Iowa City Press Citizen, IA
12-13-07
State ag secretary swings through county
Conservation, biofuels among topics at town meeting
By Rob Daniel
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Soil conservation and biofuels were major topics of area farmers in a town
meeting Wednesday with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey at the
Johnson County Farm Bureau.
Northey was in Iowa City as part of an effort to have a town meeting in each of
the state's 99 counties. Johnson County was stop No. 96, with a meeting
scheduled in DeWitt in Clinton County later in the day.
"To me, it's being available if people have concerns," said Northey, a Republican
farmer from Spirit Lake in his first term as agriculture secretary. "It's about
knowing what's going on."
During the discussion, Northey discussed the various roles of the department,
but the topics on the minds of the 10 people who attended Northey's visit
appeared to be conservation and water quality.
Northey said farmers, city officials and state officials were trying to find ways to
reduce soil and chemical run-off into rivers and lakes, polluting drinking water. He
said it was likely to be an expensive solution.
"With lakes, we often deal with phosphorous issues," Northey said. "With rivers,
it's nitrogen. (The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is) working with
municipalities to find out what is the problem. They need to make sure the storm
water doesn't get in. It's going to take a lot of dollars."
He also discussed biofuels, a growing industry in Iowa that he said has produced
more than two billion gallons of ethanol in the past five years. He said the state's
Office of Energy Independence was created to research and commercialize
biofuels and renewable energy, such as wind power. He said the industry
continues to grow quickly.
"That stuff is really coming fast," Northey said.
Those in attendance came for their own reasons.
Dave Schmidt, a farmer who lives southwest of Iowa City, said he wished
Northey had discussed the connection between the biofuel and livestock
industries.
"Taking food for fuel ... he could've touched on that a little more on how important
that is," Schmidt said.
Jim Dane, a farm management associate with Iowa State University
Extension, said he was happy Northey discussed ways to make farmland more
affordable for young farmers. Northey said during his talk that land prices have
gone, on average, from $600 per acre 20 years ago to more than $4,000 per
acre today. Dane said the price has caused young people to go into other fields
besides agriculture, leaving the average age of Iowa farmers at about 60 years
old.
"Somebody's got to take over, and start the farm," Dane said.
Reach Rob Daniel at 339-7360 or rdaniel@press-citizen.com.