Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig is MIA

While Trump hammers Iowa's economy...

Mike Naig @MikeNaigIA-Feb 14

I enjoyed presenting Ag Leader Awards for Conservation at the @AgribusinessIA Showcase & Conference to @agronomist_Evan (@IowaSoybeans) & Liz Hobart (GROWMARK). Thank you for helping accelerate the adoption of soil health and water quality practices in our state. #IowaAg

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In the month since he took office, President Donald Trump’s policies have hit rural America, especially Iowa, hard. Donnell Eller at the Des Moines Register has documented some of the damage, but it keeps on coming. As you can see above, on Valentine’s Day, the same day Eller’s column was published, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig tweeted from another dimension where President Donald Trump doesn’t exist.

Apparently, Donnell Eller doesn’t exist for Naig either, as he declined her request for comment. The man Iowans elected to serve as the Secretary of Agriculture, to provide leadership in support of agriculture and our rural economy, and one of the most knowledgeable people in Iowa about agriculture, declined to comment when it’s his responsibility to do so.

Among the damage Eller documented are the $10 million Iowa farmers are owed for conservation initiatives, and potentially another $86 million approved for adopting climate-smart agricultural policies. Practical Farmers of Iowa and others are owed millions of dollars, and $46 million awarded last year through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program is at risk. Funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act as well as conservation programs in the farm bill have also stalled.

Naig has nothing to say.

Trump has also threatened or imposed tariffs on our three largest trading partners, Canada, Mexico and China which will hit the rural economy hard.

Naig has nothing to say.

Food shipments to countries in need overseas has stopped as Trump shut down USAID, leaving $450 million dollars of food left to rot, abandoning our humanitarian efforts around the world, leaving vast opportunities for China and Russia to build new relationships with our friends and allies we have abandoned.

Naig has nothing to say.

Because of Trump’s freeze and cuts, 38 out of 39 staff members of the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Iowa have been laid off after not receiving promised funding from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

According to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s (IDALS) website, “The Division provides staff support to all 100 soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) in Iowa. The efforts of these staff support the combined soil and water conservation mission of the SWCD, the State of Iowa, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Each SWCD is unique in the resource conservation problems it addresses and the way it chooses to package and deliver programs to landowners, farm operators, and local communities.”

IDALS supports the staff of the SWCD and it’s part of the infrastructure that IDALS works with. The loss of these jobs is a direct reduction in IDALS’ capacity to do soil and water conservation work.

Naig has nothing to say.

But the Montgomery County SWCD does:

There are reports that under Trump, urgent CDC data and analyses on influenza and bird flu are missing as outbreaks escalate. Elon Musk has fired critical USDA workers working on the bird flu, and after recognizing this dumbass move, the USDA is working to rehire them.

Naig has nothing to say—no, wait—IDALS treats farmers as ignorant suckers asking them on February 19 to celebrate “Bird Health Awareness Week” by “reviewing & strengthening your biosecurity practices!” while Trump is escalating the risks and potential impact of bird flu:

Google Mike Naig, and then click on “news.” I see news stories about him recognizing conservation leaders, congratulating new U.S. Secretary of Ag Brooke Rollins, and being named an honorary master pork producer. On the impacts of Trump’s policies on the Iowa farm industry and our economy?

Zip. Zilch. Nada.

I like Mike Naig. I’ve interviewed him numerous times over the years and think he’s a good man. I also think he truly believes he and IDALS are doing the best they can for Iowa and Iowans when it comes to agriculture, despite valid criticisms.

But silence about how Donald Trump and Elon Musk are hurting our economy and our institutions isn’t strong leadership. It’s misleading and complicit.

And weak.

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If you have a story you want to tell about how the Trump/Musk administration policies are hurting you and yours, or here in Iowa, the Reynolds administration, I’ll let you tell your story anonymously if you need to be protected. Just email me at rdwleonard@gmail.com. I won’t give you up.

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