Iowa’s latest crop report is good news for farmers: 80% of the state’s corn and 78% of its soybeans are rated good to excellent this year. But Iowa’s agricultural sector remains in the middle of a difficult multi-year downturn, and many farm-dependent communities are still feeling it.
Greater Des Moines offers a model for how to weather those cycles: Keep investing in the agricultural industries that have long powered our economy, lock its workers into friendly, longer-term contracts, and build new economic engines alongside our farming sector.
Start in Ankeny, where John Deere’s Des Moines Works has built sprayers and cotton pickers since the 1970s. Its roughly 1,500 workers received a two-year extension offer to lock in raises and benefits through 2029, giving them economic certainty even though nobody knows how long the ag downturn will last.
Move a few blocks over to Johnston, and Vylor — the advanced seed and genetics company being spun out of Corteva and home of the iconic Pioneer brand — has created its global headquarters at the existing campus there. The decision, announced in May, keeps a major ag employer rooted in the place where Pioneer was founded a century ago, retains roughly 3,000 Corteva jobs, and positions the region for additional headquarters roles and long-term Iowa growth in seed genetics and biotechnology.
But agriculture is no longer the metro’s only economic engine. Head south into West Des Moines and the surrounding suburbs, and you’ll find a different kind of growth. Hyperscale tech campuses from Microsoft, Meta, and Apple have brought large capital investments and some 500 permanent jobs, drawn in part by cheap power. Those projects expand the tax base, even as legitimate concerns about precious resources and the non-negotiable transparency and local control are being addressed.
Insurance and financial services provide another pillar. A Fortune 500 insurer still anchors downtown among the more than 80 other carriers operating here, giving Greater Des Moines another major industry whose fortunes aren’t tied directly to the farm economy.
And it goes without saying that diversification doesn’t mean leaving our farmers behind. The bipartisan Iowa Farm Act, signed this year, made the Choose Iowa school-purchasing program permanent, connecting cafeterias directly with Iowa farmers. That kind of steady support — like the incentive deals that helped land major projects here, and the union contract extensions that protect high wages even during the downturn — is what keeps every leg of this economy standing even when one of them wobbles.
That’s Greater Des Moines’ real advantage. Agriculture remains part of our foundation, but it no longer has to carry the regional economy alone. Let’s keep the energy and economic incentive programs that got us here rolling — while demanding accountability and local voice — so that stays true for the long haul.
Eddie Andrews serves as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives for the 43rd District.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines built an economy that can weather tough times | Opinion
Reporting by Eddie Andrews, Guest columnist / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Eddie Andrews, Guest columnist | USA TODAY Network
