John Norwood, the Democratic candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, plans to champion an Iowa Farm Bill if elected. It will use the framework of his “Iowa Built to Last” campaign to secure the future of Iowa’s land, water, food production, and family farms.
“Over the past 11-months I have travelled 35,000 mi listening to the concerns of Iowans. An Iowa Farm Bill can serve as a regional organizing framework to put in place strategies and funding for addressing our most pressing issues with actionable solutions. Iowa is one of the two most important grain growing regions in the world, along with Ukraine. Working with Iowans, we can develop common sense approaches that can deliver a resilient, diverse and inclusive agricultural system – Iowa Built to Last,” says Norwood.
Norwood envisions the Farm Bill to include key pillars that will address top regional and state issues, from system-base
Norwood envisions the Farm Bill to include key pillars that will address top regional and state issues, from system-based approaches to fixing Iowa’s failing water quality, threatened biology, and massive soil loss, to sensible standards and missing resources to address lax spray drift enforcement and puppy mill abuse. Rural economic development means climate markets can stimulate methane capture from hog manure, to empowering Iowa farmers to help address poverty and hunger as part of an economic development strategy built around food production. “Too many Iowans are food insecure in a state with more Class 1 soils than any other place in the world. Humanity is missing. Leadership is missing,” says Norwood.
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According to Norwood, “60% percent of Iowa farmland is owned by absentee landowners. This means soil health and crop diversification goals and policies must help create new regional processing capacity for 3rd and 4th crops and livestock, plus aligning landowners in support of farmers stewarding land, not just extracting financial returns. Market forces left unchecked are resulting in 1B lbs. of nitrate losses to state waters annually, massive soil loss on the order of $3 billion (145MM ton/year), and population decline in nearly 70 rural counties, as corporate dollars drive out the family farm.