Ag secretary candidate stops in Parkersburg

As a lifelong farmer near his hometown of Ryan in Delaware County, Republican State Senator Dan Zumbach can’t help but use industry lingo in describing his candidacy for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.

“There’s a herd of Holsteins, the five of us, that all look alike, except there’s one that’s going to stand out that his a little more background around him to be the right one (for the job),” he said in reference to his fellow GOP competitors. “And that’d be me. I’ve got something the rest of the herd doesn’t have.”

Zumbach got in to the family business during the turbulent 1980’s, surviving a stagnant farm economy and a fire that destroyed his livestock buildings.

A week after the Parkersburg tornado of 2008, his land was ravaged in a separate storm, but it still hasn’t dimmed his enthusiasm.

The Senator, who has served in the statehouse since 2012, no longer raises hogs, but he remains a row crop farmer and a spirited advocate for the industry in Des Moines.

“My passion is agriculture, and here’s an arena where I can serve the public—where my passion is, my talents are and my hard work is,” he said. “I feel that I could be a great asset to Iowa doing this.”

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