The sixth annual Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Leader Awards dinner was March 6 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Four winners were honored, one in each of four categories. The winners were recognized for their leadership, their innovative solutions and their commitment to serving Iowa communities through collaboration and hard work.

“These awards are an opportunity to highlight and recognize some of the leaders in our state who help make Iowa agriculture such a dynamic and vibrant industry,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “Congratulations to the winners and thanks for the important role you play in our state’s agriculture industry.”

The Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Leader Awards are presented each year to recognize, honor and promote Iowa residents, companies and organizations who have made significant contributions to Iowa’s agriculture industry. Those recognized have displayed leadership within the categories of innovation, conservation, collaboration and industry development.

Northey sworn in as undersecretary
The evening also included an oath-of-office ceremony, as former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey was sworn in as USDA undersecretary of agriculture. Northey was given the oath of office for that high-level position by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.

Perdue flew to Des Moines earlier in the day to deliver the oath of office to Northey at the evening event. About 600 people attended.

4 winners
Newly appointed Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, as the successor to Northey, presented the Iowa Ag Leader Awards to the following four winners.

• Sarah Carlson, Leadership in Conservation. Sarah Carlson is strategic initiatives director for Practical Farmers of Iowa, where each year, she helps farmers share practical advice and farming knowledge about cover crops and small grains with thousands of other farmers to diversify their operations and keep their soil covered.

She also leads projects building partnerships throughout the food and beverage supply chain to grow markets and support research for small grains and cover crops in Iowa and the Midwest. Most recently, she co-chaired the Conservation Initiative’s Cover Crop Working Group and led the creation of a cover crop discount through the crop insurance program.

Carlson grew up in north-central Illinois in a farming family. As a young person, she was troubled by the loss of her grandparents’ farrow-to-finish hog operation and the consolidation of her high school.

After attending Augustana College, she went to Iowa State University, where she earned a master’s in agronomy. There, she conducted on-farm research with PFI, and was inspired by founder Dick Thompson’s words: “Once the cattle leave the farm, so do the people.”

Those words struck home with Sarah, and so did the PFI philosophy of farmer-led research and the power of grassroots knowledge.

• Myron and Ellen Kloubec, Leadership in Industry Development. Myron and Ellen Kloubec have been involved in aquaculture (fish farming) in Iowa for 38 years. Their journey began by converting a 10-by-10-foot summer kitchen into a small fish hatchery and using ponds on the family farm. Over time, the Kloubecs developed their 80-acre property, with many sloughs and valleys, into an alternative-agriculture operation known as aquaculture.

Since its inception, Kloubec Koi Farm has grown into one of the largest producers of koi fish in the county, wholesaling to more than 250 locations in almost all 50 states and Canada. Additionally, most of the Kloubecs’ high-valued koi are marketed through their internet store and eBay, where each koi is photographed individually, then sold and shipped to koi hobbyists across the country.

Ellen writes for an industry publication, Pond Trade Magazine, as a featured author on koi identification and health. Myron is on the advisory committee for the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center, and was an instructor of the aquaculture curriculum for Kirkwood College’s Alternative Agriculture Program.

The Kloubecs received an Iowa Venture Award presented by the Iowa Economic Development Group for recognition of entrepreneurial achievement. In 2016, the farm was recognized as an Iowa Century Farm by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

In addition to producing award-winning koi fish, the family also raises game fish for stocking ponds and lakes throughout Iowa.

• Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, Leadership in Collaboration. The Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium is a community-led organization whose mission is to enhance monarch butterfly reproduction and survival in Iowa through collaborative and coordinated efforts of farmers, private citizens and organizations.

The eastern monarch butterfly population has experienced an 80% decline over the past two decades. One of the causes for population decline is loss of milkweed habitat in the spring and summer breeding ranges of the United States. Iowa is in the center of the monarch’s summer breeding range, and roughly 40% of all monarch butterflies that overwinter in Mexico are estimated to come from Iowa and neighboring Midwest states.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was petitioned to determine if the monarch should be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and is currently under review. Establishing and implementing a viable, voluntary Iowa monarch conservation program during 2018 can provide private landowners flexibility in implementing conservation practices and avoid significant regulatory and management burdens if the species is listed in 2019.

Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship provide overall leadership and facilitation for the consortium. The consortium is comprised of 36 members and five partners representing diverse interests across the state.

• Wold Rim and Wheel, Innovation in Agriculture Manufacturing. A third-generation business, Wold Rim and Wheel has grown in the northeast Iowa town of St. Ansgar by supplying original equipment and aftermarket rims and wheels to agricultural markets throughout the United States and Canada.

It began in 1938 as a small service station serving the community. Owners R.A. and Janet Wold expanded the family business in 1963 when they created a method to widen wheels allowing area farmers to mount larger tires on their tractors for better tractor performance.

The company then expanded to widen rims for combines and added product lines to fit a variety of ag machinery.

Wold Rim and Wheel evolved and grew to service and manufacture wheels for a wide range of tractor tire sizes as needed for their expanding farm markets. Today its products are helping increase agricultural production from the wheat fields of Saskatchewan to the cotton fields of the southern states and from the sugarbeet rows of North Dakota to the corn and soybean fields of the Midwest, including Mitchell County, home to Wold Rim and Wheel.

The Wold family remains active in the business along with a network of dedicated employees and dealers. Together they continue R.A. and Janet’s legacy to problem-solve, design, manufacture and market innovative agricultural wheels and rims, which help grow not only the Iowa economy, but also North America.