Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to appoint Mike Naig to replace Bill Northey as state agriculture secretary when Northey resigns to take a job as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Naig is deputy secretary of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and is Northey’s top aide. He would serve through January. He had been exploring a run for the office, and is considered a likely candidate for a full term. “As secretary, I am committed to building on the momentum that has been created on water quality and accelerating our adoption of conservation practices,” Naig said in a statement. “With long-term funding now in place, we are positioned to build on the exciting progress that has already been made and scale up our efforts to achieve the water quality goals we all share.”