Northey looks to farming future
Posted: Monday, October 06, 2008
DES MOINES (AP) -- Like any farmer, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey is eager to put the pains -- and the rains -- of 2008 behind him.
By any measure, Northey said, it has been a trying year for Iowa farmers -- record rain fall, record flooding, fitful weather throughout. The irony is that 2008 was a year that started with great expectations: Inputs, the costs that go into farming, were higher than ever but prices for corn and soybeans lingered near record highs.
"When you go into a year like this one, you look at it and you think, 'This is one of those years when you're going to have a good enough year to help yourself through the next 10 years,' to some extent," Northey said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Most Iowa farmers still have a good chance of finishing with a good year, but the state's first-term agriculture secretary lamented that it still was, "one of those years." One where everything and everyone, led by Mother Nature, seemed to be conspire against farmers.
Sitting in his Des Moines office, the shirt sleeves of his plaid shirt rolled up to the elbow, Northey doesn't come across as politician. In fact, he sounds convincing when he speaks of returning to his corn and soybean fields near Spirit Lake for the fall harvest.
"This is the time of year you live for," Northey said. "You live for these kind of October days out in the fields."
Northey said the final verdict has yet to be rendered for Iowa farmers. The weather has clearly wreaked havoc, particularly in northeastern and southern Iowa, he said, though the first frost has held off, giving farmers a needed reprieve.
"Of course you thought, with the year we've had, that of course we'd get an early frost," he said. "But so far that hasn't happened, and that's helping."
Northey said what he's seen this year has sharpened his focus as an agriculture secretary. There are only so many ways farmers can protect against a deluge, he said, but finding better flood protections would be one of his primary goals going forward.
"We've made great strides," he said. "But the job's never done on this stuff. We are a lot better off (after this year's flooding) than we would have been 10 or 25 years ago. But we need to do more."
On another front important to farmers, Northey said he has been pleased with the state's efforts to pursue renewable energy, including initiatives led by Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.
Last month, Northey spoke out publicly about his disappointment that his party had included a plank in the Republican platform calling for the end of the renewable fuel standard. Northey said any curtailment of the ethanol industry would have a drastic effect on Iowa and the rest of the Corn Belt.
"If we didn't have the market ethanol provided, we might be looking at some pretty bad times," he said. "It would look a lot like the '80s. They were piling corn in the streets and we were producing more than we needed."
Northey said he believes export markets have improved for farmers since the 1980s farm crisis, but they're no match for the demand from ethanol plants.
"It's such an important market," Northey said. "It'd be pretty hard to find a market on the fly for a billion bushels of corn. I'm pretty sure an export market could not fill that."
Northey said his agreement with Culver on agriculture and renewable fuels issues is a reflection of Iowa's vested interest in both -- and his approach to the tasks in front of him.
"We're generally on the same page with this stuff," he said. "I think Governor Culver has been active. He knows the importance of these issues.
"The Agriculture stuff is not partisan. We want to do many of the same things."
For now, at least, Northey expects to be working on those goals from his perch in the Wallace Building, the home of the Department of Agriculture's office. He said he is leaning strongly toward running for re-election, though he is not quite categorical in ruling out a potential run for governor in 2010.
"I really do like what I'm doing," he said. "So I'm leaning toward running for re-election. It takes a year to run most elections and a governor's race is that much more intense so ... I'll have to make a decision some time before that. But that's where I'm strongly leaning."
Northey said he has learned some important lessons during his first term, including from his failures. One of his failed initiatives -- an effort to fund a new agriculture odor study -- is one he'll continue to press, he said.
"I'd love to see some dollars for that, but we have to be realistic," he said. "I'd love to be able to try technology on that issue. It's an important one. It's one of those issues that we could really help.
"I've learned here that just 'cause you don't succeed doesn't mean you didn't do all you could."
By any measure, Northey said, it has been a trying year for Iowa farmers -- record rain fall, record flooding, fitful weather throughout. The irony is that 2008 was a year that started with great expectations: Inputs, the costs that go into farming, were higher than ever but prices for corn and soybeans lingered near record highs.
"When you go into a year like this one, you look at it and you think, 'This is one of those years when you're going to have a good enough year to help yourself through the next 10 years,' to some extent," Northey said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Most Iowa farmers still have a good chance of finishing with a good year, but the state's first-term agriculture secretary lamented that it still was, "one of those years." One where everything and everyone, led by Mother Nature, seemed to be conspire against farmers.
Sitting in his Des Moines office, the shirt sleeves of his plaid shirt rolled up to the elbow, Northey doesn't come across as politician. In fact, he sounds convincing when he speaks of returning to his corn and soybean fields near Spirit Lake for the fall harvest.
"This is the time of year you live for," Northey said. "You live for these kind of October days out in the fields."
Northey said the final verdict has yet to be rendered for Iowa farmers. The weather has clearly wreaked havoc, particularly in northeastern and southern Iowa, he said, though the first frost has held off, giving farmers a needed reprieve.
"Of course you thought, with the year we've had, that of course we'd get an early frost," he said. "But so far that hasn't happened, and that's helping."
Northey said what he's seen this year has sharpened his focus as an agriculture secretary. There are only so many ways farmers can protect against a deluge, he said, but finding better flood protections would be one of his primary goals going forward.
"We've made great strides," he said. "But the job's never done on this stuff. We are a lot better off (after this year's flooding) than we would have been 10 or 25 years ago. But we need to do more."
On another front important to farmers, Northey said he has been pleased with the state's efforts to pursue renewable energy, including initiatives led by Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.
Last month, Northey spoke out publicly about his disappointment that his party had included a plank in the Republican platform calling for the end of the renewable fuel standard. Northey said any curtailment of the ethanol industry would have a drastic effect on Iowa and the rest of the Corn Belt.
"If we didn't have the market ethanol provided, we might be looking at some pretty bad times," he said. "It would look a lot like the '80s. They were piling corn in the streets and we were producing more than we needed."
Northey said he believes export markets have improved for farmers since the 1980s farm crisis, but they're no match for the demand from ethanol plants.
"It's such an important market," Northey said. "It'd be pretty hard to find a market on the fly for a billion bushels of corn. I'm pretty sure an export market could not fill that."
Northey said his agreement with Culver on agriculture and renewable fuels issues is a reflection of Iowa's vested interest in both -- and his approach to the tasks in front of him.
"We're generally on the same page with this stuff," he said. "I think Governor Culver has been active. He knows the importance of these issues.
"The Agriculture stuff is not partisan. We want to do many of the same things."
For now, at least, Northey expects to be working on those goals from his perch in the Wallace Building, the home of the Department of Agriculture's office. He said he is leaning strongly toward running for re-election, though he is not quite categorical in ruling out a potential run for governor in 2010.
"I really do like what I'm doing," he said. "So I'm leaning toward running for re-election. It takes a year to run most elections and a governor's race is that much more intense so ... I'll have to make a decision some time before that. But that's where I'm strongly leaning."
Northey said he has learned some important lessons during his first term, including from his failures. One of his failed initiatives -- an effort to fund a new agriculture odor study -- is one he'll continue to press, he said.
"I'd love to see some dollars for that, but we have to be realistic," he said. "I'd love to be able to try technology on that issue. It's an important one. It's one of those issues that we could really help.
"I've learned here that just 'cause you don't succeed doesn't mean you didn't do all you could."
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