Trade was the biggest agricultural topic for the past two years. Negotiating trade deals with Japan, China, and the United States ? Mexico ? Canada Agreement were all things the Ag industry was excited about at the beginning of the year. Iowa really stood to benefit from the better flow of our agricultural products to our strongest markets.
Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated things a bit. However, that does not mean trade is halted. The trade deals are still in place. COVID-19 has not stopped Iowa from doing business, it has just changed how it is being done for the time being.
Iowa has been known to make trade trips to visit their trading partners. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig went on two big trade trips before the pandemic took hold. Last fall, he joined Governor Kim Reynolds on a trip to Japan, and earlier this year he led a trip to Mexico. Naig says that Iowa has always had a ?mentality of going.? He adds that it is important to meet with your customers face to face.
The current global situation has changed the way these face to face meetings are conducted. Naig says they have had to get creative on both the state and national levels.
Naig says the fundamentals for exports and the need to move goods have not changed. Iowa is still in a good position to get the world the food and agricultural goods they need. No pandemic is going to stop the need to do business, it is just changing how that business is done. However, when you are accustomed to doing business in-person, you hope this need to be creative is only temporary.
In case you have forgotten, Iowa might be a smaller state but is huge in the terms of the ag goods produced. Iowa is only number two to California in the value of food and agricultural goods produced. Naig says Iowa has to, ?keep the pedal to the floor.?
You can hear the full interview I did with Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig on this weekend?s edition of Weekend Ag Matters.
