Naig visits Southern Iowa Fair

Jul. 22—OSKALOOSA — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig (R) paid a visit to the Southern Iowa Fair Thursday as part of his 99 county tour.

"County fairs are great," Naig told The Herald. "They're great community events, and that community is both urban and rural, both ag and non-ag, so I love that. This might be the most meaningful ag interaction that somebody has, you know, and to get a chance to watch and see and meet somebody that farms or has a livestock project, and get to talk with them, and I think that's a cool interaction."

Naig spent his day at the fair learning about the 4-H and FFA programs in Mahaska county, meeting exhibitors and their families and watching the 4-H/FFA goat show. The main focus of the day was the hard work that Mahaska County's youth have put into preparing and exhibiting their projects at the fair.

"If nothing else, [the kids] gain an appreciation for what it takes to raise food," Naig said. "It's work, and it is timely, and you've got to focus on it every single day, and that is a work ethic lesson. At the end of the day ...they're always going to remember, years later, what it took to be a part of raising that livestock."

In the current political and economic climate, it takes even more money and effort than usual. Record high input prices, most notably fuel, have presented serious challenges to farmers, as have fertilizer shortages and livestock diseases. Naig spoke about the uncertainty surrounding these issues.

"I think right now, the biggest thing on the minds of farmers is going to be around all the uncertainty going forward. Yes, prices of inputs and fuel costs and all of those things are incredibly high, but you layer that on with the uncertainty of 'Well, is that going to get better or worse? When? What's going to happen to Russia and Ukraine?'" Naig said.

"You know, those are all factors that just create uncertainty, so I think we've got to have a longer view ... especially around energy production in this country," he added. "We need more domestic energy production, renewable domestic is a good thing ... Energy costs drive so many of the costs in agriculture, so that's one of those longer term things we've got to stay focused on."

Another serious challenge farmers are facing is a labor shortage, preventing them from hiring help on their farms as they work to meet the growing demand for agricultural outputs.

"It's not just enough for us to retain the kids that are growing up in an ag setting," Naig told The Herald." It's not just enough to say 'Well, if we can just keep all the farm kids in ag ... It'd be enough.' Oh no, no. We've got to attract people into ag.

"I mean ... Agriculture is a huge tent. We have one mission, which is to feed and fuel and provide fiber for consumers here and around the world ... But within that, you can be involved in production agriculture, you can ... Be on the agronomy side, livestock side, engineering, nutrition, health, wellness ... You know, there are a vast number of careers that fit within ag, and frankly, we need them all."

With such a growing demand for people working in agriculture, Naig is advocating for increased agricultural education for children, even in school.

"We just need more young people — more kids — exposed to agriculture concepts," Naig said. "Not just that you get ag subject matter in your ag class at school, but that you get ag subject matter in your literature class, or even if you're going to teach a math concept, why don't we use some ag subjects to teach that? And so, if we could just give some basic exposure to kids, I think that's a good thing."

But kids aren't the only people Naig is passionate about introducing to Iowa's rich agricultural industry. To face the coming challenges, Naig wants to show off Iowa to the world as not only a great place to work in agriculture, but a great place to be — period.

"We are a fantastic place to live, work and play," Naig said. "We're a great place to raise a family, though many of our communities are struggling with availability of housing, the availability of childcare. These are two huge factors for families relocating into some of our communities ... We've got to do more there."

"Our economy is strong," he added. "We're cutting taxes, you know, and you're seeing movement of people all over the country right now, leaving some high tax, high cost places, moving to other parts of the country. I think we have an opportunity there to capitalize on [that]."

Channing Rucks can be reached at crucks@oskyherald.com.