Former president of Iowa Farm Bureau eyes top ag job in the state

Dec 27, 2017

Craig Lang wants to be Iowa’s next Secretary of Agriculture

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

The search is on for the next leader of Iowa’s agriculture department.

Bill Borthey, the Department of Agriculture’s current leader, is set to take a role in the White House. And perspective candidates have started announcing campaign intentions.

One candidate is already very familiar with Iowa’s ag landscape.

Craig Lang, who served as the president of the Iowa Farm Bureau from 2001 to 2011, officially launched his campaign on Friday for the Republican nomination to fill Northey’s vacancy.

The 66-year-old dairy farmer outlined three goals during his official campaign kickoff at his farm near Brooklyn, IA. They focus on the protection and regeneration of Iowa’s 29 million farming acres.

“We’ve had conservation,” he said during his campaign announcement on Dec. 22, according to WHOtv. “Now, let’s add soil health, let’s clean the water and (improve) the economic activity. For the 10 years (I served) as Farm Bureau president, that was a priority issue with me.

“So, I want to take that (and) call it a renaissance of economic activity across the entire state of Iowa.”

Lang’s other ambitions including introducing five million acres of cover crops in five years and making improvements to the cattle industry.

He also wants to help the rural and urban communities come together to reach common goals.

“There’s been a division but I don’t want there to be a division,” he said. “I want everyone working together at the same table.”

There haven’t been any other official announcements, but a U.S. Senator from Iowa thinks a family member could be the right fit to lead Iowa’s agriculture sector.

State Rep. Pat Grassley, grandson of Senator Chuck Grassley, acknowledged in September that he’d like to succeed Northey.

And the senior Grassley “hopes he’ll be appointed” by Governor Kim Reynolds, according to the Des Moines Register.

If the Senate confirms Northey as the USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation, Gov. Reynolds will appoint someone to serve as Iowa’s agriculture secretary until the 2018 election.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.