93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Mike Johanns--Lifetime of Service, Rooted in Agriculture
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode we visit with Mike Johanns, a lifelong public servant whose career has shaped Nebraska and our great country. Mike Johanns grew up on an Iowa dairy farm, learning early on the values of hard work and community. He brought those values to Nebraska, where he served as a county commissioner, city council member, mayor of Lincoln, governor of Nebraska, U.S. Senator, and as the 28th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Few people have seen Nebraska and American agriculture from as many angles—or contributed to it as deeply—as Mike Johanns. Today he continues to serve agriculture through his work as a board member of Deere & Co. and Corteva.
Nebraska. It's not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals, caring community, and a spirit that runs deeper than its purpose. It's a story that should be told. Welcome to 93, the podcast.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to 93, the podcast, where we talk about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the people who make it happen. I'm Mark Folson, your host for today's episode, brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Matte. Today's guest is a lifelong public servant whose career has shaped Nebraska as well as our country. Mike Johans grew up on an Iowa dairy farm, learning early on the values of hard work and community. He brought those values to Nebraska, where he served as a county commissioner, city council member, mayor of Lincoln, Governor of Nebraska, U.S. Senator, and as the 28th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Few people have seen Nebraska or American agriculture from so many angles. Secretary Mike Johans, welcome to 93 the podcast. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_02You know, I'm doing great, and it's a pleasure to be with you.
SPEAKER_00So what's keeping you busy these days?
SPEAKER_02You know, uh when I left the Senate uh about 10 years ago, I joined a number of boards, um, all related to agriculture. So when you ask me what keeps me busy, agriculture keeps me busy. I I'm on the John Deere board, uh, Corteva, OSI, Ag America, uh Alliant Group. I mean, I could I could go on and on. It's a pretty good list.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, yeah, you didn't shoot low. Those are those are the big players in the industry. That's great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's been so rewarding and uh just such a great addition to what I had done throughout my career. So um I've enjoyed it immensely.
SPEAKER_00So how often do you and Stephanie get back to Nebraska?
SPEAKER_02You know, a lot. Uh we still have our home uh in the old market in Omaha. We have uh three grandchildren in Lincoln. We have a great grandchild in Lincoln. So and then there's just things that come up. Um, you know, there's a dear friend in Scotts Bluff, there's and going to be a luncheon to honor her uh pretty soon in the next month or so. So we're going to come back for that. So throughout the year, um we come back a lot. And then the most important thing I have to mention is uh we are crazy Nebraska football fans, and so we are there every home game. So uh yeah, we're we're back home a lot.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh, hopefully you bring us some luck this year. I think this might be our year, but I say that every year, but I'm thinking this might be our year to actually uh get over the cusp.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I hope you're right. I hope you're right.
SPEAKER_00So folks may not remember, but you actually grew up on an Iowa farm, isn't that correct?
SPEAKER_02I did. I grew up um in north central Iowa near a small uh community called Osage, a community of about 3,000 people. Uh we had a what I describe as the uh epitome of uh family farms. We we milked cows, we had cattle, we had hogs. My brother and I raised hogs to put some money away to, and that's what paid for my uh college degree. Um so uh, you know, it was a great upbringing, and uh like I tell people all the time, if every kid could grow up on the Johan's family farm, we'd certainly have a lot less problems in the world today. It was a wonderful place to grow up.
SPEAKER_00So, what are some of those lessons you learned growing up on the farm that perhaps shaped you to be the person you are today?
SPEAKER_02You know, I had chores from the time I was four years old. Um, I couldn't do a lot at that age. So dad said, here's the hose, here's how to turn on the pump, and make sure that these hog tanks always have water. And so that's how it all started. You know, I was driving a tractor when I couldn't even reach the uh to get to the clutch. I mean, I'd have to slip off the seat to uh to clutch the tractor. So but what you learn is you learn responsibility, you learn commitment to purpose. Um, you learn what it means to be a part of a team. I mean, we didn't hire outside help. We couldn't afford to do that. So we kind of all found our lane and we worked in that lane and we worked hard. My parents were just good, decent people. Um, and their view of the world was you got up every day, seven days a week, and you worked hard. You went to church on Sunday and you didn't lie, and you took care of your neighbors when they needed your help. And so all of that was a part of my upbringing.
SPEAKER_00Is there anything you don't miss about farm life?
SPEAKER_02Well, those, you know, this was north central Iowa, so we were right on the Minnesota border. We were about a half an hour drive from the Minnesota border. So I don't miss getting up at 5 a.m. and going outside in the middle of winter. And you know, you knew it was cold when the snow crunched, and there were a lot of mornings like that. So I don't miss that so much.
SPEAKER_00You know, folks who have milk cows, I think dairy may be the hardest industry to work in. It's just I I have not been in it, but my friends that have, I just hear the stories, I'm like, that's hard.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's um there's just never a day off. I mean, uh I didn't even understand the concept of vacation because there was no vacation. It was a great education. I mean, it really was. Um I remember when I first went to college when I moved away from the farm, and there were actually these two days where nothing was going on, and I I couldn't even imagine, you know, that was Saturday and Sunday. So I I couldn't imagine that you took two days a week off. That something about that didn't feel right to me.
SPEAKER_00So you uh you went to law school at Creighton, uh, practiced, I think, in Lincoln for a while. Uh tell folks, uh, remind folks a little bit about your law practice uh when you were practicing law.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, I actually practiced law for 17 years. My uh first job out of law school. I I'd done all right in law school, and so I was uh offered a one-year appointment at the Nebraska Supreme Court with a really decent, honorable guy by the name of uh Hill McCowan. He was on the Supreme Court, worked for him for a year, then um went to O'Neill, Nebraska, spent about a year there.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I didn't know that. Wow, that's great. What took you to O'Neill?
SPEAKER_02Uh, you know, I was offered a position uh in a law firm called Cronin and Hannon. Uh that I had had a class with the dean of the law school, Dean Franchino, and he remembered I grew up in a small town. J.D. Cronin uh was a benefactor for Creighton. And uh uh JD reached out to the dean and said, I'm looking for a young lawyer. And so that's how I got the call. And so uh went there for a year, certainly liked it, uh, but I was offered a position in Lincoln to do trial work, and I had this dream that I was going to be the next Perry Mason or Owen Marshall or whatever, and so that's what brought me back to Lincoln. Um, but then I I practiced in Lincoln for many years. My first two positions in government were county commissioner and city council. Um, those were quote unquote part-time positions. So uh I was actually um practicing law while I was uh a city council member and a county commissioner.
SPEAKER_00Do you miss recording billable hours, something that uh most attorneys don't enjoy?
SPEAKER_02No, I don't I don't miss that at all. You know, I have nightmares literally where I'll wake up and it's the end of the month and I haven't done what I needed to do, which is bill your hours every single day, and I'm in this panic that I've that fear never goes away. It doesn't go away.
SPEAKER_00I know, I know. So you served uh again, county commissioner in Lancaster County. You served on the Lincoln City Council, you're eventually mayor of Lincoln. Uh is there anything about that local government service that helped you when you served in the U.S. Senate as well as being the Secretary of Agriculture?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I I would say to people, you shouldn't serve in the Senate, or you shouldn't be the governor unless you've been a county commissioner. And uh that was half joking, but it really was half serious. The first thing is I think it gave me a degree of credibility as I worked with county boards and and city councils statewide, um, or with a mayor and another part of the state, because they knew I had been there. They knew that the issues that they were battling were the same issues that I had uh dealt with when I was the mayor of Lincoln or or a county commissioner or city council member. Uh the other thing is you really work with people on a face-to-face basis. And uh to me that's enormously powerful. And I hope in my years in public service I never lost that. That really what it is about is is helping the individual. It may be a big piece of legislation that you're debating in in Washington, but I always would think, what impact does this have on a citizen in Fremont or Norfolk or Scotts Bluff? And so it was just a tremendous, tremendous aid to me uh that I had had those years of service at the local level.
SPEAKER_00So I moved back to Nebraska in the fall of '97, and there was this historic snowstorm. I'll never forget it. And I think you were mayor of Lincoln at that time, and maybe you caught a little heat over postponing a certain holiday. Can you remind your listeners of that story?
SPEAKER_02Well, actually, uh that predated 1997. 1997, you're right. There was a huge snowstorm, but uh the one I'm remembered for is actually occurred uh a few years before that.
SPEAKER_00Uh yes, uh I had been not to bring up sore subjects, but uh it's it's funny how something so small can become so big and be meaningful to people.
SPEAKER_02Well, every year we get reminded of the fact that there was once this mayor blanking that postponed Halloween, you know. Um so yeah, you know, it was just a miserable day. I'd been out driving around, and uh so I called Stephanie on my way back to the mayor's office, and I said, you know, Steph, it is just awful out here. And this was in the morning, and and she said to me, Mike, uh I just want to tell you when you get back, people are calling and saying you should postpone Halloween. And I said, Steph, I don't think I can postpone Halloween. But I did get back, and and uh there's this big stack of phone messages that you know it's unanimous. Everybody wants me to postpone Halloween. So I called the chief of police and the public works director, and it wasn't going to get any better. And it was just, like I said, a miserable day. It was icy, it was snowing like crazy, it was just a mess. So about noon, I announced that Halloween would be postponed. Well, you know, they all turned on me in the afternoon. I was getting all these phone calls. Who the heck do you think you are, anyway? So, but it it was quite a thing because um uh I'll never forget this little nine-year-old wrote me a letter on this stationery we would all get when we were in grade school. And she started the letter, Dear Mayor, are you gonna postpone Christmas too? Uh and then she went on to say, How would you feel if I pro postponed your birthday? And then she she went on for another two or three paragraphs, just tearing me apart. And then at the end she said, and besides, Halloween is today, and I'm going trick-or-treating, and you can't stop. So yeah, it was yeah, yeah. So what am I remembered for as mayor of Lincoln? I was mayor for, you know, basically two terms, but I'm remembered for postponing Halloween.
SPEAKER_00Not everyone agrees, right? And obviously, people felt the need to uh give you a little backlash about that.
SPEAKER_02Yes, they sure did, and it was okay. You know, I understood, and um nobody got hurt that night. No one ran into uh some little trick-or-treater out there because the roads were icy. And so it was all okay, and you know, it wasn't the first or the last time that I got some disagreement with some of the things uh that you end up doing.
SPEAKER_00So uh running for governor, I think in 95, the race to the primary was in May of 98, and my recollection was you and Stephanie put some ungodly number of miles on your car traveling the state of Nebraska campaigning. Can you tell it? Remind our listeners of that story and how many villages and cities and hamlets you went into as part of that campaign.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um uh in that cycle, of course, the the election was in November of 1998, and we kicked off uh the campaign in October of 1995. Our first trip was to Kearney, and I think it was uh maybe Buffalo County Republicans, if I remember correctly. So, you know, we're more than three years out. I had announced a month or two before that that um I would run for uh to be governor. So we traveled in a Shivikorska, Gates Minnick uh had a car dealership, Duteau, of course, and uh Gates and I had served on the city council, and uh then when I was mayor, he was uh he was on the council and he he said, Look, I'll get you a good used car. And um you and Stephanie can drive that around the state, and when you get about 60 or 70,000 miles, he said, just bring it back to me and we'll get you another uh second good used car. So we drove this Chevy Kurska around the state about 150,000 miles over that three years, if you can imagine. Um, we were not only in all 93 counties. Uh that was a goal originally. I said I would go to all 93 counties, but in the end, we were in um all those 93 counties many times uh through the years, and in the vast majority of those counties uh many, many, many times. So we had the unbelievable experience uh that few people get. We traveled the state every nook and cranny, every corner, every community uh throughout that period of time. And I'll I'll share a story with you. We've not talked about this publicly, but very early on, uh we were uh scheduled to walk in a parade in in Verdigree, Nebraska. Now, Vertigree is a pretty good distance from Lincoln. I think it was maybe three and a half hours or so. And it was Father's Day, and I mean we were, I must admit, we were pretty discouraged. Um it was just hard to imagine how we were going to get the momentum to even be known in the state. And so we were talking about this uh as we were driving up to Verdigree, and I said, Steph, let's look at it this way. Over the next three years, we're going to see this beautiful state like few people get a chance to see it. We're gonna meet people who will become our lifelong friends, uh, who will be absolutely committed to helping us uh accomplish this goal of being elected governor. And I said, Steph, at the end of this, I probably won't win, and you'll get your life back. Well, you know the story we went to Verde and we got a great reception. People were thrilled to have us there, and we did I think we did 111 parades of the two of us in that campaign. That's not even counting the events we did, and uh I mean it was an incredible experience, just an incredible experience. And then in the end it worked out, you know, and and uh the race was successful, and all of the things that we imagined seeing this beautiful state, making lifelong friends literally everywhere in Nebraska, that happened to us. That wasn't a dream, that was something that was our life, and it was very, very powerful.
SPEAKER_00So, not many folks who have been able had the opportunity to travel Nebraska like you have. So let's assume I'm not from Nebraska, never been there. How do you describe Nebraska? Because it's differs so much by region from east to west, north to south. It's so different. How would you describe Nebraska as someone who has not been here?
SPEAKER_02Stunningly beautiful. Um and I tell people, I you know, people say to me, but the Interstate 80 is boring. And I say to them, Well, then you need to leave the Interstate. Now, there are there are parts of Interstate 80 that are just magnificent, you know, the cranes in the spring, the sand hill cranes. Um, you know, driving down the interstate and looking into a field of corn and seeing tens of thousands of cranes is just so powerful. I just used to look forward to that every year. But, you know, um I think about highway 20 across the northern part of the state, highway two that winds through the sand hills. Um, I think about Broken Bowl and Alliance and Shatron and, you know, just breathtakingly beautiful parts of the state. Just astounding. Um and then I think about the people that are there and just what incredibly good people they are, you know, people who embraced us at a time when, quite honestly, it didn't look very likely that I would be successful. But they were still there. They were at our parades, they were at our events, they were talking to their friends and neighbors. And, you know, we would often talk about our 93 county organization, and it was just so powerful because it wasn't anything flashy, it was just good people talking to other good people about what they believed in and what they wanted for the state. And you just can't run enough commercials or ads to beat that. I mean, and that's really what the campaign. Was about. So what I say to people is if you have a chance and you're thinking about where to vacation, uh, go out into the state, uh, charge your course down highway two or 20, go out to Fort Robinson, you know, Lake McConaughey, on the east side, uh, we have the best zoo really in the world. And and I could just go on and on. Every part of the state is magnificent.
SPEAKER_00I couldn't agree with you more. So you eventually became Secretary of Agriculture, if I'm not mistaken, you're the fourth Nebraskan to ascend to that level. What are some successes that you're most proud of during your tenure as Secretary of Agriculture?
SPEAKER_02Well, when I became Secretary, the world had pretty well closed its borders to our beef. And Nebraska being such a big beef state, uh this had dire consequences, but not only for Nebraska, but really across the United States. And that related to BSE. Um slaying term was mad cow disease. So uh one of my first responsibilities was to go out and normalize trade, get trade flowing again in the beef market. So um we went all over the world for that purpose. And uh then another key responsibility was trade, you know, how do how do we level the playing field? How do we bring down trade barriers uh so we can sell our beef into the European Union and et cetera? So I spent a lot of uh time on trade negotiations, and then I spent a lot of time preparing for a farm bill, and I think I was the first ag secretary since the 1980s to deliver a full farm bill proposal, which is what uh President Bush wanted me to do. So I traveled the United States um and uh we did farm bill forums in all 50 states. Uh I did over 20 of those myself, where I would go to a location and literally anybody who wanted to show up could show up and talk about what they wanted uh us to do at the USDA in terms of farm policy or rural development or rural housing or uh broadband, whatever it was. And so that for me was just a remarkable opportunity to interface again, face-to-face with people that we were impacting uh from Washington. So just a huge experience.
SPEAKER_00Were you involved much with biofuels, ethanol? And if so, have you kept up with what's going on in that area?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh we had um working with uh Senator Ed Schrock and and other senators, um, we had done an initiative, a legislative initiative, uh to provide some incentives for the uh production of ethanol in Nebraska. So we went from being kind of nowhere in ethanol production to second in the United States, second only to Iowa. Um that had gotten the attention of the White House because there was just tremendous, tremendous concern about dependence on foreign oil. And in one fell swoop, uh, we could really make a difference there. So I think that was really one of the reasons why I got a second look when it came to um becoming Secretary of Agriculture. So, yes, um uh President Bush was very keen on building the ethanol industry, really, for the primary purpose of um trying to lessen dependence upon foreign oil. And uh so we did some things at the federal level uh that had a huge uh positive impact. So ethanol really took off and uh the growth in the ethanol during those years out of sector was uh kind of amazing, uh, so very, very positive. And I yes, I've stayed in touch, and I still believe today that one of the key things we need to do is develop our biofuel strategy. I mean, what's better than growing a product right here in the United States and utilizing that product for uh at least in part for fuel? So you can do that with soybeans, you can do that with corn, and we grow those in abundance. And we desperately need new markets for soybeans, especially. And this is a great opportunity. And I'm speaking most specifically about aviation flu uh fuel. I think that's the next big step in the biofuels um arena. So a tremendous opportunity out there, just like it was when in 2005 when I went back to Washington to become Secretary of Agriculture.
SPEAKER_00So let's uh segue into carbon credits. I'm not sure if you've kept uh on top of what's going on or how that's evolving, but what what do you think the future of carbon credits is in agriculture and what needs to happen for carbon credits to work better for ag producers?
SPEAKER_02You know, carbon credits came about as almost a compromise, if you will, as we were developing uh the ethanol policy. You know, this this thought that uh you could literally go into the marketplace and uh purchase credits to um uh offset some of the other things that you were doing. But again, I'd emphasize kind of an afterthought. It wasn't really a prime driver of what uh the policy was going to be. Consequently, I believe one of the things that things that has happened is it's almost a bit of a haphazard strategy. And I don't think we've ever really designed what we want to accomplish with carbon credits and in what role they play in developing biofuels and what the role they play in the marketplace. So they bounced around a lot. Um, and um uh again, I think we would be just very, very well served in in kind of taking a step back, taking a deep breath and saying, what do we want to achieve with carbon credits? Uh what can they do to move us forward in this quest to be more energy independent? Um, you know, President Trump has said many times, I I don't want to be just energy independent. I want to be energy dominant. Well, I think biofuels are a part of that. And so how carbon credits fit into this, I don't think, is a uh question that's been thoroughly uh vetted and uh not very well answered to date. So my encouragement would be uh, you know, take a step back and see uh is there a better way of approaching this.
SPEAKER_00So current Secretary of Ag, Brooke Rollins, was recently here in Nebraska and she was rolling out the administration's policy agenda, which was partly focused on, according to the press releases I read, improving the viability of smaller-scale family farms. Let me ask this if you were still Secretary of AG, what would your policy priorities be?
SPEAKER_02Well, actually, it's so interesting. Uh what is old is new. Yeah, you know, a saying that I think really applies to uh what Secretary Rollins faces today. Uh you know, the farm I grew up on, I guess you could call it the epitome of the family farm, the epitome of the small farm. You know, there were four children, there was mom and dad, we had cows and pigs, and we had a pony named Trigger, and life could not have been better. We had a dog named Rex. I mean, uh, how does it get any better than that? Um, but what my father saw happening um was, in my judgment, very profound. And there were three sons, and he he said to each of us, you need to go get an education, because he knew that 160 acres cannot support uh two families or three families or four families, it just wasn't in the cards. Farming was changing, and what we see out there today is exactly that, and it continues to change. So people would ask me, well, Mike, what do you support? Do you support the big operators or you just support the small ones? And I my answer was always the same. I support anybody who wants to work in agriculture. Maybe that's a small farm where they're working in town, and uh farming is something that they want to do. They grew up on a farm or whatever, and it's just a different scale. Maybe it's a family that continued to grow and continued to bring the family in. You know, maybe it's a ranch family where now there is four or five families that are dependent upon this ranch. Well, I'm not going to stand in their way in terms of growing, uh, because that's important too to feed the world. So what I would say is what I've been saying for years, there's a place for all of it. And let's make sure that we're supporting with the right policies the growth in agriculture. And that might be a smaller farm, it might be a larger operation, but just let's get on the same page and support agriculture because that is what feeds the world.
SPEAKER_00So looking down the road 10 years or so, paint a picture for our listeners of what American agriculture looks like. What's different from today? What remains the same?
SPEAKER_02You know, uh I do see uh more growth in agriculture. I think operations are going to be very technologically advanced. Uh you know, I see a greater demand for precision agriculture, better genetics in seed, um, better genetics in how we deal with pests, um, better products in terms of crop protection. Uh farmers are demanding that because that's the difference between sometimes between profit and loss. It's just having at their fingertips those products. I continue to see a place for the smaller operations. Um, you know, the the operation that I grew up on is just really small now. I mean, there aren't a lot of people that are farming 160 acres in the Midwest, at least. That's such a small operation these days. But but I do see science and technology uh changing things. And then I would say this, but that's always been the case. Um it was in the 30s and 40s that hybrids came along, and I can still remember that there was a farmer in our neighborhood who would go to his corn crib, pick out the best year of corn, uh, ears of corn, uh, shell them, and that's what he planted in the planter. And the corn wasn't very good. Um, hybrids changed that. You know, we started planting hybrids, and all of a sudden we started getting better yields, you know. Again, when I grew up in the 50s and 60s, a hundred bushel per acre, 120 bushels per acre of corn was really considered to be a good crop. Today that would be considered to be a crop failure in most of the Midwest. What happened? Well, we have better technology, better equipment, better products, better seeds, better uh crop protection products. So I think that's going to continue. And uh I it's just necessary to continue. You know, I was to Brazil twice in the last year. What they're doing down there is remarkable, and it's they're huge competitors to the United States now. Um, you know, they outpace us in soybeans now, and they want to do it in corn. So uh we we just need to have strong agriculture in this country. That's why I say we need to be on the same page and support agriculture.
SPEAKER_00So, what do you see going on in Brazil that they're doing that we are not?
SPEAKER_02They just have huge, huge amounts of land. I'm not talking about tearing up the Amazon, and they're not talking about tearing up the Amazon. Um but they have just huge, huge areas um that don't have anything to do with the Amazon that have been converted into cropland. And so they just they can farm very, very efficiently, very large fields. Um you know, they're looking for the best hybrids, the best equipment, they're looking for the best seeds, they're looking for the best crop protection materials. It's just kind of amazing what they're doing there. The other thing that's happening, um, you know, 20 years ago, I if you would have said, well, where's Brazil at? I would have said, well, they've got some good things going on with farming, but they don't have any infrastructure. They don't they don't have roads that can get the crop in. And um that's all changed, you know. The infrastructure is now coming along, the roads are getting better, the railroads are getting better. So uh they can move products farm to market to export, and you know, where's China buying their soybeans these days? Brazil. Um, and they used to be our number one uh customer. So uh we we can't blink here. Um the world is changing and uh we need to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00What would you say is the most underreported ag story right now? Things that perhaps have not made the headlines that perhaps shouldn't.
SPEAKER_02No, I think it is Brazil. I I was thinking about that recently. You know, like I said, I've been to Brazil a couple times in the last year. I've talked to the producers there, I've asked them, where do you want to be in five years? Where do you want to be in 10 years? And and they'll talk about growing agriculture another 30, 35 percent in a very, very short period of time. And um if I could go out and give a speech to every annual Farm Bureau meeting uh across the country, and I can't because there's only one of me, I I would tell the story of who's our competition today. And it definitely, definitely is Brazil. Now, there's other parts of the world that I pay a lot of attention to also. Um, but this is something we just can't assume that we're always going to be at the top. Again, Brazil, uh, 25 years ago, 30 years ago, when I was just getting started in statewide office, I would have said, you know, someday Brazil's going to be huge competitions in the United States. Well, that day arrived. Um, and they are surpassing us in some areas. So I think this is a story that has to be told. It's not a story that everybody likes listening to. We all want to believe that we're the best at everything we do, that we're number one in every category. And I believe we're the best at everything we do. I think we're the best producers in the world. But I will also tell you there's some others out there that want to be number one too. So we need to pay attention.
SPEAKER_00So we I know you and Stephanie go back to Nebraska quite often, but when you come back, is there a restaurant or a place or a stop that you always make sure to try and get on your schedule when you're back?
SPEAKER_02You can't get a good steak like you get in Nebraska. I don't care. And you know, I probably just irritated every cattle rancher in Texas and Florida or whatever. But the truth of the matter is there's just something about uh Nebraska steak. And so, you know, if I had my druthers, I'd go to Dude's Steakhouse in Sydney, Nebraska, for example. And there's many other great steakhouses in the state, but that they have a bone in Rebbe that, oh man, it's to die for it. It's just really outstanding. There's a there's a place near Chimney Rock where they um, and I'm not sure it's still open. I haven't been there for a number of years, but uh they literally will prepare your steak on an open wood fire. Uh it's just wow, like like I said, it's just breathtaking. I mean, they put this steak in front of you, and it's just it's just a work of art, is what it is, and it is so good. So, yeah, you know, take me to a good steakhouse in Nebraska and I'll be a happy guy.
SPEAKER_00I think I agree with you on that one. Again, growing up in Iowa, uh spending the bulk of your life in Nebraska, serving Nebraska, you know, we have a certain uh number of commodities that we grow, and but America, U.S. is very diverse. So is there one commodity that you knew not much about or maybe nothing about when you became Secretary of Ag that you gained knowledge of and perhaps an appreciation of?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, uh I I grew up in the Midwest. I served as a governor in a state that would be regarded as Midwest, Western or uh Western. Um I didn't know a lot about southern crops, I didn't know much about peanuts or um, you know, cotton, tobacco, that sort of thing. So uh there was a very, very steep learning curve for me uh because I wanted to demonstrate that that what I was saying was true. I cared about all of agriculture. And just because we don't grow uh cotton in in um Nebraska doesn't mean that it is an important crop. So I think that whole category of southern crops, the cotton, the rice, the peanuts, um, I I just developed great respect for their good people. Uh, you know, they just reminded me of the people I grew up with. So um but I will be the first to acknowledge, and they knew I had a steep learning curve. They knew I was a Midwest guy, and they were more than willing to tell me why their crops were important too.
SPEAKER_00So looking back on your time as Secretary Vag, as governor, as senator, what do you hope your legacy is?
SPEAKER_02Well, first of all, from a personal standpoint, I hope my legacy is uh on a personal level that I was a hard worker, that I listened to people, that I cared very, very deeply about people and doing the right thing for them. I hope people look at me like I look at my father and my mother, you know, God fearing, go to church on Sunday, don't lie, your handshake means something. Um and and I just hope that that's a part of the legacy on the personal side. On the professional side, I I hope people look at me and say, you know, he cared deeply about the state. He worked hard on trade issues, he worked hard on mental health issues because that's a part of our communities, too. Um but most importantly, that he worked hard for Nebraskans. And then ultimately, when I went to the Senate, that he worked hard for a Really great nation and did everything that I could to improve the situation for those engaged in this great profession, agriculture.
SPEAKER_00Secretary Johan, something we ask everyone who appears on this podcast, you get one word and only one word. What is the one word to you that best describes and explains this great place in which you served on so many levels? What's your one word for Nebraska?
SPEAKER_02Amazing. I just, you know, I choose amazing because it's not just the state and the beauty of the state, the state that we just deeply fell in love with, traveling it so extensively for the better part of 20 years. Um, but it's the people. I mean, I could tell you they're tough and they're determined and all of that. But what best describes the people of Nebraska is that they're just amazing. Um you know, my my last shot at a set uh speech on the Senate floor, I thought long and hard, you know, this is the last time I get to go to the Senate floor of the United States and speak. And what do I want that to be? What do I want to talk about that means the most to me? And you know what I ended up doing? I ended up talking about the people of Nebraska. I picked out three instances of people who had shown just enormous courage and in just average people, ordinary people in Nebraska who had been called upon to do extraordinary things and never batted an eye, um, stepped up and did those things. And, you know, that's that's what I wanted to talk about. I wanted people to understand that this is a very, very special place. And yes, it's the beauty of the state. It certainly is that. But really, what it is, it's the beauty of the people, uh, the people that you know I care about so deeply. I will spend eternity in Nebraska, and Stephanie will be at my side. And what a peaceful thing to think about. I mean, uh this is just a remarkable place.
SPEAKER_00Secretary Johans, thank you so much for your time. I know our listeners will appreciate it. I know I do as well. I know I speak on behalf of I'll just say it, on behalf of all Nebraskans, thank you for your service. And thank you to you and Stephanie for all that you have done for the state of Nebraska and this country. Folks, if you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing on Apple Spotify or whatever your favorite podcast app is. And while you're at it, give us a good rating. And please keep on listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska. It's great communities, Nebraska's number one industry, agriculture, and the folks who make it happen.
SPEAKER_01Thanks. This has been Nighty Three, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Ludke.
