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Final pitches from would-be GOP nominees for ag sec (AUDIO)

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Mike Naig speaks as Zumbach, Lang, Ingels and Gaesser await their turns.

Five men still hoping to run for state ag secretary this fall gave their closing pitches to a group of Polk County Republicans Tuesday night.

No candidate got at least 35 percent of the vote in last week’s primary to secure the GOP nomination outright, so delegates at the Iowa GOP’s state convention will choose a nominee this Saturday.

Mike Naig replaced Bill Northey as state ag secretary in early March when Northey left for a job in the Trump Administration. Naig was the first place finisher in last week’s primary, with a fraction less than 35 percent.

“It is absolutely critically important that we maintain conservative leadership in the secretary’s office at the Department of Ag and we must be prepared for a competitive race against the Democrat candidate in November and so we’ve got to put our best foot forward,” Naig said. “I think the experience that I bring being in the office really brings a lot to the table.”

(See audio below to listen to each candidate’s remarks Tuesday night in Altoona.)

State Senator Dan Zumbach of Ryan was the second-place finisher in the primary, with about 20 percent of the vote. Zumbach emphasized his work in the legislature.

“This isn’t where I thought I’d be. I never thought I’d be a public speaker. I’m much more comfortable sitting in a tractor with the radio turned up, but here I am in front of a group of folks in Des Moines,” Zumbach said. “…Allow me to utilize my talents, my hard work and my passion to represent you.”

Craig Lang of Brooklyn was the third place finisher in the primary. Lang said his experience on the board that governs the three state universities as well as being a former Farm Bureau president equipped him for this new job.

“Our nominee must be prepared to take the battle to the Democrat nominee and win,” Lang said. “I ask you to judge my future ability to serve as your secretary of agriculture by judging my decades-long past performance of fighting and winner the fights that matter.”

Ray Gaesser of Corning, the past president of the Iowa and American Soybean Associations, argued those posts gave him experience in foreign export markets as well as with congress in writing the Farm Bill.

“I really don’t need a job. I really don’t want to be governor either or anything else,” Gaesser said. “I want to be the best secretary of agriculture that I can be and, I promise you, if you vote for me and elect me, I will be. And I know how to support the party.”

Chad Ingels of Randalia was the last place finisher in last Tuesday’s primary and Ingels told last the crowd he’s not at all embarrassed about it.

“I spent a fraction of the money on my campaign as the other candidates did,” Ingels said. “…I’m very proud of the 8000 votes I got in the last election and hope to get many more on Saturday.”

The Iowa Republican Party’s state convention schedule seems to indicate the process of selecting the GOP nominee for this post will begin early Saturday afternoon.

AUDIO of Naig’s speech

AUDIO of Zumbach’s speech

AUDIO of Lang’s speech

AUDIO of Gaesser’s speech

AUDIO of Ingels’ speech

Ernst calls talks with North Korea a first step on a long road

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Senator Joni Ernst talks with reporters Saturday.

Senator Joni Ernst says she is “excited about the opportunity” President Trump’s summit with North Korea’s leader presents.

“We have faced a nuclear North Korea for quite a while now. That’s something we don’t want to face and so the president is attempting to address that,” Ernst said this weekend. “Now, it’s a two-way street. The North Koreans have to want to play as well and so we hope that Kim Jung Un will step up to the plate.”

Trump is scheduled to meet one-on-one with North Korea’s leader tomorrow in Singapore and Trump told reporters there this morning he is “hopeful things could work out quite nicely.” Ernst cautioned that the meeting in Singapore is “just a first step.”

“This is a long road, but we hope that the North Koreans will be compliant,” Ernst said.

On the way to Singapore, Trump lashed out at Canada’s prime minister over unresolved trade disputes. Ernst spoke with reporters on Saturday morning — before the dust-up.

“Canada is not good for our agricultural products. They push back on our dairy and if they want to negotiate in good faith, they’ve got to give a little as well,” Ernst said.

Ernst has said it’s important that the renegotiation of NAFTA be completed or Trump may strike a deal just with Mexico. Trump’s blast at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came after Trump, Trudeau and the other leaders of the world’s top seven industrialized nations met in Canada. Ernst downplays the idea U.S. alliances would be easily damaged.

“You have to remember it’s not just the president who works with delegations from other countries,” Ernst said Saturday during a news conference at her “Roast and Ride” fundraiser. “We hae senators. We have congressman. We have the state department. We have a lot of wonderful folks that will work through any difficulties that might seem to appear on the surface.”

On Sunday, Trump’s top trade negotiator said there was a “special place in hell” for Trudeau, who he accused of stabbing Trump in the back by saying Canada would not be bullied by the U.S.

Hubbell backs 3/8ths percent increase in sales tax, for water improvement

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Fred Hubbell

Fred Hubbell, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, backs an increase in the state sales tax to finance water quality projects around the state.

The money would flow into a special state trust fund Iowa voters approved eight years ago, but state lawmakers have never approved the three-eights-of-a-cent sales tax increase that would plug money into the account. Hubbell says that increase could be phased in over three years.

“Many other states in our country have — including Minnesota and Missouri have already done it, years ago, and they’re seeing the benefits from it and we’re not,” Hubbell says, “and if we do that, it’s constitutionally protected.”

That’s because Iowa voters approved a constitutional amendment creating the fund, and specifying what the money may be spent on.

“We voters approved a constitutional amendment with more votes than Governor Branstad got in 2010,” Hubbell says. “People want this because they know that it’s going to improve their parks, their recreation, their ability to hunt and fish and recreate across the state as well as protect the top soil and improve the water quality.”

Hubbell opposes state limits on how much nitrogen and phosphorus may be applied to farm fields or urban yards. Hubbell says he supports the voluntary approach to reducing farm chemical run-off that state officials outlined five years ago, but Hubbell says the water quality funding plan Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed in January doesn’t provide enough state money.

“The Nutrient Reduction Strategy is a good strategy going forward, but come on. It’s a $4.5 billion problem, so we need to put some serious muscle behind it,” Hubbell says, “not just $20 million a year that’s taken out of education and health care.”

Hubbell says Iowa needs a “unified effort” to address water quality concerns.

“We all need clean water and we all need our farms to be successful, so we need to work together,” Hubbell says. “Branstad and Reynolds have not done a good job of trying to bring people together to address this issue. Rather, they’ve tried to make it a fight between urban Iowa and rural Iowa. Rural Iowa needs clean water just like urban Iowa does. Urban Iowa needs farms to be successful just like rural Iowa does.”

Hubbell made his comments this morning during taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight at 7:30.  Video of the program is online now.

Governor Branstad often said while voters in 2010 approved creating a water improvement trust fund, they did not vote to raise the sales tax. A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll conducted this past February found two-thirds of Iowans supported raising the sales tax by one percent to finance initiatives to improve water quality and mental health care options.

Pat Garrett, a campaign spokesman for Governor Reynolds, issued a written statement this afternoon. “Governor Reynolds is proud of the progress made on water quality this year and looks forward to doing more, but she does not support a stand alone tax increase like her opponent does,” Garrett said. “She would only consider it as part of a larger tax reform agreement.”

Trump Administration official says pork producers at ‘tip of the spear’ in trade disputes

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A key federal official says things are going to get “a little more difficult” for farmers as the Trump Administration seeks to alter global trade — and Gregg Doud warns pork producers are “at the tip of the spear.”

 “Depending on how you slice it and dice it, over $20 billion of our $140 billion in ag exports currently has or is likely to have retaliatory tariffs against it,” said Doud, the chief agricultural negotiator in the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office.

He spoke at the World Pork Expo yesterday (Thursday) — two days after Mexico slapped import duties on U.S. pork in response to the Trump Administration’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum from Mexico. It adds new tensions in the 10-month effort to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“NAFTA is certainly important to agriculture,” Doud said. “It’s critical to agriculture and we’ve got to get that worked out.”

Doud said there are “long-festering” issues with China that will take some time to resolve, too. He says China must be stopped from stealing U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property. Doud, who grew up on a farm in Kansas, said the Trump Administration will “play offense” and seek to open new markets for ag commodities in places like Japan.

(Reporting by Ken Anderson of Brownfield Ag News)

Industry leader says hog farmers ‘bleeding’ red ink due to trade disputes

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Jim Heimerl

The president of the National Pork Producers Council says pig farmers are taking a financial beating as the Trump Administration seeks to reduce the U.S. trade deficit.

“The president has said he wouldn’t abandon farmers and we’ve taken him at his word, but we need him to end these trade disputes now,” says Jim Heimerl, an Ohio hog farmer who leads the organization.

Heimerl is in Des Moines this week for the World Pork Expo. He had this message for reporters during a news conference.

“I wanted to come here wearing band aides to get the point across to you, to say that, you know, we are bleeding,” Heimerl says.

According to an Iowa State University analysis, hog futures have plummeted $18 per head since China first proposed retaliatory tariffs.

“That’s a $2.2 billion dollar industry loss on an annualized basis,” Heimerl said.

While that drop isn’t completely due to trade issues, Heimerl indicated it’s the dominant factor and involves more than just the impasse with China.

“Now, with Mexico’s action, the toll on rural America will mount,” Heimerl said.

Mexico imposed tariffs on U.S. pork this week.

“We need to get this fixed now. Mexico is the number two export market for pork and China is number three,” Heimerl said. “We appreciate all the trade issues the administration is balancing, but we are startking to take on water fast.”

Heimerl Farms is located outside of Columbus, Ohio, and operates 140 livestock barns and a feed mill. About 20-thousand people are attending the World Pork Expo in Des Moines. A thousand of them are international visitors, representing 40 different countries.

(Reporting by Brownfield’s Mark Dorenkamp)

Dialing for delegates, the new path to GOP nomination for ag secretary

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The man who’s been Iowa’s secretary of agriculture since March found out early this morning he will have to convince delegates at the Republican Party’s state convention to nominate him for the November ballot.

Mike Naig was appointed to the post after Bill Northey resigned to take a job in the Trump Administration. Unofficial returns from all 99 counties were tabulated shortly after 1 a.m.,  showing Naig finished a quarter-of-a-percent short of the 35 percent support he needed from primary voters to earn the GOP’s nomination for ag secretary.

“We feel like Republicans sent a pretty clear message that they are pleased with direction that we’re going right now and the job that I’m doing as secretary, so I’m grateful for that support,” Naig said during a mid-morning interview with Radio Iowa. “If you look at the outcomes, we won in 60 counties. We topped 30,000 votes.”

Republican Congressman David Young was the last major General Election candidate chosen at a nominating convention. Those delegates did not choose the primary winner and, instead, picked Young, who finished fifth in the primary. Naig said he’ll take nothing for granted as this race moves to another phase.

“It’s important to obviously note the support that we had across the state on (Primary) Election Day. I think that’s an important factor…but in a lot of ways, things start over when you go to convention and we’ve got to earn the support of those delegates and we were working hard to earn that support over the last several weeks,” Naig said, “and with renewed effort here this morning.”

Naig will face competition at the nominating convention from the four other Republicans are were running for the post. State Senator Dan Zumbach, a farmer from Ryan, was the second-place finisher in the primary, with just over a fifth of the vote. Former Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Lang of Brooklyn finished in third and, in a written statement issued early this morning, Lang vowed to make a “strong case” to convention delegates that he has statewide appeal.

Ray Gaesser, a farmer from Corning who finished fourth. Gaesser told Radio Iowa early this morning he had already called each of the 1600 delegates to the Republican state convention. Chad Ingels of Randalia finished in fifth with a little less than nine percent of the primary vote.

World Pork Expo opens today at Iowa State Fairgrounds

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More than 20,000 pork producers and industry officials from across the U.S. and around the planet are in Iowa for the World Pork Expo, opening today.

The Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines is hosting the 30th annual event. Doug Fricke, spokesman for the sponsoring National Pork Producers Council, says the trade show has expanded into both the Jacobsen Exhibition Center and the Varied Industries Building, as well as outdoors.

Fricke says, “The newest, latest, greatest things that are out there for producers to take a look at or learn about at the show, that’s one of the greatest things about an event like this, is the amount of things you can take away from it.” The show attracts pork industry officials from all over the U.S. and 40 other countries.

“That’s one of the neat things about the show as well, all of the folks who attend internationally,” Fricke says. “We’ve got a wide variety of attendees and exhibitors at the show who are all coming here because this is the place to be.” Some 500 companies from around the world will be on-site, displaying products and services at booths, outdoor exhibits and in hospitality tents.

The expo runs today through Friday. Learn more at: www.worldpork.org

(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)

 

GOP’s ag secretary nominee to be chosen by state convention delegates

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Mike Naig

The man who’s been state ag secretary since March appears to have fallen a fraction short of the 35 percent threshold he needed in yesterday’s primary to win the Republican Party’s nomination for ag secretary.

Shortly after 1 a.m. today all 99 counties had reported results and Mike Naig had 34.74 percent. That means delegates at the Iowa GOP’s state convention on June 16th will decide who to nominee for state ag secretary. State Senator Dan Zumbach, a farmer from Ryan, finished close behind Naig. Ray Gaesser, a farmer from Corning, is also in the extended race with Naig.

“My strategy for our team has always been that we thought it would go to the state convention,” Gaesser told Radio Iowa early this morning. “I”ve personally made about 1600 calls to the delegates to the state convention and shared with them my vision for Iowa agriculture.”

Gaesser is the former president of the Iowa and the American Soybean Associations. Gaesser said he’s been on many trade missions and developed relationships with officials in countries that can yield expanded access to foreign markets for Iowa farmers.

Former Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Lang, another of the GOP’s ag secretary candidates, issued a written statement early this morning, saying the election returns show he had “broad support across the entire state” and “that makes a strong case” Republican state convention delegates should nominate him.

Five Republicans seek four-year term as state ag secretary

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This year’s Republican Primary voters are choosing among five candidates vying to be their party’s nominee for state ag secretary.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey resigned in March to take a job in the Trump Administration. Northey’s top deputy has been state ag secretary since then. His name is Mike Naig and he’s running to keep the job.

His Republican rivals are Ray Gaesser of Corning, former president of the Iowa and American Soybean Associations; Chad Ingels of Randalia, a former chair of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission; Craig Lang of Brooklyn, former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau and Dan Zumbach, a state senator from Ryan.

Gene Lucht, public affairs editor for Iowa Farmer Today, says each of the five Republican candidates seeking a full, four-year term as state ag secretary have their own niche.

“Mike Naig, who’s the incumbent, but not really the incumbent because he hasn’t won an election and hasn’t been in that post very long,” Lucht says. “You’ve got Craig Lang with his Farm Bureau background. You’ve got Dan Zumbach with his legislative background. Ray Gasser kind of comes from the commodity group approach and Chad Ingels kind of has the farmer and water quality background.”

In a majority of states, governors appoint an agriculture commissioner or state secretary of agriculture. Iowa is among a dozen states in which voters choose the top agricultural official in state government. Lucht says the race isn’t as high-profile as other contests on the Iowa primary ballot.

“Five candidates and secretary of agriculture is kind of a weird election because you have a lot of people who go into the polls and they look at governor and they look at congress,” Lucht says, “and then get to those other statewide posts and they flip a coin.”

This race may not be decided Tuesday night either. That’s because a candidate must win at least 35 percent of the primary vote to win their party’s nomination or the party will assemble delegates for a nominating convention later in June.

In this race, that decision would be made June 16th by delegates at the Republican Party’s state convention.

“Predicting the race is just really challenging, I suspect they’re all running two races,” Lucht says. “They’re all running to try to get to 35 percent, but they’re also probably talking to those convention delegates quite often.”

There is one Democrat running for state ag secretary this year. Tim Gannon worked in the U.S.D.A. for U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor. Gannon has moved back to Iowa, lives in Des Moines and is part of a family farming operation near Mingo.

Farm Bill fails in U.S. House, Grassley urges GOP to craft better bill

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Senator Chuck Grassley. (file photo)

A fight among House Republicans led to defeat of the Farm Bill when the legislation came up for a vote today.

Democrats had criticized the proposed Farm Bill because it includes a new work requirement for food stamp recipients who are in their 50s or the parents of school-aged children, but it was conservative Republicans in the U.S. House who defeated the bill for another reason. They were demanding an immediate vote on an immigration crack-down. Enough of them then cast a protest vote against the Farm Bill crafted by some of their fellow Republicans that the bill fell 15 votes short of passing.

The current Farm Bill expires September 30.

Senator Chuck Grassley is urging his fellow Republicans in the House to come up with “better” Farm Bill. Grassley, in a tweet, said the bill should deny federal farm subsidies to people who are not farmers and have merely invested in farmland.

Congressman Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Iowa City, was the first member of Iowa’s delegation in the U.S. House to release a written statement after today’s vote.

“House Republicans today showed they care more about being partisan than passing a farm bill to support Iowa’s farmers and rural communities. In what has historically been done in a bipartisan manner with a rural-urban coalition, this farm bill has devolved into a partisan food fight,” Loebsack said.