RIVERSIDE - Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig paid a visit to Riverside last week, part of his annual 99-county tour, to speak at an ag outlook event at the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort.

While he holds a state position, Naig spent much of his speech on nationwide issues, rather than just those limited to Iowa. The list of topics included potential closures of local USDA offices amid federal spending cuts, an international trade mission to Costa Rica and Guatemala, and year-round E-15 sales, although two specific subjects seemed to come up repeatedly.

Tariffs take center-stage

One topic seemed to steal the show at the Ag Outlook event: tariffs from major importers like China, Canada and Mexico in response to similar import taxes on those countries recently announced by President Donald Trump.

The tariffs have concerned many Iowa farmers, with the potential to hurt producers’ bottom lines on two fronts: raising the cost of imports to the U.S. like potash fertilizer, and deterring demand for American-grown commodities abroad as other nations retaliate with tariffs of their own.

The economic debate plays out against a backdrop of uncertainty for much of the ag industry. Consistently high input prices mixed with relatively low market values for commodities like pork have put many producers in a tight spot.

Naig, a Republican, said he hoped the White House’s tariffs would offer leverage on immigration, drug enforcement and trade deals with other countries, but only as long as farmers didn’t suffer “collateral damage” in the meantime. And while he downplayed the policy’s immediate economic implications, the state agricultural secretary said tariffs would be “pretty concerning” if they lasted too long.

“Canada and Mexico are our No. 1 and No. 2 trading partners, and China’s a significant buyer of U.S. ag products like soybeans, so anytime there’s a disruption in that, it can be concerning,” Naig said. “Most folks will also say, ‘We want to see fairness in trade,’ so if tariffs are a tool, or the threat of tariffs is a tool to achieve those outcomes, that can be positive.”

Similarly tumultuous is the tariff policy itself. Trump announced delays on the taxes for certain Mexican and Canadian-made goods Thursday, some of them during Naig’s speech in Riverside, within minutes of his remarks on the matter.

Naig said he hoped that was proof that the tax would be short-lived.

“We always want certainty ... so, sure, it’s true, you want to do things that bring certainty, but I’ve met many farmers over the last few days who will take some short-term pain for some long-term gain, as long as we can see the results of that long-term gain, and more fairness in the trade portfolio,” he said.

Biosecurity concerns on many farmers’ minds

With a total of five Avian Influenza detections in poultry flocks across Iowa already in 2025, several members of Naig’s audience asked about biosecurity issues.

The No. 1 egg producer in the nation, Iowa has reeled from the loss of around 15% of its egg-laying birds since December, according to Naig, though he said the second-ranked state, Ohio, had lost around 25% in the last 30 days.

Any detection of Avian Influenza requires every bird in the flock to be destroyed, an outcome that can set producers back considerably. While research is underway to pioneer a cost-effective vaccine for the disease that can infect birds and, rarely, some mammals, Naig answered a question about wasteful responses saying there was no alternative to contain the disease.

“We have to prove that we can effectively manage a foreign animal disease outbreak to trading partners, just like we ask them to prove to us that they’re doing it,” Naig said. “It’s not pleasant, and believe me, it’s not for lack of trying ... we’ve changed ventilation and manure belts and people, and the fact is, we’ve never seen a successful situation where we’ve held the line.”

Bird flu isn’t the only issue at play. Naig said Turkey producers faced a other disease pressure at the moment from metapneumovirus, while pork producers worry about the spread of African Swine Fever, which cannot infect people and has not yet been detected in the U.S., but which the USDA says would “devastate America’s pig population and pork industry” if it arrives.

Asked about preparation for new outbreaks, Naig said the state, federal government, and producers would balance one another in any response to animal diseases, should they become necessary.

“There’s three partners in this equation,” he said. “That’s really essential to successfully preventing, but also effectively responding to one.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com