Today’s characters ranged from the tip top of the “food chain” to the near bottom.  We began the day by running to the Capitol building in Des Moines to meet Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds.  Unfortunately, the meeting was very short, meaning 15 minutes or so.  As Rachel said earlier, she basically told us about Iowa’s agricultural heritage and importance in the world.  She also briefly outlined Iowa farmers’ almost near unanimous opposition to the proposed loosening of the Renewable Fuel Standards (meaning not as much ethanol would be mixed with gasoline).  Considering that her main platform during her tenure is economic development, she approached this issue from an economic standpoint rather than an environmental one, which, I admit, does have more wide spread appeal.  To summarize the issue: lower RFS standards = lower demand for ethanol = lower production of ethanol = lower demand for corn = loss of ethanol related jobs and lower income for corn = bad policy decision for Iowa.

I guess I should get used to these 15 minute visits (or less) if I want to get into politics for a career, but this meeting would have been exponentially more meaningful if it was extended to only 30 minutes.  That way, she could have said her spiel about Iowa (that I think I’ve read on the back of every map in our van), and we could have asked our own questions.  Nonetheless, the meeting was mostly redeemed by the beautiful capitol building.  It was very open and spacious, laid out in the same pattern as the national Capitol and most bicameral legislative buildings, and had a very earthy color scheme throughout the interior.   After the meeting, we poked our heads into the House and the Senate chambers–which looked very much alike, except the latter having fewer desks–and the State Capitol Law Library.

We then drove a good ways to get to the second of the Wallace Centers: the Country Life Center.  This location featured the farmhouse in which Henry A. Wallace was born and a small 11-acre farm that provides the produce for the restaurants here and at the Wallace House in Des Moines (which we visited last week).  After being treated to another excellent meal, we were set to work with Mosa Shayan, the farm manager.  He graduated from Simpson College (Indianola, IA) with a degree in economics and philosophy, but his passion for composting (lauded by the Wallace Center CEO, Diane Weiland) led him to the Country Life Center.  He gave us a short run-down of the farm’s operation and then tasked us with thinning out the green beans he planted earlier in the season because he had planted them too close together earlier in the season.   It was pleasant work, despite my Scottish skin’s penchant to freak out before graciously welcoming the sun’s gift of vitamin D.

Today was a long trip in the car, but worth the effort. First we came to Des Moines where we saw the Capitol building up close and met with the Lieutenant Governor. It was pretty impressive to see some of the inner workings of the state government and to talk with such an influential woman, even if for only a brief time. From there we went to a new area of Iowa where the flatland becomes more hilly, and so the erosion is worse and the soil isn’t quite as rich. Here we went to the second property of the Wallace Centers of Iowa, the farmhouse in Adair County where Henry A. Wallace was born. We enjoyed lunch prepared by Chef Katie Routh, who also who prepared our dinner at the Wallace House in Des Moines on May 15th.  Then we heard about the Wallaces from Diane Weiland before learning about the garden from Mosa. The Wallace Center CSA employs organic practices (non-certified) and has a number of acres, but only has about 11 acres of land good for row crops. They also had about 4 acres of orchard trees with apples, apricots, pears, and peaches. The entire area to me looked like a scaled-up version of the Furman Farm with two or three greenhouses and otherwise familiar seeming practices. Personally I dislike that the organic standard (which is a nationally regulated label) and has so many detailed requirements that it forces organic producers to rely so heavily on its higher prices. Acquiring the standard requires prohibitive amounts of work, and without the clientele interested in paying the higher price here in this part of Iowa there is no motivation for the farm to certify itself.

Diane also made the point that organic standard originally focused on more than just an input standard; it was similar to the local food movement in knowing who produced the food and the standards used to grow/produce it. Bringing the connection of people to their farm eliminates the disconnect that many people have with their food now and that disconnect is a big cause for the lack of concern about what they buy. This applies to far more than food, but why would someone buy organic or even healthy food if all of it is just “from” the supermarket. It’s why there are people who believe only healthy food would be sold (there are those who feel McDonalds must be healthy or they wouldn’t be selling it) or that food doesn’t come from or affect anywhere beyond the supermarket. Making the connection would help people really understand what they’re choosing when buying food and to think more deeply about some of the issues around it (or at the very least relate to them more). I’ve read a bit about the original motivation of organic producers through sustainability, but didn’t expect that to be something discussed at the local gardens (i.e., does organic bananas meet most of these goals?).

Lastly we helped Mosa out a little bit by thinning a row of green beans which was planted a bit too thick. We saw the rest of the farm and called it a day.

Today we drove to Des Moines for a meeting with the Lieutenant Governor, who had set aside about ten minutes of her day to meet with us. I did not enjoy putting on my suit but realize that the costume is usually required for meeting important people. When we got there, she was extremely charming and personable as all good politicians should be and we had a short conversation about why we were all taking the farm class. I told her that I was interested in learning more about where my food comes from and she “commended” me for being interested in something that many people my age are not. However, had she known me better I’m sure I would not have received a commendation from such a high- level politician, given her recommendations as to where the important places to visit in Iowa were to learn about agriculture and her support of Annette Sweeney.

After visiting the Lt. Gov, we went to the Henry A. Wallace Country Life Center, which is both an organic farm and a farm-to-table restaurant. The cook prepared delicious vegan food for Cecily and me and then we all went outside to be given a tour of the farm. While there, we helped by thinning out rows of green beans that had been planted too close together, which I really enjoyed doing. The best part of this specific visit was talking to Mosa, who is in charge of the farm part of the Country Life Center. He graduated with a liberal arts degree in economics and philosophy from Simpson College but then decided not to work in that field and instead became an organic farmer. It encouraged me in that there are still many different options of different things I can do after I graduate from college next year.

The day began at the capital building where we got to meet the Lt. Governor, Kim Reynolds. Her aim was focused on the feed-the-world attitude and the pride she took in Iowa’s chart-topping production of pork, eggs, soy, and corn. She also briefly mentioned the strong relationship between Iowa and China because the Chinese buy more of Iowa’s soybeans more than any other nation. The building was beautiful inside. We visited the House and Senate chambers, as well as the fancy library.

Afterwards, we visited the Henry A. Wallace Farm House. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch followed by some gardening with Mosa. He was very knowledgable about gardening and willing to show us everything. We helped him thin out some green beans which were planted too close, and so we cut off the ones that were closer than two inches so that they had plenty of room to grow. When we finished, we walked around looking at the greenhouse and the apple, pear, apricot, and peach trees. They produced so much fruit it was mind blowing to hear the apple trees last year produced 10,000 pounds of apples. It made me want to have an apple tree in my back yard when I get a house so I can enjoy fresh apples when in season. Another interesting factor of the farm was the compost. Also, we got to finally see cover crops in action. It was a fun day in the garden all in all!

Today we visited the Iowa Environmental Council and learned about how agricultural practices in Iowa are affecting the water quality both in Iowa bodies of water and in the Mississippi river, which flows all the way down into the Gulf of Mexico. Basically, Iowa has a lot of regulations for point source pollution but it does not have those same regulations for pollution from fertilizers spread on crops because that would be considered non-point source pollution. Non-point source pollution is more difficult to regulate.  Because the Iowa government does not regulate how Iowa farmers apply fertilizer to their land or how much of it they apply, the only thing they can do to lessen water pollution is to encourage better farming practices on a voluntary basis through subsidies, which is not working according to the Iowa Environmental Council. They are working towards creating policy changes that would regulate the methods that Iowa farmers use to apply fertilizers to their crops to decrease  pollution.

In his chapter on agriculture and the environment, Robert Paarlberg talks about a lot of the same issues as did the people from the Iowa Environmental Council. In Paarlberg’s chapter, he presents the conflicting views of the agricultural scientists and the environmentalists about various topics, but I’m not sure that the Iowa Environmental Council would have fit clearly into one of those two viewpoints from what I heard in its presentation. Paarlberg presents the environmentalists as those who encourage more small-scale farming and think that sustainable farming should attempt to imitate nature as much as possible. On the other hand, agricultural scientists tend to argue that to farm sustainably, farmers should try to use as many technological advances as possible to grow higher yields in smaller plots of land, therefore leaving the wilderness areas intact. While the presentation at the Iowa Environmental Council recognized that there were many problems with the conventional agricultural system and the way that many farmers applied fertilizers, they did not encourage a return to small-scale farming either, as they recognized the fact that farmers still need to turn a profit on their crops.

Today we went to the Henry Wallace Farm Center and got our first look at larger-scale organic farming. While I had found my experiences with conventional farming practices and policies to be enriching I am personally far more interested in alternatives. Dalona was a great example of a small subsistence operation that feeds her family, while the Wallace Center Farm was an example of a much larger scale operation. I really liked how there was both a farm that grew all the produce and a restaurant that served items made with some ingredients from the farm. The farm also had a “Community Supported Agriculture” program that local people can participate in and receive food from the farm. Diane explained to us how she believed that organic food in its true form is local. This is even implied in the word organic which suggests a closeness to the soil that leads to the kind of relationships, whether between food and consumer or consumer and farmer, that can only be experienced in a local food model. This explanation, which was obviously something Diane felt very strongly about, made a lot of sense to me and is something with which I agree.

Hoop House at the Henry Wallace Farm

The farm manager Mosa’s story really made an impression on me. He attended Simpson College (Indianola, IA), a liberal arts college, got a degree in philosophy and economics, did some construction work, and then got a job working at the farm before eventually becoming the farm manager. This story gave me hope that my political science degree (where I really only care about political philosophy or other random classes I take for fun outside of my major) at a liberal arts college would not impair me from doing something meaningful in my life. I could actually see myself doing something similar to what Mosa does and was very reluctant to have to leave the farm (although, I do suspect my attitude would have completely changed as soon as winter came around). But even if, while it’s tempting,  Even if I’m not cut out for some sort of farming job Mosa’s story still made me feel less stressed about the pressure to begin making future plans as I enter my senior year of college.

Today, we hit two very different extremes. On one hand, we met with Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds at the Capitol building. The building was gorgeous. I have never seen gold on a building, but I sure wish there were more with it. The inside was just as pretty. Unfortunately, we only got to meet with Mrs. Reynolds for ten or fifteen minutes, so we didn’t get to talk much. She basically told us why Iowa is so wonderful and what they are doing right. I wish she had talked about the not-so-great aspects, like pollution, and how she planned on addressing them. She seemed nice, though, and I really did enjoy meeting her. Being a huge book nerd, the library was phenomenal to me. It was huge and antique-y and really just amazing.

After that, we headed over to Southern Iowa for a change. HN was right, the topography was way different! There were more hills and grass and I even saw some trees! I personally thought it was much prettier and I wish we spent more time there. We went to the Henry A. Wallace Country Lice Center, about two hours away from where we are staying. The drive was 100% worth it! I was not the biggest fan of lunch, but I think that was me being oddly picky. I did really like the salad; the dressing was delicious. After lunch, we got a short tour and then started working with Moosa, the farm manager. He was exactly as I pictured. We picked weeds and thinned out the green bean plants. I’ve decided I really like gardening, much more than I thought I did, and I would like to continue when I get home.

It was really nice to see a simpler way of doing things. The simple way that the garden was managed at the farm center made it seem much more accessible. I know they make a lot of money off of restaurant and things, but it was nice to see that farming could be done without huge expensive tractors. Although everyone might not have the time or funds available to work a garden without such extensive machinery, its nice to know that its possible. After that, I’m very excited for Table Top Farm tomorrow.

One of the recurring themes of our meetings with various groups, such as the Iowa Pork Association and the Iowa Corn Growers Association, have been regulation. The general consensus among these various groups have been very staunchly anti-regulation, particularly environmental regulations. That is not to say that these associations did not at least claim to consider environmental protection a priority, they just made it clear that they resented any sort of regulations. This theme continued with our appointment today with the Iowa Environmental Council which presented a different perspective. During the meeting with the IEC I learned the huge impact that non-point pollution run-off, run-off that does not come from one specific source (such as a factory or plant), has the greatest negative impact on water quality. Perhaps the most extreme example of the severity of this problem is the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

To resolve these issues Iowa has passed the “Nutrient Reduction Strategy” which sets a goal for a 45% reduction of nitrogen and phosphorous leaving Iowa. The issue with this legislation is that it is relying on the voluntary participation of farmers. While farmers do not want their water to be polluted any more than anyone else there still exists a strong rural culture that emphasizes individualism and autonomy that leads to the attitude of “It’s my land and I will do what I want with it.” This aspect of the culture is also seen in the disdain of regulations we have seen expressed by various groups. Another big barrier is farmers getting access to the technical and financial resources that some conservation practices require. I had never considered this particular aspect of agricultural conservation practices until today.

Despite these legitimate problems there are still some basic things that farmers can do to minimize their environmental impact. The issue then becomes how to convince them to voluntarily comply with standards such as the Nutrient Reduction Strategy. The game-plan of the IEC seems to be to focus on the impact water quality has on humans, particularly recreation that also has economic implications for the state. This also makes sense because often to convince people who are reluctant to change it is necessary to appeal to self-interests. The IEC suggested this when they pointed out that the Nutrient Reduction Strategy might be more effective if it included consideration of water quality inside Iowa rather than exclusively on the water leaving Iowa. It seems that the best strategy will be one that pushes better conservation practices through working with and listening to, rather than working against and talking at, farmers.

From the reading in Paarlberg, I agree it is true that all forms of agriculture damage the environment, but I definitely side with the agricultural scientists believing we should use high-yield crops and the newest technology so we can get the most out of the land and cause the least amount of damage possible. By using the precision agriculture techniques, the rest of the land can be restored to or kept in its natural state that is not needed any longer due to the high yields produced from precision agriculture. I know we use way too many pesticides that damage the environment, but hopefully with more research we can produce seeds that will require less pesticide use. I found it interesting that agriculture is left out of the cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions.

I also found it interesting that today when we met with the Iowa Environmental  Council that they have voluntary suggestions and narratives as well. I feel like they should advertise stronger the negative effects of what the farmers are doing to the water and spread the word to change. Once they begin this, they should over time change the policies from voluntary ones to mandated compliance so change will actually occur. They are right that they need to go for the generation that is up and coming because I cannot see the older farmers changing their ways. Another attempt to make change is through the public. Since the people claimed that they wanted transparent water from the surveys then I believe they should be involved in the efforts to make that change. The public makes up the communities here in Iowa, and if its wants to make change then it should put in efforts to making it happen. If the community is involved, there is awareness and change will happen, especially if there are policies with teeth in them.

Today was pretty much centered around the environmental effects of farming.  We began the day by visiting the Iowa Environmental Council, an alliance of more than 60 environmental or allied groups, that seeks “a safe, healthy environment and sustainable future for Iowa.”  We met with Jen Terry, the agricultural policy specialist, and Susan Heathcote, the Water Program Director (the former being Dr. HN’s high school classmate).  After that, we made a short visit to Dr. HN’s nephew’s home to see his wife’s horse stables.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t too much to do there as we had expected, but we will hopefully make a trip back to help do some “chores”…

The lecture at the IEC was rather short and sweet, as compared to the other interest groups we’ve attended that featured lengthy presentations.  Their primary focus this season is to improve water quality by reducing the amount of nutrients and other pollution in Iowa’s water ways by better enacting and enforcing Water Quality Standards and nutrient reduction strategies.  This is not only for Iowa’s residents and lands but also for the residents and environment along the Mississippi River and the growing “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, an area of nutrient and oxygen depletion at the Mississippi River delta that cannot sustain bottom-level aquatic life.

We had prefaced this presentation by reading a chapter on farming and the environment in Robert Paarlberg’s Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know.  Combined, these two experiences helped humanize both sides of the issue.  Paarlberg began the chapter by saying, “From the perspective of deep ecology, all forms of agriculture damage the natural environment.”  It is essentially the role for all of us to try and minimize this damage.  Everyone loves food that is grown on farms, but agriculture does raise some inherent questions: how much do these activities harm the environment? Who is affected? Who should be held accountable? How should they be held accountable?  The answers to these questions are being fought in courts, legislatures, and in media at all levels of society and politics. Even the most anti-regulation farmers want to have a healthy soil and water base so they can increase the crop yield and continue farming year after year.  As Jen said at the end of her bit of the presentation, (something along the lines of) “we all want the same thing.  We just have different ideas about how to accomplish it.”  Most farmers (at least in developed countries) already follow conservation measures to prevent such problems as soil erosion, drainage issues, drift, and runoff.

However, many farmers do not try their best to install conservation measures on their farms.  Therefore, it is the job of the organizations within the IEC to motivate them to do so.  One thing that struck me is that Jen and the other staff recognized how difficult their efforts may prove to be.  They are striving to make the water quality standards voluntary because they know farmers would volunteer if only to avoid regulation.  I thought it made them seem remarkably down to earth because many criticisms that I’ve seen of environmental activists (especially in the big cities) center around how disconnected they seem to be from the real life farmers and the agricultural system.  All in all, I thought talking with Jen and Susan was yet another great example of an interest group pursuing a sophisticated strategy to accomplish its goal.

P.S. I apologize for not having pictures for these last two posts.  I’ve been slacking off.  I’ll do better!