Ag Secretary Mike Naig talks swine fever, hemp during visit to county fair

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig visited the 2019 Greater Jefferson County Fair June 28.

Naig said he visits all 99 Iowa counties each year and tries to include county fairs in those visits. This was the first time he visited the Jefferson County Fair, a visit that coincided with the 4-H/FFA Swine Show.

African Swine Fever is a 'top-of-mind” issue in agriculture in Iowa, according to Naig. As much as 40 percent of the Chinese pork industry has been affected by ASF; China is the largest pork-producer. Now ASF is spreading in southeast Asia.

'It is more than absolutely theoretical that it could come to North America,” said Naig. 'Our mind-set is that we have to act like this is a real threat, however, we do believe it is possible to keep it out.”

Naig pointed out that although there is a concern for Iowa swineherds, the concern is actually for North America as a whole, Canada and Mexico as well as the United States.

'There are a couple things we need to be thinking about,” said Naig. 'We really need to work together with countries all over the world to get it under control and that's been difficult. There is no vaccine for the virus. That's one thing we really need to focus on: controlling it where it is.

'Two is we have to focus on keeping it out of North America, so that's better detection at the borders; looking at feed ingredients that might be coming from those parts of the world.

'The third piece,” he continued, 'is we really need to look at it as: if we get it, can we mount an effective response?”

Currently, one-on-one meetings are being held with producers. 'We know if you're going to keep it off your farm, that means you have to have a plan for your operation to increase your biosecurity,” said Naig. 'So, we are really working hard to have those direct conversations with producers.”

As an example, Naig said additional security measures are in place at fairs to ensure healthy animals come into the fair and healthy animals leave the fair.

'We are requiring veterinarians to look at these animals when they arrive at the show to pick up any issues on the way in,” he said.

One of the issues Naig focuses on at the Iowa Department of Agriculture is expanding markets and expanding demand for Iowa meat. Recently, the department started the process to have a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will allow smaller processors inspected by the Iowa Department of Agriculture to sell their products outside of Iowa.

'Right now, you've got meat processors and meat lockers in the state of Iowa that can be federally inspected by the USDA or the Iowa Department of Agriculture,” said Naig. 'Typically, the smaller processors will be inspected by our department and the larger will be inspected by USDA. The major difference is that if you are state inspected, you can only sell your product within the borders of Iowa. If you are federally inspected, you can sell all over the world. Yet our standards have to be equal to the USDA's. So this agreement will allow our state-inspected meat processors to export their products outside of Iowa. We think that is a great opportunity. It gives our small processors a chance to grow a market and find new customers.”

As an example, Naig said he stopped at the two meat markets in Pella on his visit to Marion County. The popular Pella Bologna brand is state inspected, so it can only be sold in Iowa, 'but with this agreement, you might be able to find Pella Bologna on the shelf in Kansas, Missouri or Nebraska.”

According to Naig, the state inspectors will need additional training, and the processors will need additional assessments.

About 30 of the approximately 70 state-inspected processors are interested in the new opportunity, said Naig. He added that it was the processors who brought the idea to the Iowa Department of Agriculture. 'We looked into it and are moving ahead. It will be 2020 before all approvals are in place, but it'll come in a matter of months.”

Another new opportunity for Iowa farmers is a hemp program.

Naig said the 2018 Farm Bill authorized the growing of hemp, removing it from the Schedule I substance list. Iowa Legislature approved, and governor signed, a bill that will allow the state to have a hemp program.

'The USDA has to develop their program and write their rules … so we expect to see USDA's rules by the end of summer,” said Naig. 'Then we will write our rules for our program. All of this should be in place for the 2020 growing season, then we'll have Iowans who will be able to participate. I think we'll see a lot of applicants in 2020.

'I believe we can grow hemp in Iowa, there's no doubt about that. The question in my mind is can you get paid to grow hemp in Iowa?” he continued, pointing out there is not a well-established market for the hemp fiber or seeds, and Iowa growers will be competing with growers from other states.

'We have our medical production that is highly regulated and has prescription or doctor-order requirements,” Naig said. 'I think there are a lot of interesting things with CBD. Right now, FDA still has not approved CBD as an approved food or feed ingredient and until they do, that will always create some challenges around what products you can include it in. I believe FDA is working on this. It is probably the next big thing that has to happen. We need some clarity from FDA on CBD.”