Iowa’s secretary of agriculture says he’s continuing to monitor the impacts of heavy rains that battered Northern Iowa last month. Heavier than normal summer rains flooded fields, especially in the north central and northwestern part of the state. But Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig said it’s not clear if the federal government will offer disaster aid.
“I think it's possible," Naig said. "I know that the Farm Service Agency is looking at those things and looking at the criteria. We certainly are as well and are in close contact and communication with the USDA on that.”
More than a dozen counties qualified forstate disaster declarationsbecause of the June flooding.
But when it comes to a federal bailout for any damages resulting from the president's trade policies, Naig said many Iowa farmers aren't interested.
President Donald Trump continues to escalate trade disputes among the country's international trading partners, announcing additional tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports last week. The policies have many farmers and producers in the state worried about a glut of Iowa corn, soybeans, pork and dairy products coming onto the market with fewer buyers.
While the USDA is looking into the possibility of federal assistance for farmers impacted by retaliatory tariffs, Naig said Iowans would prefer a resolution to the president's trade disputes.
“What I hear as I travel the state is farmers are not interested in an aid package. They really just want markets for their products. So it’s a ‘trade not aid’ situation,” Naig said. "Because in the long-run, we know that we must have markest for our products around the world."
