Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig attends CALS Week

“He’s good for Iowa agriculture,” mentioned Leah Mosher, a senior majoring in agricultural and rural coverage research. “He stands as much as consider his beliefs — to our beliefs.”

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig mentioned a priority he typically hears from agribusiness and farmers is the uncertainty of the markets.

Throughout his go to to Iowa State College for the School of Agriculture and Life Science Week, Naig instructed a gaggle of scholars on the garden in entrance of Curtiss he heard a considerable amount of concern arising from inflation.

“The price of meals has gone up over 13-and-a-half p.c within the final 12 months,” Naig mentioned. “The final time that we noticed meals value inflation like that was March of 1979. Jimmy Carter was president, and I [and] my dad and mom have been celebrating my first birthday that month.”

With respect to offering honest markets to farmers, Naig instructed the Iowa State Every day he believes Select Iowa — a brand new program set to launch this fall — may doubtlessly deal with the problem.

“It’s a neighborhood advertising state model for Iowa-made, Iowa-grown and Iowa-raised merchandise — we’re enthusiastic about that,” Naig mentioned. “It’s good for producers; it’s good for customers.”

Naig mentioned Select Iowa would assist counties all through Iowa depend on native meals sources, which he mentioned is a typical need amongst Iowans.

On the subject of marijuana, Naig mentioned he doesn’t help the legalization of the plant for leisure use presently.

“One profit we have now is we are able to watch what’s occurring in different states,” Naig mentioned. “I feel there are some unintended penalties that we have to perceive earlier than we significantly take a look at this within the state of Iowa. Now, there’s hemp manufacturing in Iowa; we do have a program for different makes use of, after which, after all, we have now the medical utilization program as properly.”

On sustainability, Naig mentioned the division of agriculture is specializing in soil conservation and water high quality, with roughly 60% of the division’s funds being allotted to such endeavors.

“I say on a regular basis, ‘Iowa’s economic system is constructed on ag’, however agriculture relies on soil and water within the state of Iowa, so we’ve bought to maintain a long-term concentrate on that,” Naig mentioned.

Prospectively, Naig mentioned the division of agriculture is attempting to place Iowa for continued progress.

Leah Mosher, a senior majoring in agricultural and rural coverage research, mentioned she has no reservations in regard to Naig.

“He’s good for Iowa agriculture,” Mosher mentioned. “He stands as much as consider his beliefs — to our beliefs.”

Mosher mentioned she is trying ahead to the launch of Select Iowa, including that she believes it is going to be extraordinarily helpful for Iowans.

Megan Clark, a freshman majoring in agricultural and life sciences schooling, mentioned she was impressed by Select Iowa.

“I would love to see that Select Iowa platform proceed to be rolled out in additional counties,” Clark mentioned. “It’d be superior if it could possibly be seen in our own residence counties, and seeing extra know-how use and stuff like that — like the agricultural broadband Web entry being rolled out into extra communities.”