CALS Week, an event from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, featured Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, who spoke on the importance of Iowa farms locally and internationally.
Naig said he was proud to recognize that Iowa is known worldwide for its agricultural industry.
“I have never once had to explain to somebody that Iowa is an agricultural state […] we’re known around the world for what we do,” Naig said.
Naig stressed the significance of change in the agricultural industry. He talked about the impacts of inflation and said the ability and cost of borrowing money is also an issue that needs to be addressed. Agriculture is constantly changing, and Naig wants to ensure there is “room for the next generation.”
Naig spoke on the weather issues in Iowa while addressing the state of agriculture. He said that weather has been the biggest issue for the industry this year.
“We’re seeing drought levels we haven’t seen since 2012, 2013,” Naig said.
With a significant drought, the worry was that there would be a reduction in yield, but despite this worry, the yield has been better than expected. Commodity prices have come back down; however, the input prices have stayed high so there is an “economic pinch” on farmers right now, with the USDA projecting that farmers will have lower income this year.
Concerning the upcoming elections next year, Naig is focused on trying to get the issues that are important to agriculture to the candidates. He wants to raise awareness for the issues that affect Iowans and farmers, such as biofuels and the proper role of government, and try to allow candidates to talk about them.
Naig said he is a frequent customer of the Iowa State University Creamery and gave a tour of it on campus, recognizing that the creamery is now one of the first stores to become a part of Choose Iowa.
Choose Iowa is a recently re-launched program in 2019 that originally started in 2007 to help sell Iowa-made, -grown and -raised products. The program aims to encourage Iowans to buy locally while showing consumers where their products are coming from.
“I think the creamery is a great example of that locally sourced milk becoming ice cream and cheese and doing it here on campus,” Naig said.
Many Iowa State students attended the event to hear Naig speak at the event. Hannah Everhart, a senator for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a junior in agricultural communications and international agriculture, aspires to work in agricultural policy.
Her main takeaway from the speech was that to progress the agricultural industry, change would be necessary for future generations and innovations.
Alexis Pealer, a freshman in animal science, also attended Naig’s speech. She said that it is important for prominent figures in agriculture to visit campus because it can be motivating for students to hear valuable insight about the agriculture industry. She also commented on the creamery being locally sourced.
“I think it’s cool that the creamery is locally sourced […] we have a creamery back home, and going to the one on campus feels a little bit like home,” Pealer said.
