Iowa needs stronger policies for safer water and farming

by Rebekah Vineyard

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Published on the Southeast Iowa Union October 29, 2026

Rebekah Vineyard is the Communications and Operations Coordinator for JFAN. We're sharing the Letter she published personally because it is a really important read!

Adobe Stock/freeman83

In August, the Iowa Farm Bureau published a blog post called From the Waterpark to the Farm: Why Safe Water Matters, and I’ve thought about it every week since. In the article they boast conservation practices, like cover cropping, meant to keep nutrients on the land and out of waterways. However, the rate at which these practices are actually adopted falls very far short of the goals the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy set 13 years ago.

Despite the agricultural industry’s knowledge of proven conservation practices, conventional agriculture isn’t doing enough to meaningfully reduce nutrient runoff and leaching into our water. I refuse to believe it makes any of us “anti-farmer” to discuss this. Rather, if we are honest about our lack of progress, we may be more willing to pressure our leaders to acknowledge it, too, and enact real policies and programs that support a transition to healthier farming in Iowa.

In its blog post, the Iowa Farm Bureau touts Iowa’s progress in cover cropping, stating that “in 2024 alone, Iowa farmers planted nearly 3.9 million acres of cover crops, up 92% from the previous six years.” The post then displays a green-and-yellow bar chart showing a dramatic increase, from fewer than 10,000 acres planted to cover crops in 2009 to 2 million in 2018 and 3.9 million in 2024.

This graph looks impressive: the 10,000 acres in 2009 looks like a fingernail clipping next to the 2-million-acre bar. But the graph lacks context. How much of Iowa’s total cropland do those acres represent? With roughly 26 million acres of cropland in the state, 3.9 million acres of cover crops amounts to about 15%.

Do the numbers still sound impressive?

Cover cropping is critically important for soil and water health. With several years of training in regenerative agricultural practices, I’ve seen for myself how keeping living roots in the soil for as much of the year as possible can build soil health and improve water infiltration and nutrient retention. The state should do more to help row-crop farmers adopt cover cropping, because statewide participation remains well below what is needed to meet the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy’s goals — despite the impression the Farm Bureau’s presentation may leave.

The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy is Iowa’s statewide plan to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus runoff to Iowa’s waterways and eventually the Gulf of Mexico, where excess nutrients contribute to hypoxia, threatening marine life and coastal economies. In 2008, the Gulf Hypoxia Task Force called on states throughout the Mississippi River Basin to develop strategies for reducing nutrient pollution. Iowa’s strategy was developed in partnership by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the Iowa DNR, and Iowa State University, and was released in 2013.

The strategy identifies cover cropping as one of several practices that can help reduce nutrient losses from agricultural land. Its modeled scenarios include expanding cover crops to 12.5 million acres, almost 50% of Iowa's total. The 50% figure puts the current acreage in perspective: celebrating 15% can look like greenwashing when the broader goals remain unmet. That disconnect only hurts us.

The 723 impaired waterbody segments listed in Iowa’s 2026 draft report underscore the scale of Iowa’s water-quality challenges. This is especially concerning given that Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the country. Studies, including research involving participants in the Iowa Women’s Health Study, have found associations between long-term nitrate exposure in drinking water and certain cancers.

Nitrate from agricultural fertilizers and manure can leach through soil into groundwater and contaminate private wells. According to the Iowa DNR, fewer than 7% of Iowa’s private-well owners test their water in any given year. That means many Iowans who rely on private wells may not know how much nitrate their drinking water contains.

A safer water future requires more than voluntary conservation alone; it requires effective policy. I like the way The Lobe Rangers frame the issue on their website: “We’re tired of watching ag lobbying groups and politicians talk conservation at the podium while meaningful legislation dies in the statehouse. We’re tired of voluntary programs being praised as progress when, after 13 years, they haven't produced meaningful results beyond vapid rhetoric.”