Thicke calls for balance, sustainability in Iowa ag

By James Q. Lynch

The Gazette

MARION – Fairfield farmer Francis Thicke hopes to become Iowa Secretary of Agriculture with a campaign calling for more balance and sustainability in the ag economy.

“We need to move towards making our farming systems more energy-efficient, resilient and sustainable,” Thicke, a Democrat, said in announcing his candidacy Wednesday in Marion.

He would bring that about by developing local food systems, moving away from corn-based ethanol to biofuels produced from perennial crops and increasing on-farm energy production.

Thicke hopes to challenge first-term Republican Secretary of Ag Bill Northey of Spirit Lake. Northey did not comment on Thicke's announcement, but Republican Party of Iowa Executive Director Jeff Boeyink called Thicke an “ultra radical” whose ideas would harm Iowa farmers and agriculture.

“Agriculture is serious business in Iowa and now is not the time to experiment with the backbone of Iowa's economy,” Boeyink said.  “Francis Thicke's radical agenda would spell disaster to the stability and sustainability of our family farmers and the jobs they represent.”

Promoting more sustainable practices, protecting water quality and helping Iowa farmers improve their profitability “seems like the definition of conservativism,” Thicke responded.

Thicke and his wife, Susan, own and operate a grass-based, organic dairy near Fairfield. They process their milk on the farm and market it through local stores and restaurants. He grew up on a diversified farm and has been a full-time farmer for more than 25 years.

Thicke has a doctorate degree in agronomy/soil fertility, has worked for the USDA in Washington, DC, and in the Extension Service, and served on the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission.

Gov. Chet Culver, a fellow Democrat, did not reappoint Thicke to the commissions, prompting Boeyink to say if Thicke was “so far out of the mainstream for even liberal Governor Culver to stomach, then he is certainly too liberal to be entrusted with leading our state's agricultural community.”

Thicke called his departure from the commission a demonstration of how beholden Culver's administration is to agribusiness interests.

“What signal was the Culver-Judge administration trying to send when it ignored the recommendation of the many environmental organizations who called for the reappointment of the EPC commissioners, deferring instead to the dictates of agribusiness special interests who lobbied for our removal?” Thicke, who was among four commissioners not reappointed, said in April 2007.

In announcing his plans to challenge Northey, Thicke said the state “currently lacks the statewide vision and leadership needed to prepare us to meet the challenges and opportunities of agriculture in the 21

^st

Century.”

One opportunity is growing fruits and vegetable for local consumption, Thicke said. It's estimated 80 percent of the $8 billion worth of food Iowans consume annually comes from outside of the state. According to an Iowa State University analysis, if just three months supply of the fruits and vegetable Iowans eat was produced here is would add $300 million and 4,000 jobs to the Iowa economy.

He called for a moratorium on state assistance for new corn-based ethanol production. He favors cellulosic ethanol production from crops such as switch grass and other perennials that provide year-round ground cover to reduce erosion.

Thicke wants counties to have input into the siting of concentrated livestock facilities, increasing separation distances from neighbors and communities and lowering the number of animal units that require a construction permit.

For more about Thicke, visit: www.ThickeForAgriculture.com.