Ag secretary: There’s pride in those farms

Ask Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey about “Century” and “Heritage” farms and his answer, trust us, will be filled with passion.He shared that zeal with members of the Chickasaw County Farm Bureau on Monday night, when the organization held its annual meeting at the Fredericksburg Community Center.“I think it shows why Iowa works,” he said of the farm designations during a phone interview on Tuesday. “We have a long-term vision in this state, and the importance of taking care of the land and passing it down to the next generation shows that.”Century Farms are those that have been in the same family for 100 years while Heritage Farms have remained in the same family for 150 years.At the 2015 Iowa State Fair, 366 farms received the “Century” designation while 101 more were named “Heritage Farms.”— For more on this story, see the July 29 Tribune