Ray has approached politicians on both sides of the aisle about solutions to achieve the goals he professes at agricultural events. The most common response was a polite smile and not much else, he said.
If we stick with the current approach, “it’s going to take 50 years,” he said. If we focus on true sustainability, as he does on his farm, including comprehensive crop ecology and crop and soil water management practices, “we can fix the situation in two or three years,” Ray said.
The slow pace of change is weighing on the Mailers and Iowa voters who pay for public nitrate removal facilities through taxes and utility bills. More and more Iowans are installing reverse osmosis systems under their kitchen sinks to remove nitrates from their drinking water.
Schaal, a central Iowa-based plumbing, heating and cooling company, is seeing a surge in demand for home water treatment systems. Last year, the company installed 25 home reverse osmosis systems. As of June 12, the company has installed 50 systems and plans to install more than 100 systems, an increase of 400 percent, said James O’Brien, Schaal’s plumbing services manager. He said the company processes about three to four quotes a week.
Home improvement retailer Menards said in an emailed statement that it has noticed an increase in sales of reverse osmosis filtration systems across the state.
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sund on the campaign trail. (Photo by Leah McBride Mensing)
The Iowa Governor’s Office, which determines water quality policy, funding and oversight by state agencies, has been in Republican control since 2011.
Republican Zach Rahn said he supports the following refundable tax credits:deep banding“Nitrogen retains nutrients in deeper soil layers where roots can reach while limiting surface runoff. He also wants to financially incentivize farmers to install saturated buffers. He touts support by the MAHA coalition as proof that he is serious about addressing the root of Iowa’s water pollution problem.”
Rahn is largely self-funded, which gives him the freedom to be honest about the matter, he says. Progress on conservation in Iowa has been limited, he said, because it hurts the interests of big agribusiness.
“Follow the money, follow the influence. Who has a lot of influence on Capitol Hill? Who’s donating a lot of money? I believe there’s been a mentality in the sand for a very long time and the next generation of people coming out are just ending up with special interests,” he said.
But critics have been quick to point out Mr. Rahn’s ties to Big Ag, particularly his career as secretary of state. Americans seeking prosperityIt is the main political arm of the country. koch industrial networkHe also helped establish a Koch-funded private school in Wichita, Kansas, where he and his wife still serve on the school board. The Koch-funded political advocacy group has long supported agribusiness interests in Iowa.
Rahn’s campaign manager, Paul Cordes, said in an emailed statement that Rahn has not returned to Iowa to represent the Koch conglomerate. “Zach has nothing to do with them. That’s where he used to work. He no longer works there. They haven’t given him a dime. Not a dime,” he wrote.
“We’re farmers, so we want our water to be clean.”
Western Iowa farmers Deanne and Doug Pudenz see Rahn as a candidate who will stand up for farmers and water quality. Small streams that flow through Carroll County farms eventually join the Raccoon River. They have worked hard to incorporate conservation practices to ensure they do not contribute to the nitrate problem measured downstream.
They feel betrayed by Capitol Hill policies that favor agribusiness companies over farmers and feel Rahn will lead the state in a better direction. “We are farmers and we want our water to be clean,” Dian said.
Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sund agrees with Rahn that something must be done to improve Iowa’s water quality faster. The difference between him and his opponent, he said, is that Rahn has a few ideas, but a fully developed plan.
Sand’s plans include investing in real-time water quality monitoring. Expanding current conservation programs to include per-acre income tax credits and property tax credits for farms using approved nutrition plans. Establish a notification system to alert residents when drinking nitrate levels approach or exceed 10 mg/L. These include increasing the number of wetlands across the state.
“We’re getting praise from people across the political spectrum that this meets the two things we said we wanted to do. We wanted to have a plan that was impactful and achievable, and when people look at what we’ve put together, they say, ‘I think it’s going to make a difference and I think it’s doable,'” Sand said.
Sund’s campaign is touting support from the state’s Republican leaders, as well as support from the United Auto, Aerospace and Farm Machinery Workers (UAW), which represents Iowans in the state’s workplaces, including agricultural giants like John Deere and Case New Holland.
Mr. Sand’s campaign is also largely self-funded, although his in-laws, the Lauridsens, are providing support. His wife, Christine Lauridsen Sand, is CEO of The Lauridsen Group, a holding company with six agribusiness and protein ingredients businesses.
Stephanie Kilbride, who lives in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny, bought a tabletop reverse osmosis system last summer because she was concerned about the water her family was drinking and using in their aquarium. She grew up on a farm in Iowa, moved out of state, and returned in 2001, but she questions whether it was the right choice. In November, she said Rob Sund was the best choice to be governor given his water quality plan and the way he approaches issues.
“I feel like we have representatives now who don’t care about that,” Kilbride said. “There’s a lot of incompetent people who are like, ‘Hey, this isn’t the problem, look, this boogeyman here.’ It’s frustrating.”
According to Cook Political Report, the gubernatorial race is currently very close.
Current Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig (right) tours the Elite Octane Ethanol Plant in Atlantic, Iowa, with Congressman David Young (center) in 2018. (Photo by Steve Pope/Getty Images)
Naig, a Republican incumbent, began his career as a lobbyist for CropLife, a trade group representing the agrochemical industry, and has also worked for the Iowa Agribusiness Association and the Iowa Biotechnology Association, which lobbies on behalf of agribusiness and pesticide interests. He worked as a lobbyist for Monsanto since 2008 before moving to IDALS.
“What should make people angry is that we’re not asking the industry for anything. It’s all the Iowa taxpayers’ money to spend to address this problem.”
Naig’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment, but on June 22, it announced the first phase of its “Farm to Faucet” plan to reduce the amount of nitrates that flow from fields into the watershed that supplies the Des Moines area’s tap water. Landowners in 22 counties can receive $25 per acre to plant up to 500 acres of cover crops, as well as a lump sum payment for stream buffers. The goal of the $2.5 million plan is to double cover crop adoption across the watershed.
For the past 40 years, Democratic candidate Jones has been a research scientist, author and one of Iowa’s leading water quality experts. he supports a two-pronged plan: taxpayer-funded off-ramps for farmers who want to re-capitalize their farms in more sustainable ways, and pollution controls for those who don’t.
Currently, 70 percent of the state is covered in corn and soybeans, Jones noted. Sustainable agriculture also means diversifying what you plant and moving away from growing corn for ethanol, he said. Returning much of that land to pasture could make Iowa a leader in sustainably raised beef cattle, he said.
Jones said farmers who want to convert their farms from monocultures and feedlots to more sustainable operations that strengthen local food systems deserve support. And farmers who want to maintain the status quo must follow enforceable rules to protect Iowa’s water and human health.
Jones added that “Farm to Faucet” is the latest example of a state government not interested in real solutions because it would reduce profits for agribusiness and the state’s largest farmers.
“It’s clear that the Farm to Faucet strategy is not about solving problems, it’s about addressing problems,” Jones said. “What should be infuriating to people is that this bill doesn’t ask anything of the industry. It’s all Iowa taxpayers spending to deal with this problem and this pollution, and it doesn’t ask anything of the people who are contributing to the pollution.”
This November, Iowans will elect the candidates they believe will finally move this issue forward.
