Iowa needs a modern vision for agriculture

John Norwood | Candidate for Secretary of Agriculture

On Nov. 8, Iowans will select our next Secretary of Agriculture. This office affects every Iowan who eats food or drinks water. The secretary’s role might be better described as the Secretary of Food, Land, and Water. It is quite possibly the most important state-level position when it comes to addressing clean water, climate change, changing consumer diets, and electrification because how Iowa manages its agricultural systems for food, land, water, human and animal health, and energy will be watched by the country. And the world.

Iowa needs a modern vision for our highly productive but “unbalanced” agricultural system. We’re still operating under a 1950s “productivity mindset” that threatens the future of the state and the health of our people. Today’s world calls for adding a “resiliency and diversity mindset.” Our first resource obligation is to protect Iowa’s water, biological systems and farm productivity for future generations while supporting our base of 70,000-plus farmers and providing new opportunities in farming for those not born-on-the-farm.

The central pillar of my campaign is creating an “Iowa Built to Last.” This vision provides a framework for organizing our present and future priorities and uses a bottoms-up approach of collecting input and ideas from everyday Iowans. We’ll develop locally driven, common-sense solutions to address our most critical issues such as cleaning up our rivers and lakes, providing access to farm ground, growing table food for 3.2 million Iowans and 80 million more within a day’s drive. We’ll develop markets for third and fourth crops and livestock with appropriate local and regional food and grain processing not owned by Big Ag.

Iowa can be a model of sustainability, drawing those from around the U.S. and world who want to work hard and pursue a better life. My promise to Iowans: I will bring independence to the office, a sense of urgency, a desire for excellence, and a strategic mindset. Iowa can lead this nation in building a flexible, diverse, resilient, and healthy model of food and agriculture that is the envy of the world. Along the way, we’ll lead in the development of new markets for biofuels in “hard-to-electrify” transportation, such as airlines, marine, railroad, and long-haul trucking while we restore and balance the biological systems that sustain us. Will you join me in this effort? Learn more at www.norwood4Iowa.com. I’d appreciate your vote on Nov. 8.

John Norwood is the Democratic candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.