Opportunity exists in Iowa agriculture

As we consider resolutions in anticipation of the new year, it’s also a time to reflect upon the past year. For Iowa agriculture, 2022 was a year of both historic challenges and yet many reasons to be optimistic about our future.

While there’s a lot of uncertainty due to a disrupted global economy, there is one thing we do know: agriculture continues to drive our economy here in Iowa. One in five Iowans go to work each day in an agriculture related job. The impact of Iowa agriculture reaches well beyond our own communities given that we produce significantly more than we can consume. We have both an opportunity and the responsibility to help provide for consumers all over the globe.

Even with persistent drought conditions, which affected everything from crop production to haying and grazing, Iowa’s farmers still managed to produce a sizable corn and soybean crop. As we look ahead to next spring, we have significant moisture deficits to make up. Economic concerns such as rising interest rates, expensive input costs, labor shortages and trade uncertainty also factor into the equation, though we continue to see prices reflecting strong demand. Congress also will begin consideration of the next Farm Bill and Iowans should fully engage in those discussions.

We also continued to see momentum growing in our state’s water quality and conservation efforts. There are more resources, partners and actual conservation work being implemented across the state than ever before. We are approaching 3 million acres of cover crops and are partnering with more than 350 public and private agencies and organizations statewide. As we head toward the 10-year anniversary of the state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, we must keep scaling up, accelerating our work, and demonstrating progress.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, spread by wild and migratory birds, has added unwanted stress to our state’s poultry farmers and egg producers. Because of the lessons learned from the 2015 outbreak, we have experienced far fewer cases this year. However, the joint state and federal response has required significant time, resources and coordination in order to limit the spread of this destructive virus. Going forward, we must continue to be vigilant with our biosecurity and remain prepared to respond to other foreign animal diseases.

Thanks to the Legislature and Gov. Kim Reynolds, we enacted one of the most robust biofuels programs in the country. This legislation will ensure Iowans have access to lower cost and cleaner burning fuels at the pump while ramping up the investment in our state’s biofuels infrastructure.

We also saw significant progress with the Choose Iowa program, which will establish an easily recognizable state brand that can be used by farmers, producers, processors, farmers markets, grocery stores, restaurants and others in the supply chain to connect directly with consumers.

We cannot predict all that will confront us in the next year. However, if we keep farmers at the center of our solutions, I am confident that this new year — and future years — will offer plenty of reasons for optimism.

Mike Naig is Iowa’s secretary of agriculture.