BALDWIN - A big part of Doug Goehring's strategy in running for agriculture commissioner is to point out repeatedly that he's a farmer - though he's spending less time on his Burleigh County spread these days.

The campaign trail has led Goehring, a Republican, away from his farm for much of the summer, as he tries to spread his message and overcome the inherent advantage enjoyed by incumbent Roger Johnson, who is running for his third term.

"I'm out here living, breathing, doing this thing (farming)," Goehring said, sitting in a friend's farm shop northeast of Bismarck after a campaign event in a nearby corn field. "These are real issues. It's not a game, it's not politics to me."

Johnson, 51, who was elected in 1996 and re-elected in 2000, also tries to return to his family farm as much as possible. He is part owner of a farm near Turtle Lake and still spends time working there.

"It's important to have a good sense of the economics involved in the business," Johnson said. He enjoys public policy work, but he says he's more comfortable in a wheat field than he is giving a banquet hall speech.

But Johnson is at ease in the public eye and often draws an audience without trying. As he walked into a Mandan hotel recently to speak to a group of dairy producers, farmers immediately gathered around and started chatting.

"I try to work real hard at the job, and try to let people know what I do, what I think," he said, pausing during an interview to listen to yet another farmer with something to say. "Those are all things I would do if I were an incumbent or not."

Phyllis Howatt, a Langdon farmer and vice president of Women Involved in Farm Economics, said it is important to many producers that the agriculture commissioner come from a farm background.

"That way, he knows what's been going on," she said. "If he's had firsthand information, that's always better."

She said many farmers want the agriculture commissioner to be both a policy worker and a national advocate for North Dakota producers.

Johnson and Goehring have identified many of the same issues as being key to the future of North Dakota agriculture: livestock industry development, crop insurance reform, fair trade policies, and help for agricultural processing and renewable energy ventures.

The themes are so similar that Johnson jokes that he's not sure where Goehring's philosophies differ from his. Goehring says the difference is in the details.

Johnson's vision for economic development, Goehring says, "often requires new taxes and government." He cites Johnson's leadership of an initiative, soundly defeated by voters two years ago, to offer tax and student loan breaks to the state's young people to keep them from leaving.

Johnson said the Democrat-supported measure was not a tax increase, and that he believes the initiative sent a strong message to young people that North Dakota wants them to stay.

Goehring, 39, who is a vice president of the North Dakota Farm Bureau and a director of Nodak Mutual Insurance Co., says he has a thorough understanding of farm issues.

"As a producer, I understand the challenges, I understand the opportunities that exist," Goehring said.

He describes himself as progressive and innovative and said he wants to make the Agriculture Department a better resource for producers, a better listener and a better champion of the state's farm industry.

Johnson, a former administrator of the state Agricultural Mediation Service, touts his ability as a consensus builder, and his record in office. He is a former president of both the Midwestern Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the Mid-America International Agri-Trade Council, and said he is proud of the lobbying work he did during the last federal farm bill debate.

"My makeup is, when I do something … I want to really get into it, put my heart into it," he said.

"I think I'm pretty good at (policy work)," he said. "My peers recognize that. I've developed a reputation as a person who doesn't give up."

(On the Net: Roger Johnson: http://www.johnsonforag.com and Doug Goehring: http://www.douggoehring.com.)