The Iowa Farmer’s Union has announced its support of Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey, for the post of Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation. The position, which was established in May, is a part of the re-organization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We hope Secretary Northey brings his administrative expertise to the position along with an appreciation of the family farm structure of Iowa agriculture,” IFU officials wrote. “We offer our support as he begins this new role and we look forward to working with him.” At the same time, the organization has said they are asking the Senate to reject the appointment of Iowan, Sam Clovis, to the post of USDA’s Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics. This position would have Clovis in charge of overseeing billions of dollars in research spending, and the IFU says, “Unfortunately, the appointment of Sam Clovis just isn’t a good fit. More than ever, we need a true scientist in this position.” They also said they were concerned this position will need to conduct direct research to help farmers deal with climate change, and Clovis has been vocal about his position on the subject, which could be counterproductive to that goal.
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