Taking the story of agriculture to Iowans

Paul Yeager   Welcome into this edition of the M to M Podcast. I'm Paul Yeager at the Iowa State Fair. That is Mike Naig, Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa, of Iowa, for Iowa, all of Iowa, your shirt says something different. You've been you're in your second term as secretary. That's right. You served as a deputy. So you have experience at the Iowa State Fair, which is where we're at.

Mike Naig   I do a you know, now, if you add my time as deputy secretary and then Secretary, this is my 10th year of going to the fair every day. Love it. But you know, it's a great honor as Secretary by law, the Secretary of Ag, the governor and the president of Iowa State University are represented on the Fair Board. So I actually have a seat on verbally, but are you a voting member? We are you are. We are my deputy secretary typically is the one representing me at the meetings, but we are a we're a voting member along with then the others who are, you know, elected by their by the Fair community all across the state. It's a it's I love it. It's been wonderful to learn about the back end of the of the fair,

Paul Yeager   what is your earliest fair memory?

Mike Naig   Oh, well, now of the state fair or fair state fair. You know, well, Iowa State Iowa State Fair. So my sister was a was a county fair queen from Palo Alto County, and we came down for for when she was involved in that and that's, that's really when I can remember we never we never came here to show. I'm from northwest Iowa. You had to you had to pack a bag if you were going to come to Des Moines you know, and

Paul Yeager   so you're you probably deeper ties as a kid to the Clay County Fair.

Mike Naig   Clay County Fair, you know, we showed at the Palo Alto county fair, my sister and brother and my younger sister and I, we all did everything, just just like everybody did all the four h things that you can do. But yes, I grew up going to the Clay County Fairs being kind of the big, which is a fantastic we have some amazing county fairs in this state. But unlike many fairs a good one.

Paul Yeager   And now you have a tie to the Clay County Fairs the new CEO of the Iowa State Fair. And so for him to bridge he's like, I was only going to take one job. And it was

Mike Naig   he, you know, Clay County Fairs got all the same pieces as the State Fair. It's just a different scale. But Jeremy has had a great, great background had a great career in the fair industry. He's doing a fantastic job here.

Paul Yeager   We're outside the agricultural building, which is home to horticulture exhibits. You know, I just saw some ears of corn, there's tomatoes and fruits and flowers. There's a thing called the butter cow. Yeah,

Mike Naig   it's a little slightly iconic thing that happens. I have

Paul Yeager   been in this, this driveway more in my career covering the fair than anywhere. And this is kind of a I call it a little secret area, there is a bathroom letting people know, it's been very busy back there. So a lot of people know it. What do you do inside the egg building?

Mike Naig   Well, so this is where we have two booths where the Iowa Department of Ag and land stewardship one is in the ag building, and one is in the various industries building. So in the big building, where the weights and measures people so you can come and get your official fair weight. Everybody loves to weigh in who you know, it's fun. People weigh in at the beginning of the day, the end of the day, the beginning of the fair, the end of the fair, we're all about rate again, up here at a bag. And so it is funny people will unload their pockets and take their shoes off. And it's like No, it'd be just just get on the scale. But But here in the ag building, we work with all the different commodity groups and so we are showcasing you know, you know today it might be it might be pork and tomorrow it might be dairy and the next day so I mean, so it's really a group effort. And then this year we're actually doing something special where we're launching choose Iowa, which is a brand for Iowa made Iowa grown Iowa raised products, food and egg products. And so that's what our brand is this year is all about. Choose Iowa it's next to that you get your hard boiled egg on a stick you check out the Iowa barn foundation barn, and then you you're in line for the buttered cow so as if you needed another thing to do in the ag building. Hey, by the way you talk about this being a secret area right around that corner back there. There's a replica of the tallest corn. Yes sock and it is huge. I always tell people, You should go see that. I mean it is it's kind of like tucked behind the Ag building. You gotta want to go there to see it. But it's just one of those little secret things. That's kind of fun.

Paul Yeager   Prior to you being Secretary, I did a story on it showing I love it fair. That was part of my fair coverage with Iowa PBS. Okay, we're on a golf cart. This is we've called this many different things, but this is my way of getting you around the grounds. We're going to we're going to travel a little bit Do you walk or do you drive much here? 

Mike Naig   A little bit of both. You know, sometimes the practical reality is we have to get on a golf cart to get to where we need to go which is a great thing. I love it. I want to be so busy here at the fair, but i There are also days where it's just gets too busy and you couldn't get a golf cart through. Anyway, so you just get up and walk

Paul Yeager   probably days ago was Saturday was tough. We're coming up in an area that's pretty busy. I'm gonna give you a little bit of a tour because you talk about commodity groups in Iowa. And again, this is the we'll find out how how much give this thing has or get up and go up a hill. Just kind of you try not to hit anybody because then you make the news. Yeah. In life.

Mike Naig   Yeah, I'm impressed. You're double, you're doing double duty here.

Paul Yeager   As I have told guests in the past, I have said, don't pay attention to me not paying attention to you. Because I am looking head on a swivel constantly to make sure so we're going to do one of the most the biggest sins is I'm gonna do a u turn up here.

Mike Naig   Here we go. We're gonna talk about that big spot here to do it.

Paul Yeager   I do. And I think, of course, and there's a tow truck coming. Let's see if we can get in front of him and her. We're gonna find out if as long as they don't move, I think you can make it. We can't wow, I have never been involved in anything so violent. Is that okay? It's all documented. It's all documented. My bosses love this. I'm also holding a camera so tow guys gonna be mad at me just a minute. We're in front of the brand new pork building. Yeah, I will pork is a massive part of this state. How many times a day do you end up here? And why is it become so popular in Iowa,

Mike Naig   it's a hub of activity over here to be sure presidential candidates love to come here. I love to come and check in on folks, I'll get a chance to, to flip pork chops and burgers here later this week. And of course, it's fun to take guests, you know, we've had visitors from Uganda, the UK has been here we're gonna have the Canadians with us. You know, just it's fun. And it's iconic to come and flip, you know, pork chops and do that. pork industry is huge in this state, you know, we and you know, you know, the stats, you know, we're number one in corn production and number two in soybean, but I always say that's not really what that's not what makes Iowa special. It's the fact that we take that commodity basis, and we add value to it. We feed it to something, ethanol, plant biodiesel, dairy, pork, egg, Turkey, you name it, we turn that commodity crop into something higher value, higher value protein or a bio based product. And so pork industry clearly is one of the the lead drivers of the ag industry in the state.

Paul Yeager   What percentage of people that come to the Iowa State Fair, so we're talking a million people? What percentage of them? No, a lot of what you're just talking about?

Mike Naig   Oh, you know, well, first of all, that's an important. That's, that's why I talked about this, this is an agriculture fair. The board is very focused on it remaining an agriculture fair that, yes, there's other things, it's entertaining. And you've got all kinds of experiences that you can have here. But at its core, it's an ag fair, and it always has been and always must be, this might be the most meaningful interaction that somebody might have with the ag community is at the Iowa State Fair. And you might be in the ag building, getting your egg on a stick and trying to learn just a little something about that. Or you go eat at the pork tent. And you you see some of the facts and figures. So, you know, I think there's people that are heavy, general awareness that Yep, we're an ag state, yet we do things like corn and pork. But what we want to do is take whatever that knowledge level is, and just go one level deeper each time, we can just go one level deeper, where it's a good thing.

Paul Yeager   I don't know, there's a Stan, I believe it's you know, I don't know if it's a stat that that anecdote of is everybody's just one or two points removed from a farm. But quickly, things can change. 20 years later, 30 years later, the story of agriculture is different. The Ag or the added value that you mentioned with the pork industry is something that I think some people just think, oh, it just stinks or it's just, it's just pork chops. It's way more than that. This audience that might be one or two removed, even if they come to the fair, what do you hope? Could you give them a brochure when they walk in that they'll throw away? I mean, you give them a free egg, you give them this, you know, people talk about the pork chop on a stick, I guess that awareness you've succeeded there and on those two,

Mike Naig   you're again, it's you're trying to certainly promoting those industries, but you are just there whatever, you know, you're gonna get hit with it multiple times here at the fairgrounds and you again, you just hope that people do take I always say look, if we accomplished nothing more than just somebody understanding that a little better appreciation for where their food comes from. You know, we've learned a lot about market place disruption, supply chain disruption, I wish we could banish that term, right? I take it out of the English language. Are you all together? He's throwing shade at our show. No, no, no, just you know, supply chain disruption. And, but that can be flipped and you can say but then isn't it important to understand where things He's come from and how much of what we rely on, starts on a farm somewhere and think of all the hands and the people that are involved in that chain. And if we can accomplish that, if nothing else, that would be a good thing. But sure if we can go to the next level and say, this is about economic value, this is about safe food. This is about look at all the innovation that occurs in agriculture. Those are all the things. All I know, is whatever we're doing, we have to keep doing it. And we have to even do more of it.

Paul Yeager   Yesterday, I drove by an oil company that was here, yes, call them big oil. Is Iowa State of Big Ag.

Mike Naig   We're, we're an energy state. That's the first thing I saw I stopped from talking to the same folks. It's a we're an energy state. And I think we ought to think of ourselves that way. You know, big, big, big oil, big, big energy. I don't know. You can call them what you want. But we're in we're an energy state. And that's certainly ethanol, biodiesel, renewable, diesel, sustainable aviation fuel is coming. biobased, anything biobased? Everything is an opportunity for us. Yeah, well, we got ag drives our economy, but that's just that's just one core piece of it. Then you add on manufacturing energy, all of the above. And all the surrounding businesses that are required to have successful agriculture? Like,

Paul Yeager   you could call California, big tech. Yeah. The south, big oil, the Midwest, big ag. Is that how you make it as a as an industry? When you you put big in front of whatever it is that you're working?

Mike Naig   Maybe? I mean, I think it's true that look, I like to say, you know, when I and I've traveled this year, we've been to Japan and South Korea, Vietnam and Philippines for trade missions. I don't think I've ever had to explain to somebody that I was an agriculture state. You people know it. They know it all around the world. And we're known for what we do. We're known for our products, the quality of our products. I'm proud of that. And but I think we're, I think we're known for that. But we also want to make sure again, that people understand that. There's so much that goes into that and we derive so much benefit from it every Iowan benefits from a strong agriculture, that's for sure.

Paul Yeager   Just recent in the news, attorneys general in Nebraska and Iowa, renewing some of the legal battles over that biofuel availability, year round, there's always a constant churn. At what point does that stop? At what point? Does everybody just kind of realize this is the way it's gonna have to be?

Mike Naig   Oh, I've been praying that that would happen. But oh, you know, I think there's always when you were really at its core, what we're fighting for years market access, let consumers decide. But you have to have access to that market, meaning, you know, we want a 15 availability year round to consumers. Everywhere we go. Let's forget this summer fueling season business. Let's make it available. Let consumers decide. Iowans have overwhelmingly voted with their pocketbooks. When they go to the pump and E15. Or unleaded 88. is available, they buy it and they have benefited from it, they've saved 10s of millions of dollars just last year, on buying that 15% ethanol blend versus the the e 10. Or the the no ethanol blends. And so then we just have to continue to talk and fight for market access. And then also talk about those benefits better for the environment better for your pocketbook, certainly good for our ag economy. And I always say but when you pump a gallon of gas has got ethanol in it. Think of Who benefits 1000s of people across the state of Iowa will benefit when we have a thriving ethanol industry. Who benefits when you pump a gallon of pure gasoline, petroleum based gasoline? It's not Iowa farmers that benefit. So I think we just need to keep that perspective. I'm hopeful that we can continue to get it right. You know that the administration's that they'll actually live up to what congressional intent was on the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is to have a growing renewable industry sector. And here's the final final piece. It's domestic doggone it, it shouldn't we care about that? Domestic renewable. that's those are things that we should we should all care about.

Paul Yeager   to fuel the world. We need to be able to grow a crop. It just rained when we started this interview. Rain has been hard to come by. However, we have proven through genetics and seed improvements that we can still grow a ridiculously large crop with almost miniscule rain. Does that make your job easier or harder?

Mike Naig   Well, I get I get lots of comments as you can imagine about whether it's raining enough or too little or I think you get oh, well, you know, the I think it's it is so true that the last two three years we've had what's been true is that we've been dry. You've got 100% of the state of Iowa has at least abnormally dry right now. And you've had significant persistent drought in some places. Somebody put it so well. Last year I was in southern Iowa visiting with a farm family. And this woman said to me, the rain has been like manna from heaven, just enough, just when we needed it, never more than we needed. And I think what it hit home because it's like we've we've never, nobody would say they've had too much. But we've had enough. And we've had timely rains. But it's also a testament to everything that goes into growing a crop. Yes, its genetics, its biotech traits, its its precision placement, its precision, fertilizer replacement. It's all of that it's better management. And all of that culminates in a more resilient crop. But you know, a couple years ago, we set a record for corn production in a dry year, we nearly eclipsed to that last year in a dry year, and I'm really hopeful we're gonna have a, there's gonna be some places in the state that have phenomenal crop this year. And admittedly, there's some places that are going to be the top end is off because of drought.

Paul Yeager   We talk about the largest crop in Iowa is corn, soybeans, we have big crops. What about that farmer that wants to get into the land with 140 acres? For somebody that is thinking I want to do something different? At what point do you have to in your role, juggle a beginning farmer who may not have access to the land like you want him to? And yet still a large industry that feed and fuels the world?

Mike Naig   Oh, spot on, you know, we, that's got to be a sustained focus. Look. We've got so many things going for us here, right, we've got natural resources, soil that's tremendously productive. All the supporting cast and characters that you need to be successful in agriculture, we've got them here. People want what we have. But it's at the basis, what makes us successful is our people. And we've got to have more people coming to work in agriculture, we've also got to think about that next generation. And succession planning at the farm level is really important. But what if you're somebody who doesn't have you even have a family connection? It's never been easy to start farming, never been easy to start farming. And I don't care if you've got the closest family connection. What about somebody that doesn't? Actually I'm really excited about the Choose Iowa that we're launching this idea that specialty crops or smaller acreage, higher margin higher value, or maybe you're capturing more value by selling beef direct to a consumer processing locally trying to capture that, more of that, that dollar, I'm excited about that. I think consumers want that they're looking for more local, and that that can actually be an opportunity for beginning farmers as well. So that land access and transition planning those things are really tough. By the way, you know, we would historically say that livestock has been a really good entree for the next generation to get into a farm. It's it generates revenue, cash flow. But of course, the cost of building materials and financing these days that you can't, that doesn't work like it did a few years ago. Now that we'll come back to that it'll come back to Earth at some point. But right now, that's a tough go.

Paul Yeager   You are elected, you are part of a party, there is a push in what I think will probably be an issue in election land, especially in agriculture area is about land ownership and who can own the land. And I've done two or three interviews of late with people who studied land for a living who say foreign ownership is not the problem that the politicians are telling us that it is. I asked you in Iowa specifically, where are the Chinese buying the land? Where are the foreign people buying the land? I know there's Great Britain's I know that there's I know that there are athletes, where where is this an issue that we need to be paying attention to,

Mike Naig   you know, in the state of Iowa? Well, I got to say that we had we had policymakers that had were visionary, they they had seen ahead decades ago, that we didn't that we shouldn't have an opinion about it that it was right to have an opinion about who held farm ground in the state of Iowa. And so there is a prohibition on the foreign ownership of farm ground in the state of Iowa. We don't have an issue in the state. Now. There are there are things that we should make sure we're continuing to do to say that we can prove that or that we've got visibility to that. And I think that is something that we should be be thinking about but no foreign foreign ownership. And by the way, foreign investment in Iowa is not a bad thing in and of itself. We've got good prop up prices. We've got great. There's some wonderful businesses, you know, South Korean companies, Japanese companies, European companies that have major footprint in the state of Iowa and then that's a good thing for us. So but but as a country, I think we can and should have opinions about you about that. And so what I would like to see is I can so I can say in the state of Iowa that we don't think that we have a problem with foreign ownership, Chinese ownership of farm ground. Let's make sure that we can continue to say that. And then let's also be I can't say that in other states, and you're seeing other states actually model what what Iowa has done. And I do think that this is a federal issue. And so I appreciate that our congressional delegation is thinking about it in that sense that this is something that's important. At the federal level nationally for us, you know, it's of strategic importance, your land base, yeah, your agriculture. Okay, that's maybe the final thing I'd love people to know. You know, we, we benefit from US agriculture, safest, most abundant, most affordable food supply in the world, hands down. As a people, we spend the least amount of our income on food, we get to do things like give to the church, save for retirement, pay for a child's education, buy a boat, buy a golf cart

Paul Yeager   on a golf cart, I'm gonna move into the shade. Here. Yeah, keep going.

Mike Naig   But that's, that's you start a business, take risks, those are things that we do, because we aren't spending 50 or 60% of our income on on food. And that is essential to the American way of life, it's essential to national security. So that's why there's that compelling reason for us to to have an opinion, policies around that and some restrictions or some rules around ownership. But in the state of Iowa, foreign ownership is not a not a problem. But let's make sure we can continue to say that.

Paul Yeager   So I discussed a couple of issues that I think are probably fairly big, what is the biggest issue you see facing Iowa agriculture and maybe agriculture in the United States as a whole in the next, let's go two years?

Mike Naig   You know, I still think that this, it's, if you would put it into a bucket of uncertainty, there's a lot of uncertainty. Nobody likes uncertainty in their business, and certainly at the farm. That's true. And that's got everything to do with Russian invasion of Ukraine. And that spillover effect that surely impacts us? Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe. They're a major exporter of grain that impacts us. So how, how do we see that resolution? You've got China making moves in the world? Sort of related to that, but you know, how are they positioning for for what they want to do? We've got inflation that's continuing to impact and high cost of capital. It's the convergence of that uncertainty that's got me concerned, I think we need to, you know, what I continue to see it's, gosh, we need to norm normalize that or level out of that. And then you know that I think that's the challenge for us in the next couple of years. The overarching channel challenge that I'll continue to hear from folks, in addition to that supply chain disruption that I want to banish from our language is it's still around people. And again, making sure we've got the workforce that we need. inagh

Paul Yeager   had a conversation with an old kid I rode the bus with in Buchanan County, who says

Mike Naig   those are old relationships, they go way back,

Paul Yeager   we pick up right where we left off. He has a small trucking firm. He says I've got five trucks, but only one driver me. Yeah. I said, Well, you got all those yellow people that are available. He says that they don't want to work as such. And then he started going into things in the trucking industry that he has seen as issues for supplying goods. I mean, Iowa is one of those states where there's distribution centers, and we're cross country roads. We have the north south, the east west corridor. Does that fall anything under your purview of I need to pay attention? I need to offer assistance to the governor when she asked

Mike Naig   you know, we certainly do. Look, first of all, AG is a logistics heavy business, right? Well, I always say we, we move things to the farm around the farm and off the farm. And that's just the farm piece of it. And the other challenge that we have in ag is it's timely movements, right? If seed is a month late, that's that's not going to work, you know. And so logistics certainly matters. But we do have an opportunity as a state to be in the middle of that with with certainly the Mississippi River on one side rail, roads, certainly. And that's something that we do think about, and we need to continue to think about. And again, timely movement of goods, timely movement of food and ag products are critically important. And again, but it comes down to people. And I think that's that's one of our great challenges.

Paul Yeager   Farm labor is the seasonality of the issue. You can't there's no way to regulate what a farm does and say you need to provide I mean, we had a hired man, several of them over the years labor that has become a challenge is that do you think going to maybe reset some thinking on the size of some farms? Well, I mean, that

Mike Naig   there are there are practical realities that are associated with not being able to find labor, right. And yes, I also think that it It could drive some innovation to you know, you're thinking about autonomous tractors and drivers, you know? That that seems like that has to come in some way to response. So you're gonna see innovation, and then adjustments, because, again, what are you going to try to do, you got to manage your risk. And if you if you've got a major risk of you can't hire enough, folks, you have to de risk that. And so I think that I think there are a number of implications for that. So there's no easy answer here. You certainly need immigration reform and work, visas programs that are predictable, and, frankly, accommodate for what we need. You've got to attract people into AG, you got to recruit people to rural areas, and then you got to plant that seed further out those kids, you know, that we got to, like we're seeing here at the fair, you know, get them excited about and want to pursue an education in ag or pursue a career. But those are longer term plays, you got to play on all that

Paul Yeager   those levels. And you have issues of you don't have someone to teach FFA agriculture, ag business, in a school districts across the state, every time

Mike Naig   I meet a young person who's going into ag ed, I just want to give them a hug. And you know, say God bless you, thank you, because what we need it so badly, but then

Paul Yeager   they turn out in five years, I was at the Iowa Ag Educators Conference in late June, talking to a person I talked to for years who said we had a stand up years of service, you know, what the number of years of service was the over under the number eight? Oh, no,

Mike Naig   well, half were over half were under Hey, guess what, they're really impressive people. And they, they go out there and they're there. They folks folks want them they recruit them?

Paul Yeager   They do and they do switch tools a lot and they find a district. So at that point, do you go over to the Department of Ed and say what can I do to help

Mike Naig   we we do it we've got got to think more about how to entice more more folks to look at, you know, Governor has done some things around, you know, more student teachers, and, you know, AG is just one piece of that, right? There's a bigger issue around teachers and, and we ought to, we ought to pay our teachers, we got to train our teachers, we got to, you know, treat them right. And, you know, we want to make sure that those can be desirable jobs, you know, for folks to to get into. So again, that's that workforce challenge. Everything for welders, to teachers, to truck drivers, to farmers, to veterinarians who want to work in the large animal space, engineers, you name it, we need more people, but by the way, not a not an entirely terrible thing to win. Why? Why are we needing so many people because there's so many opportunities, there's so much potential, there's so much growth that can happen out there. So you know, I tried to turn this into somewhat of a positive which is eggs not going out of style. We're not going to be the Kodak film company, you know, that doesn't really exist anymore. Where we're, we're people need egg, they're gonna need egg. People all around the world need egg now that means we're going to change with the times. But the demand is there and Oh, my I always tell this to young folks, you know, could you think of a better reason to get up and go to work? Or can you think of a better cause to go to work for then then surely the livelihoods and the well being of people all around the world?

Paul Yeager   And can you think of a more Iowa experience and we've just had in the last few minutes of we started in Maine, the sun came out the sun went away. It was misting and raining all at the same time. And I think we're gonna get right and I think there's rain to the, to the east that I'm showing there that I flipped that camera or

Mike Naig   as we were talking, I have to say as I'm looking down the Grand Concourse, I'm seeing all those flags hanging off the, the, the grandstand there and look at the way the flags look against that dark sky. It's just beautiful.

Paul Yeager   hardest question. One event, you can only do one oh, here

Mike Naig   here. Well, it's a little bit like favorite your child we only know you have a favorite. We all know you have one but we don't tell anybody. Do you have wonderful children but my children are watching they know exactly what that means. Yeah, I will surely say that. It's not just one of my favorite day of the fair. It's one of my favorite days of the year and that's the century and heritage farm program,

Paul Yeager   which is where we have pulled you before and I've watched that my boss and I have watched that event and I know people every year come and they're excited Hey, we're getting the heritage this year. We got the century. You are giving you are honoring legacies in Iowa and I know that there's people that are care about that that watch our program because they're it's that one and two generation off the farm that still need to know what's going on the farm.

Mike Naig   Yeah, it's it's uh, I mean, you first of all, we we want to make it special for if you're if you're Adair County or Adams County or you're Winneshiek County, you know, we want to make sure it's, it's special for you. It's a long day we'll do 400 families will walk the stage this year. But you think about what it has taken for a family to hold a farm World Wars pandemics. farm crisis, the internet has come, you know, all kinds of technology and innovation families have experienced, I had a family told me they'd bought the farm and was hit by a tornado the following year. Think of it and yeah, there they said, you know, 99 years later, and all that has gone into that. And we should celebrate that tenacity. And that, that, just the endurance that frankly, sometimes it takes in life. But what we what we'd love to do is hear the stories we've had for generations on the stage at once. Really, we got three week old baby and I just kind of stood back and watched and that's just a cool thing to see. So I hope someday I get to cross the stage for a heritage farm. I told the boys they have to drag me down here and I said, we're the that's us. We're gonna you're gonna drag me across that stage. But I sure hope that we have the ability to do that. Mike NYG,

Paul Yeager   secretary of agriculture in the state of Iowa, thank you so much for the time. Absolutely. Right. Absolutely. Thanks

Mike Naig   for the rise to the fair.

Paul Yeager   That'll do it for this installment of the M to M Show podcast. I'm Paul Yeager new episodes each and every Tuesday. You never know who will show up. Thanks for watching.

Contact: Paul.Yeager@IowaPBS.org