GRUNDY CENTER — The All-American Grundy County Fair welcomed Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig as a special guest for the first night of festivities on Monday evening as he helped members of the Grundy County Farm Bureau prepare a free hamburger meal at the 1851 Pavilion and presented three scholarships after the crowning of the king and queen.

Naig, a Republican who was first appointed to his role in 2018 and has been re-elected twice since then, took time to speak with reporters about a number of topics including the ongoing tariff situation, trade negotiations with foreign countries and Iowa’s nutrient reduction strategy.

“First and foremost, the top thing that farmers are talking to me about would be profitability (and) prices of corn and soybeans for sure. Of course, then, what about the markets? So yes, trade and tariffs are definitely top of mind,” he said. “I think what we’re seeing is some progress — certainly, the announcement with the UK, the announcements with Vietnam, there’s been a series now. We also understand that there are negotiations ongoing with everything — Japan, India, a number of places and consequential markets. And of course we know that Canada and Mexico, also, the work around USMCA getting that locked in again, that those things are underway. What we continue to tell the administration is that folks are willing to be supportive of trying to get to better trade deals, but it needs to happen in pretty short order because prices are in a place that’s not sustainable. And of course, we know that opening up more markets will help that situation.”

Beyond tariffs, Naig added, farmers are speaking to him about what can be done to bring certainty to ag markets, whether that means trade deals, biofuels policy changes like year-round access to the E15 ethanol blend of gasoline, as well as the tax implications and updates to farm policy in President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which was recently signed into law. Within the last few weeks, Gov. Kim Reynolds indicated that she would not support any additional regulations to reduce nitrate levels in Iowa’s water supply, and Naig urged farmers to build upon the conservation efforts already in place.

“We’ve got costshare now available. We just opened it up for cover crops — $30 per acre for a first time user, $20 an acre for a repeat user, so we’re really gonna push that,” he said. “We’ve got 4 million acres of cover crops in the state of Iowa, which is really remarkable, but we need to double and triple that. And so you’ve gotta push. What I would say is look, we think implementing our nutrient reduction strategy the way we’re doing it is the right way to have lasting change on the landscape. We have to recognize that every farm, every field is different, different all across the state. We need to have conservation that’s tailored to that. You can’t do that through regulation, but we can through working collaboratively. And frankly, there’s decades of experience doing that, and we just need to see more of it.”

He noted that a new record has again been set for conservation adoption in Iowa, but work remains to be done on how to scale it. The fair on Monday was the fourth or fifth where Naig has made an appearance so far this year, and he commended all of the people behind the Grundy County Fair for providing opportunities to 4-H and FFA youth to take responsibility, work hard, compete, deal with the consequences of how they did and possibly move on to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

Naig also spoke fondly of Grundy County, one of the state’s most agriculturally productive counties known for its fertile soils and valuable farmland.

“This is a very, very productive part of the state, very productive land, and we know also that there’s strong livestock production in this county. But also the manufacturing that goes with that,” he said. “I think Grundy’s a great example of how the value added ag piece stacks up. We grow commodities, but it’s when we add value through further processing or through livestock that you really drive value back to our communities. And we see that here in Grundy County.”

Later in the evening, Naig delivered brief remarks at the conclusion of the crowning of Fair King Daniel Hommel and Queen Riah Schrage before the family fun night activities commenced.

“What is better than seeing a bunch of kids out here having fun and our 4-Hers and our FFA kids competing? You know, it’s really maybe one of the most important times for them to take responsibility, work hard and compete, and that can be a special, special thing,” he said.

The secretary presented three $1,000 scholarships made possible by the Every Day Tractor Ride — the recipients were Claire Diamond, who plans to attend Iowa State University to study agricultural business, Carter Liston, who plans to attend Southeast Community College in Nebraska and participate in rodeo while studying livestock production and Will Rogers, who is currently studying auto collision at Hawkeye Community College and plans to complete two more years of business schooling at Hawkeye to work on cars.

“From a young age, I have seen the impact that farmers have not only in America but in the world, and I hope to see not only my family farm but other family farms as well continue to help fuel America,” Diamond said.

According to Naig, the Every Day Tractor Ride has distributed over $40,000 in scholarships since its inception.