Iowa ag secretary candidates tout credentials

URBANDALE - Five Republicans seeking Iowa's secretary of agriculture post on Wednesday touted their farming and conservative credentials to the Westside Conservative Club, a key bloc of GOP voters.

The five, who face each other in GOP primary June 5, are Ray Gaesser of Corning, a former chairman and president of the American Soybean Association; Chad Ingels of Randalia, a former chairman of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission; Craig Lang of Brooklyn, a former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and leader of the Iowa Board of Regents; Mike Naig of Des Moines, who was appointed Iowa secretary of agriculture in March when Secretary Bill Northey took a federal job; and state Sen. Dan Zumbach of Ryan, a farmer who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee.

To win, one candidate must receive at least 35 percent of the primary ballots cast or the nominee will be picked by delegates to the Republican Party's state convention.

During the hourlong forum Wednesday, the candidates agreed that finding ways to expand markets and add value to keep farming profitable and to attract a new generation of producers are critical to the future of Iowa and rural communities.

They also favor voluntary compliance in protecting land and water rather than imposing heavy-handed and costly government regulations that impede a key sector of Iowa's economy.

If Republicans don't maintain control of the governorship, Legislature and the top ag post in the 2018 election, Lang said, 'We'll have the general creep of social issues that interfere with financial decisions that we make as farmers. It will be regulatory, it will be overreach, it'll be all of those things - we must maintain that Republican control.”

Zumbach said he and his Senate colleagues produced more change for Iowa in two years than had been accomplished in the previous 40 years at the Statehouse, and he wants to bring that same can-do conservative zeal to the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

'You already know that I'll do what you ask me to because I've done that the last six years,” he said in noting he has the endorsement of 42 state legislators, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and has 'stood with President Donald Trump the whole time” in his effort to get better trade deals for U.S. farmers.

Naig said he appreciated Gov. Kim Reynolds' confidence in appointing him to succeed Northey and the endorsement of Northey after working as his deputy since 2013 in implementing the nutrient reduction strategy and animal disease response preparedness after the state's deadly and costly bird flu outbreak.

'I think the thing that differentiates me, and is something that I uniquely bring to this, is that I'm on the job today,” said Naig. 'I'm your appointed secretary of agriculture. I'd like to be your elected secretary of agriculture.”

Gaesser said he has been leading by example on conservation, water quality and policy issues for decades as a lifelong farmer and volunteer on agriculture issues, participating in more than 50 trade missions and working on farm bill and trade policy legislation in Washington as an advocate for Iowa farmers.

'I don't look at this job as a steppingstone,” he said. 'I'm not wanting to be governor or senator or anything like that. I want to be secretary of agriculture because I think that's where I'm really good at. I've done that for decades. I want to be a hands-on secretary.”

Ingels said his work on improving conservation and water-quality practices date back to his Iowa State University Extension work over two decades. As an Environmental Protection Commission member, he had encountered environmental activists trying to 'stop how we farm in Iowa” but who 'don't understand that we're already doing it the right way and protecting the environment.”

He said he views the job of secretary of agriculture as the second most important position in state government in an area that can provide incentives for private industry to make the needed voluntary infrastructure and practice improvements that will be a 'slow build over time” if unburdened by regulation.

'I see the Democrats wanting to just pile regulation on top of us and decrease our ability to farm,” Ingels told the conservative gathering. 'I think Republicans care about the environment just as much, if not more than, the Democrats do.”

Lang said he has stood up to opponents around the world as a rural advocate and coalition builder who fought to overturn a gubernatorial veto on eminent domain, helped freeze tuition at state universities and has both won and lost in statewide elections.

'I want to change the character of Iowa,” he said. 'I want a green landscape, I want value, I want healthy soils, I want clean water, but most of all I want opportunity for our families.”

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