On the campaign trail to the office of Iowa secretary of agriculture, Democrat Patty Judge and Republican Dan Brown held a forum Tuesday night at the Scheman Building and answered the questions and concerns of audience members from the Iowa State community.

With less than two weeks until election day, both candidates were making their final pitches to the voters.

“I have been to 99 counties this summer, and I have been to over 30 state fairs — that is a lot of fairs in one summer,” Judge said. “But I learned a lot about what is concerning people. People have the same concerns that we do, and I would guess the same concerns you do.”

Judge is a lifelong farmer and still lives on a cow/calf farm with her husband in Monroe County. She was elected to the Iowa State Senate in 1992 and is a ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, the Natural Resources and Ways and Means Committee, Iowa’s Rural Health Advisory Board and the committee on Health Care Reform.

“I believe in Iowa’s farmers, and I believe in America’s farmers,” she said. “I have been a fighter all my life and I always will be, and I will fight for agriculture. Iowa is about agriculture; it will still drive our state in the future.”

Brown is serving his third term as mayor of Iowa Falls and is the professor and head of farm operations and management at Ellsworth Community College.

“I can bring to the table that I have worked on and off the farm,” he said. “I am a leader, and I always have been. I was a leader in high school and college, and I served my country with an all expense paid trip to sunny Vietnam where I was a platoon leader. “

The candidates fielded many different questions from concerned citizens about a wide variety of topics including the Freedom to Farm Act, water and soil resources and other issues facing farmers.

One of the many questions about the environment asked for each candidate’s plan to save Iowa soil from erosion and the quality of the water supply.

“I think that a lot of what we do has been production driven. When we focus on that we hurt the land,” Judge said. “We need to step-up our conservation effort.

“I believe it is absolutely necessary that the State of Iowa complete a water-quality program,” she said. “I cannot find an earthly reason why we don’t have a program.”

Brown agreed that the state needs to step-up its conservation efforts.

“We hold it during our lifetime; we depend on it for our lives,” he said. “We need to conserve our water for future generations. It is very important. We must have prevention, not treatment.”

Many students at the forum voiced concerns about the current problems with commodity prices and marketing.

“There are a lot of people in China. My mother was right when she said ‘Eat all of your food — there are children starving in China,'” Judge said. “I was there last year, and I saw all of it, but the marketing possibilities in Asian countries is unbelievable. We need to move our products over there.”

Brown also commented on world hunger.

“Feeding the world is one of the most basic ways we can solve the problems facing us,” he said. “People are starving around the world, and the food is not where it needs to be. We need to move it through the pipeline; we need to increase our role in exporting.”

Both candidates agreed that Iowa needs to make its presence felt around the world.

“There is nothing better in my opinion than a grain-fed steak, but over in Asia they think that beef from Australia and New Zealand tastes good — just think of how much they would like Iowa beef,” Judge said. “We have a lot of marketing to do over there. The Department of Agriculture needs to have an absolute role in moving Iowa ag products all over the world.”

Because both candidates agreed on most of the issues raised at Tuesday’s forum, an audience member said, “I’d hate to stir things up, but name a couple things that you disagree with about your opponent.”

Brown said, “We both agree on the issues facing the state, but I believe we have a difference on how we want to engage policies.

“We need to examine the rules and regulations,” he said. “I am not saying we need to drop them, but work on them.”

One of the last questions directed at the candidates asked for a prediction on the condition of Iowa’s agriculture in 20 to 50 years.

“We need to set short-term goals and long-term goals, but we need to start today,” Brown said. “The Department of Agriculture needs new leadership, and we need to do some new things to accomplish the needs for this state in the future.”