Iowa Republican Senator Named 2012 ‘Friend of Agriculture’

Sep 04, 2012

Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Endorses Candidates

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

The Friends of Agriculture designation has been announced by the Iowa Farm Bureau Political Action Committee. The designation is part of a larger grassroots effort to evaluate political candidate’s positions on agriculture and examining their past voting records. The selection begins in July, when Iowa county committees evaluate candidates and one of the legislators on this year’s list is Sen. Merlin Bartz.

“Our organization takes these designations very seriously, and carefully considers each race,” said Rod Collins, IFBF PAC Committee Chair. “It’s very important that our designations are guided by statewide grassroots input and how each candidate’s voting record and positions line up with Farm Bureau policy. As we move forward, it will be important for all of us to work to get the Friends of Agriculture elected,” he said. “We need to stand behind candidates who are aligned with our policy.”

The designation acts as a formal endorsement by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. The farm organization wants to encourage their members to consider the designation winners when voting on November 6.

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.