Washington, D.C. (Radio Iowa) — A northwest Iowa farmer who is currently Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture appeared before a U.S. Senate Committee Thursday morning to discuss how he’d carry out the duties of a top official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
On September 1st, President Trump nominated Bill Northey, of Spirit Lake, to be an undersecretary in the U.S.D.A.
Three members of the U.S. Senate Ag Committee pressed Northey to consider lifting the acreage limit in the Conservation Reserve Program.
Another senator asked Northey to consider relaxing U-S-D-A rules, so ground enrolled in the Conservation Reserve may be used more often as pasture for livestock. Northey didn’t commit to making changes.
The committee’s Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the panel urged Northey to protect crop insurance. Kansas Senator Pat Roberts was first to ask about it during the hour-long hearing.
The committee’s chairman told Northey his “boots on the ground experience” as a farmer would be invaluable once he moves into a new role inside the federal government. Northey began his brief opening statement to the committee by emphasizing that his anchestors began farming in Iowa 150 years ago.
Northey’s wife and one of his daughters sat behind him in the hearing room. Northey publicly thanked them and the rest of his family.
Northey, who is 57 years old, was first elected state ag secretary in 2006 and he won reelection in 2010 and 2014. His nomination to be Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation in the U.S.D.A. is subject to a confirmation vote in the senate. Senator Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, didn’t offer up an exact date for that vote.
None of the senators offered objections to Northey’s nomination. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley introduced Northey to the committee, saying he was returning a favor to Northey’s family. Northey’s father served as an advisor to Grassley’s first campaign to the U.S. Senate 30 years ago when Grassley says he was not the choice of the “Republican establishment.”
