Republican candidates for Secretary of Ag as Chad Ingles filed his papers Friday.
The Ingels farm 600 acres of row crop, continuously working to implement cover crops into their management system, and are long time farrow-to-finish pork producers for Niman Ranch.
Chad is an Iowa State University alumnus two-fold with a Bachelors and Masters of Agriculture from the university. Ingels has dedicated more than half his lifetime to farming, with nearly 3 decades in the field, and received various awards including the Iowa Farm Environmental Leader award and is a past Niman Ranch Meat Quality winner.
Chad is also a committed advocate for improving Iowa’s water quality. Starting in 1999 until 2016, Ingels served as an Extension Watershed Specialist for Iowa State Extension where he worked with over 300 farmers on several farmer-led watershed improvement projects. In addition to his Extension work, Ingels has been a member of Iowa’s Environmental Protection Commission since 2013, and is currently the acting commission chair. Nationally, Ingels also leads The American Farm Bureau Water Advisory Committee, where he provides direction to the American Farm Bureau Federation board of directors on water related issues. During the past year, he has been a part of the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council’s efforts to measure the progress of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
If elected to the position, Ingels says he is excited to continue his work improving Iowa’s water quality, which will serve as one of his main platforms.
“I’ve been working on water quality issues for nearly two decades and the important thing I’ve found is farmers are exceptionally willing to work to improve water if they’re looked at as part of the solution and part of the problem solving process,” says Ingels “and I want to help facilitate that even more than it has been currently.”
Other issues Ingels would like to address during his time in office is continued communication with folks in Washington, expansion of E-15 availability, and continuing open dialogues about trade and exports.
“I would really like to work with Secretary Northey once he’s in USDA and work with the EPA as well on getting E-15 available year-round so that we can sell more ethanol across the state and nation” Ingels says.