and photo by Dennis Morrice, KLEM, Le Mars)

Water quality funding continues to be discussed statewide

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Governor Branstad with Jody and Jim Kerns at their tree farm.

Governor Branstad with Jody and Jim Kerns at their tree farm.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey says he appreciates the $9.6 million state legislators approved this past session for the state’s water quality initiative, but Northey is disappointed there wasn’t any long-term funding.

“We continue to see more businesses and farmers jump in to help,” Northey says. “We have foundations and the federal government, some programs that will help. We’ll certainly have a chance to be able to expand the effort this next fiscal year.”

Northey believes lawmakers understand the water quality initiative is working and having producers implement it on a voluntary basis is also a big plus. He notes, it’s unfortunate legislators couldn’t work out a more unified master plan for water quality improvements.

“The nice thing was, there was a lot of agreement that the strategy is a worthwhile effort that’s making good progress, that needs to be the framework, a non-regulatory strategy needs to be the framework that funding would go into.”

Governor Branstad is touring several parts of the state inspecting water quality improvement efforts. On Wednesday, Branstad visited north-central Iowa. Iowa Soybean Association executive director Kirk Leeds says the governor was pleased with the work underway in Hamilton County. “In order to be successful on water quality improvements, we’re going to have to try a lot of different strategies,” Leeds says. “We wanted him to see it first-hand. He was very impressed. The farmers he met with, the farmers he talked to were absolutely committed to it and the good news is, our governor understands agriculture. He was able to connect his understanding of agriculture with the water quality practices.”

Leeds says Hamilton County is seen as one of the state’s leaders in nutrient reduction strategies. “There’s a great group of farmers and organizations in the community that are working in the Boone River which is important to all of us who grew up in Hamilton County to really look at practices both in the field and in the water that are going to improve the current water and the downstream water,” he says.

Branstad also toured a similar watershed area in southern Wright County this week. Last week, the governor visited water quality projects in northeast Iowa, including a tree farm near Edgewood. Jim Kerns and his wife bought the property in 1986.

“It was a 15-acre crop field on the property, so in 1992 we planted the crop field to trees,” Kerns says. “Just thought that was a better fit for our family at the time.” Jody Kerns says the tree farm is the site of frequent education classes for the Ed-Co School District.

“Many times we forget that trees are a very vital part of protecting the precious soils on our lands here in Iowa, which is some of our greatest resources that we have,” she says. The governor is holding events like this around the state to highlight soil and water conservation projects. It’s part of an effort to build public support for action in the legislature NEXT year on a massive water quality initiative.

Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton; Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City & Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester all contributed to this story. Photo by Janelle Tucker.