At a February 3, 2025, hearing of the Iowa House Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee, Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig discussed conservation, Choose Iowa, animal-disease preparedness and other department priorities. Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that his presentation included nearly 4 million acres planted with cover crops in 2024 and a request to substantially expand Choose Iowa support. The figures and proposals below reflect that hearing coverage; they do not establish what lawmakers ultimately funded or what the programs’ status is today.
Why Naig appeared before the subcommittee
Naig presented Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship information and budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year. The February 3, 2025, account by Iowa Capital Dispatch focused on conservation and Choose Iowa, while also reporting on avian influenza, the state’s response to a poultry-company bankruptcy and lawmakers’ questions about tariffs.
What Naig reported about conservation
As reported by Iowa Capital Dispatch, Naig said Iowa had nearly 4 million acres planted with cover crops in 2024. He also said $27.1 million in state conservation investment was matched with $41.2 million in private-sector dollars. Those are figures from the presentation as reported at the hearing, not independently verified current totals.
Naig described the direction of cover-crop adoption as positive while acknowledging the remaining work: “The trajectory of adoption is changing, and it’s moving in the right direction,” he said. “That is not to say we don’t have a lot of work to do, and many acres to get over.”
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What Choose Iowa’s request would support
The article reported that Choose Iowa had more than 170 members across 72 Iowa counties, and that Naig hoped to reach 300 members that year. He called the department’s funding request “basically a doubling.” The requested support was intended for marketing, web development, outreach, administration and promotion; the report describes a request, not an enacted increase.
Naig connected the request to the program’s work with value-added farm products and to initiatives involving dairy innovation, butchery innovation and food banks. He told lawmakers: “We’re thrilled with what’s happening, with Choose Iowa,” Naig said. “So much so that we’re gonna ask, a pretty significant ask, of you to continue to support that program.”
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Animal-disease preparedness and the FY 2026 recommendation
Naig discussed highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The report said nearly 30 million commercial and backyard birds in Iowa had been affected by HPAI since 2022, a historical figure presented in the hearing coverage rather than a current outbreak count. Naig emphasized that preparedness is not limited to active outbreaks: “It’s just a reminder that, unfortunately, foreign animal disease is a constant threat, a year-round threat,” Naig said. “We need to be staffed and prepared to respond to it.”
Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that the governor’s FY 2026 recommendations included $500,000 for foreign animal disease vaccine development. That was a recommendation at the time of the hearing; the report does not establish whether the amount was later appropriated or spent.
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What Naig said about the Pure Prairie Poultry bankruptcy
Naig described a $2.3 million state cost associated with the Pure Prairie Poultry bankruptcy response, according to the report. He said the state’s inability to guarantee clean title to birds it had taken custody of prevented their marketing, and argued that the process needed a legal change to avoid the problem in a similar future case.
“Our inability to guarantee clean title to those birds that the state of Iowa took custody (of) prevented us from marketing those birds,” Naig said. “And something needs to be done in that process.”
Naig’s cautious view of tariffs
The hearing also included questions from lawmakers about tariffs and their possible effect on agriculture. Naig said he hoped tariffs would not be used, or, if used, would be structured to limit agriculture’s exposure and not last long: “My hope is that tariffs do not have to be used,” Naig said. “Or if they are used, that they are used in a way that minimizes impact to agriculture, or that are not lengthy in their nature.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the hearing account does—and does not—establish
The February 2025 report captures Naig’s presentation, the figures he cited and the governor’s FY 2026 recommendation as described at that point. It does not provide a later budget outcome, a transcript, or a subsequent update on Choose Iowa membership or implementation. The membership count, 300-member goal and proposed program expansion should therefore be read as a snapshot of what was reported at the hearing, not as current program status.
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