As you consider who you will vote for this November, please choose your candidates based upon their track records and the plans they have for improving our state. Do not choose your leaders based upon party affiliation. The fact is that over the past forty years, neither party has served Iowans well. Elected leaders from both the Democratic and the Republican parties have been complicit in the expansion of large scale farming operations and industry mergers that have harmed our state and that continue to do so. Between 1981 and 2017, Iowa counties with high hog sales and large farms saw extreme declines in the wealth that circulated about their communities, 40 and 33 percent respectively.

If Iowa’s rural communities are to prosper, we must break away from an overdependence on large scale monoculture farming that degrades our soil, kills our trees, poisons our citizens, and pollutes our water. We must ban new and expanding factory farms and help farmers transition to sustainable operations. We cannot do this simply by voting Republican or by voting Democrat. We can do this by voting for leaders that have workable ideas for solutions to the problems faced by our farmers and the political acumen to turn those ideas into action. The fact is Iowa’s farmers must change what they are doing in this decade. This can be a controlled change that works for the betterment of our communities, or this can be a man made disaster that rivals the dust bowl. When you vote to choose our leaders, you choose which story our grandchildren will tell. Please take the time to learn about the problems that are facing the agricultural sector. Take the time to find out where the candidates stand on these issues. Do everything in your power to make a well-informed vote. Vote wisely.