Agriculture commissioner candidates debate at NDSU
Current North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson and opponent Doug Goehring don’t have the same vision for the future when it comes to renewable fuels.
The NDSU Collegiate Farm Bureau sponsored a forum for the two candidates Wednesday at the Festival Concert Hall. Mike Hergert of the Red River Farm Network moderated.
The two candidates presented their opening statements, answered questions Hergert had prepared and also answered written questions from the audience.
Johnson graduated from NDSU with a degree in agricultural economics. Johnson said he learned early on the importance of farming and agriculture, and it’s been with him all of his life.
Johnson thinks this election is about two fundamental issues.
The issues are what’s going to happen with the next farmers and about renewable resources.
The election is also about a safety net, price protection and having the safest, most affordable food supply in the country, Johnson said.
Johnson thinks North Dakota needs to be much more aggressive in renewable energy. Statistics show that North Dakota is considerably behind neighboring states.
“ This is an area where leadership and consistency are required; there’s never been a question where I stand on global energy,” Johnson said.
Johnson wants to pass a bill to reach a 7.5 billion gallon standard by 2008 instead of 2012. He also wants to reach a 30 billion gallon federal standard by 2015-2020.
“ We have to have increasingly higher levels that we want to get to, and we ought to write it in law to make sure we get there,” Johnson said.
He also thinks about what family farmers have to do and how they have to make a living, making him a big believer in the safety net of the farm bill.
“ I go to work everyday trying to make sure that that food safety issue is top of the line because we do a lot of work in the office relative to that,” Johnson said.
Goehring thinks that as North Dakota moves forward, the state needs to focus on research, not only at a federal level, but also at a state level, accessing more funds.
“We have so many opportunities as we move forward, looking at developing renewable energy using bi-products,” Goehring said.
These opportunities occur by looking at production and quality loss issues.
Other opportunities also occur by providing safe, abundant food and fiber for families, the export market and other segments of the industry such as livestock, Goehring said.
Goehring thinks increasingly more pressure will be put on the small grains and the food and fiber industry.
Goehring also said the state needs to look at quality issues, making sure high-energy feedstock is available to livestock, and also to look at utilizing the byproducts that come from those efficiencies, Goehring said.
“ We need to look at the bigger picture, such as national standards about biodiesel,” Goehring said. “As we expand and develop we can provide that product, making sure that our industry and our nation offsets some of the foreign energy that comes into our markets.”
Goehring takes several factors into consideration when envisioning a future for the department of agriculture.
Some areas that Goehring looks to are government offices, working relationships within universities and colleges with research programs, research farms and facilities, the department of commerce and the USDA’s rural development agency.
Goehring feels that building and creating those working relationships will help determine what resources exist out there and how North Dakota can move forward with the potential that is there.
Goehring also believes that issues with crop insurance need to be addressed, such as reforming crop insurance in an action from different levels.
Goehring believes there are some programs and products out there that can be utilized and offer not only safeguards to help to mitigate risk and production agriculture, but also for livestock production.