[Kinseth: My preface words are commentary to an essay by Darren Fife who clearly/cleanly, and with balance, addresses the reality that Iowa is not an “ag state” economically as it is continuously painted to be, and the need to cease avoiding industrialized ag regulation.
Significant national and local taxpayer support goes to Iowa agriculture, and it is a tough industry in which to make a profit due to weather, unpredictable commodity prices, and even events like bird flu. But what is most irksome is that most of this support both on a federal and state level has been legally entrenched with barren regulations to sustaining, let alone improve, land quality. As a result, soil loss and nutrient pollution have went largely unaddressed and the idea of farmers being stewards of the land in Iowa has become a sad joke. And not just a laughable joke, but legal cushioning for farmers and absent farm actions that would reduce pollution have increased existing a growing health problem across both the urban and rural landscape. I wish I could say that little farmers were great steward of those “century farms,” but that is not the case. Little family farmers who want to grow corn and soy have to even do more eco-destructive interventions to compete with the dominant “big boys.”
Who is subsidizing the subscribers of water treatment with their rising costs (to not really attain clean water but, more realistically, only bring contaminants down to EPA safe levels)? Well, it sure ain’t the farmers. And the farmers’ orgs would like the generic taxpayers (and let’s add the feds who they might hate for interfering in their fiefdoms but they welcome them when they bring on the $$$). Gifts of subsidies and crop insurance, and decade-after-decade state legislation to legally NOT restrict landowners from degrading land, that now goes further to restrict and even provide for arrest for “whistle-blowing” of bad ag processes illustrate the need for a real overhaul of industrialized agriculture. Why? No regulation, no plan, no percentages to attain, no specifics. And when strategies are listed, most will not work because they either give up no land or they avoid breaking tiles and they tend to remain voluntary when most farmers feel they can’t afford it or, as core deplorables, see it as some sort of arbitrary, bureaucratic control. While Iowans make begin to awaken and complain and vent, dream on Iowans if you expect to have clean drinking water, lakes, and rivers, even though you now live in an Iowa that is no longer even close to being “ag state” economically.
Note: These introductory comments are mine, and you may get a more mollified impression from Darren Fife’s essay, but it is clean and clear]
[The following bold/underline in Darren Fife’s article are Kinseth’s additions.]
Darren Fife, is a member of the Walnut Creek Watershed Coalition:
*****
Darren Fife, “Iowa needs to help ag modernize to improve water,” Des Moines Register 10/7/16:
The late summer trip to the beach with the kids keeps ending the same way, beach closed due to toxic algae. What about the beaches that are not being tested? No risk we can assume, right? We are risking our health for an aging industry in Iowa in desperate need of help.
While Iowa is often referred to as the “ag state,” 98 percent of us don’t work in agriculture or even a related field. Almost 91 cents of every dollar produced in Iowa comes from business other than farming. We have to stop fooling ourselves. We’re not an ag state and we are not a state of family farms. We’re a state that’s got a noble industry, with a lack of regulation, and we need to help it modernize so that it can continue, without continuing to risk the health of all Iowans.
The reason why we as Iowans can think about the potential for clean water is due to the Clean Water Act. The CWA has made measurable progress reducing pollution from municipal and industry in Iowa and around the United States. The number of waterways deemed fishable and swimmable doubled in the 25 years after CWA's passage in 1972.
It is important to note that agriculture was largely exempted from this regulation. River and stream pollution in the Midwest continues to rise, largely as a result of fertilizers and pesticides. As much as we may hear that progress is being made, it is completed on such a small scale that no measurable change can be noted.
Today, public health, recreation and economic development are at risk because of elevated nitrate, phosphorus and bacteria produced from agriculture. A record number of beaches were closed again this year due to toxic algae, promulgated from excess phosphorus. Iowans also face an increased threat of cancers and birth defects from nitrate consumption.
What has to happen before action is taken? It is so strange to even think about how much opposition exists to protecting our water and ensuring public health. Water is the most basic resource to life, and we have to fight to protect it.
It is not my intent to diminish the role that agriculture has played in this state and our rich history in Iowa agriculture. Look, we all know it, agriculture is important to our history and our identity as Iowans. This discussion is not directed against farmers but for protection of our water. Farmers work hard in an extremely tough industry that can be a gamble to even get paid or make a profit.
But, we've got to be honest when we talk about this, and we have to do it together. It's not a question of if we have to change; it’s a matter of when. Why wait for the EPA to force us? Every single industry has had to go through the tough row of modernization and regulation; now is the time for farming.
The truth is that we have an industry that accounts for less than 10 percent of our state’s GDP and contributes to 90 percent of our water quality issues. A voluntary approach is not the answer. If we would have left municipal and industrial waste untreated and voluntary in the 1970s, imagine what our water would look like today. We can all agree that regulation will not be the single solution to this issue, but it must be a component in order to reach our goal of clean water.
States in every direction are making real progress with buffer rules and tougher manure management laws while Iowa continues to lose more ground. As the leader in agriculture, surrounding states should be looking to us for guidance.
As Iowans, we have always done what is right, because it is right, and because it is best for our people and for our state. Why is clean water any different?
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