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September 3 – Toxic Taps: How Agriculture Is Impacting Public Health

 

WATCH A RECORDING OF THE MEETING HERE

 

Consistently unhealthy nitrate levels pollute much of Iowa’s drinking water. Iowa’s pesticide usage per capita leads the nation. The state ranks second in the nation for cancer and is one of three states where the incidence of cancer is growing. What are the connections?

 

On September 3, Toxic Taps and Cancer: Iowa’s Water Quality Crisis looks to provide some answers with a panel of experts examining the public health consequences of nitrate and other industrial agriculture pollutants in Iowa’s drinking water and air. The meeting, organized by the Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture (IARA), begins at 6:30 pm at the Iowa City Public Library, 123 South Linn Street. Little Village Magazine is cosponsoring this event.

 

Fifth generation Linn farmer Dan Voss is no stranger to cancer. Both he and his wife, Susan, are cancer survivors. Voss will share his experience and how it has shaped their perspectives on the connections between agriculture, environmental health, and community resilience.

 

University of Northern Iowa (UNI) public health expert Audrey Tran Lam will dive into the health impacts of nitrates, agricultural pesticides, PFAS, and factory farm-generated particulates. She’ll provide a look at their relationship with water and air quality and, in turn, that how affects human health.

 

Since nitrates and other agricultural toxins wind up in our water, it’s crucial to know what we’re drinking. University of Iowa researcher Dr. David Cwiertny will discuss the value of the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research (IIHR) real-time nitrate monitoring network, the status of current funding, and why it’s essential that the state restores full funding to the program. He’ll also talk about an exciting new, privately funded program, Iowa INSIGHT, that will expand the scope of water and air monitoring beyond the current IIHR nitrate monitoring network.

 

Bring your questions for the Q&A that follows the presentations.

 

About Our Speakers:

Fifth generation farmer Dan Voss is a nationally recognized conservation leader from near Atkins, Iowa. Farming since 1975, he was an early adopter of no-till in 1988 and has led the use of practices like cover crops, strip-till, bioreactors, and saturated buffers to improve soil health and water quality.

 

As Environmental Health Program Director, Audrey Tram Lam has led UNI’s Center for Energy & Environmental Education working at the junction of where human health and environmental sustainability meet. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Iowa and a graduate certificate from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Food Systems, the Environment and Public Health. Tran Lam serves on the boards of a host of organizations focused on environmental health.

 

Dr. David Cwiertny is the Rose and Joseph Summers Chair in Water Resources Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Iowa (UI). His research broadly focuses on water quality and water treatment, with particular interests at the intersection of public health and policy. At UI, he directs the state-funded Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC), which conducts research to identify, measure, and prevent adverse health outcomes from exposure to environmental contaminants.

 

The meeting is free. A $5 free will donation supports IARA’s work advocating for a factory farm moratorium, stronger CAFO regulations, and a fully funded IIHR monitoring network.

 

Action Steps You Can Take for Clean Air and Water

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April 1st Call-in Lobby Day: Fund the Water Quality Sensors! Get Prepared with Pre-Lobby Day Briefing on March 30

Read more
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The Jungle! An IARA Virtual Screening May 1 via Zoom

A new documentary by “Right to Harm” Director Matt Wechsler

With an introduction by Director Matt Wechsler

Thursday, May 1 at 7:00 pm CT – Virtual Screening via Zoom

REGISTER HERE

FREE!

A $5 free will donation helps IARA fight factory farms

Donations welcome here

 

Filmmaker Matt Wechsler’s new documentary, “The Jungle”, is a modern-day take on Upton Sinclair’s famous 1906 expose that shocked the nation. Unraveling centuries of greed and exploitation in America’s meat industry, the film calls into question the profiteering of ecosystems and reveals how indigenous knowledge may hold the key to creating an equitable food system for both people and the planet.

“Agriculture is more consolidated than ever with just a handful of massive conglomerates calling the shots,” says filmmaker Wechsler. “The downstream effects are crippling rural communities, depleting natural resources, destroying ecosystems, poisoning consumers, and exacerbating climate change.”

Yet “The Jungle” also reveals how the real indigenous ancestral roots of regenerative agriculture may hold the key to creating an equitable food system for people and the planet.

“The Jungle” features former New York Times columnist Mark Bittman, Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, a regenerative farmer raising indigenous practices at his Minnesota farm, Paige and Derrick Jackson who produce ethically raised pork, chicken and beef in North Carolina, and former independent Iowa hog farmer Chuck Wirtz.

This is Wechsler’s third film on food and agriculture. The first two – “Sustainable” and “Right to Harm” – as well as “The Jungle” were all partially filmed in Iowa. The screening is free. A $5 free will donation helps IARA’s address Iowa’s factory farm crisis.

REGISTER HERE

Donations welcome here

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4 CALLS Lobby Day of Action On the Pesticide Immunity Bill – IT’S NOT DEAD YET

Get Prepped and Ready During an Online Briefing 

Monday, April 21 • 6:30 – 7:30 pm

with 

Aaron Lehman, Iowa Farmers Union President

Dr. Chuck Benbrook, Agricultural Economist and Expert Witness in the Glyphosate Trials

Iowa Farmers Seth Watkins and Wade Dooley

 

REGISTER HERE FOR THE BRIEFING

Then Let’s Hit the Phones on the 4 CALLS Day of Action on Wednesday, April 23!

 

On Thursday, April 3, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley declined to take up the pesticide immunity bill saying, “There’s more session to go, but right now, where we sit today, I don’t see the support.”

But the Iowa Farmers Union learned that Bayer is still lobbying for the bill’s passage and will continue until the end of the session. 

Bayer is lobbying hard so WE need to proactively lobby against any possibility that this bill will resurface at the last minute. The fight isn’t over yet.

That’s why IARA and Iowa Farmers Union are joining forces to organize the 4 CALLS Lobby Day on the Pesticide Immunity Bill.

We’re holding a briefing on Monday, April 21 at 6:30 pm to prepare you for our 4 CALLS Lobby Day on Wednesday, April 23. 

Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman will explain what the bill would do and just how it could be reintroduced. (Yes, there are ways.)

Dr. Chuck Benbrook, an agricultural economist and expert witness in the Bayer glyphosate lawsuits, will explain why this bill is so dangerous.

Iowa farmers Seth Watkins and Wade Dooley will share why, as farmers, they too oppose the pesticide immunity bills.

We’ll provide you with a script, talking points, and phone numbers strategically targeting four key legislators so it will be super easy for you to call.

Bring your questions on April 21. We’ll answer as many as we can.

The Iowa House didn’t take up the bill before the funnel because they heard from people like you. Let’s make sure we let them know we’re still here and remain steadfastly opposed to this harmful bill.

REGISTER HERE FOR THE BRIEFING

Then Let’s Hit the Phones on April 23 for the 4 CALLS: A Call-In Lobby Day of Action.

Please share widely with your family and friends!

Final Script for 4 CALLS on Pesticide Immunity Bill

Let us know how your calls went on this brief survey.

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Tell Iowa Legislators: Schedule Public Hearings on Two Important Bills!

4 CALLS: A Call-In Lobby Day of Action

for the Factory Farm Moratorium and Clean Water for Iowa Bills

Get Prepped and Ready during an Online Briefing via Zoom on

Tuesday, February 25 from 6:30 – 7:30 pm

 

Then Let’s Call Our State Legislators on the 

4 CALLS: A Call-In Lobby Day of Action

Thursday, February 27

 

See the links to the scripts and reporting form below.

 

63% of Iowans want a factory farm moratorium. Yet every year since 2018, legislators turn their back on constituents and ignore the CAFO moratorium bills.

Iowans want stronger regulations that actually protect public health and the environment. But legislators took NO action on last year’s Clean Water for Iowa bill.

We Iowans are tired of being ignored! Join IARA members from all across the state for 4 CALLS: A Call-In Lobby Day of Action on February 27 to demand legislators move forward bills that protect Iowans.

Getting Ready: Join IARA for a Briefing on Tuesday Evening, February 25.

Learn about the CAFO Moratorium and Clean Water for Iowa bills and hear what we’re asking legislators to do. We’ll have talking points, scripts, and phone numbers to make it super easy to call and we’ll also have time to answer your questions.

REGISTER HERE FOR THE BRIEFING

Then Let’s Hit the Phones on Thursday, February 27 for the 4 CALLS: A Call-In Lobby Day of Action.

Legislators need to know these issues are important to you. We’ll target four key legislators in positions to take action to get this message delivered loud and clear.

REGISTER HERE FOR THE FEBRUARY 25 BRIEFING AND LET’S KEEP THE PHONE LINES BUSY ON FEBRUARY 27!

This is the first of two call-in IARA lobby days this year. Watch for an announcement on the Cancer Gag Act Call-in Lobby Day coming in March.

Please share widely with your family and friends!

4 CALLS LOBBY DAY SCRIPTS

Script for Clean Water for Iowa Bill Revised

Script for CAFO Moratorium Bill Revised

Report the Results of Your Calls Here

Pesticide Immunity Bill – Cancer Gag Act Events
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Recording Available for Factory Farms, Your Health and the Cancer Connection

 

FACTORY FARMS, YOUR HEALTH AND THE CANCER CONNECTION

Recording Now on IARA’s YouTube Channel

Organized by the Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture

Co-sponsored with Little Village

 

Watch the Recording Here

 

ACTION STEPS: How You Can Advocate for a Safer Iowa

 

Iowa ranks second in the nation for cancer cases and it’s the only state where cancer rates are rising. Last year the Iowa Cancer Registry’s report pointed a finger at binge drinking. But Iowa water is loaded with nitrates and other toxins, and Iowans are exposed to a wide range of harmful agrichemicals liberally used throughout the state. The cancer/industrial agriculture connection should not be shunted aside.

Water quality expert Dr. Chris Jones, public health expert Audrey Tran Lam, registered dietician and public health advocate Mary Jo Forbord and Field to Family’s Michelle Kenyon examined how our current agricultural practices are harming human health and ways to access cleaner, healthier, environmentally-friendly local foods during the November 13 IARA meeting at the Iowa Public Library.

The meeting addressed:

  • How nitrates and other pollutants wind up in Iowa waterways
  • Ways nitrate-laden water threatens physical health
  • How agricultural chemicals impact the quality of food and how exposure to these chemicals harms human health
  • Why the state refuses to meaningfully address Iowa’s water quality crisis
  • How to access fresh, healthy, environmentally-friendly local foods

About the Speakers

Dr. Chris Jones retired as a Research Engineer at IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa in 2023. He continues as a recognized and fearless advocate for changing agricultural practices to protect Iowa water.  He’s been a frequent guest on Iowa Public Radio, appeared on NPR’s On Point, and published articles in the Des Moines Register, Cedar Rapids Gazette, Kansas City Star, and Civil Eats. Jones authored The Swine Republic, Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality, which was recently selected as the Iowa entry for the Library of Congress’ Great Reads, Great Places program. He writes a Substack column at riverraccoon.substack.com. 

As Environmental Health Program Director, Audrey Tran Lam has been leading environmental health initiatives at the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Energy and Environmental Education since 2017, working where human health and environmental sustainability meet. Tran Lam holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Iowa and a graduate certificate from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Food Systems, the Environment, and Public Health. In addition to her work at the CEEE, Tran Lam serves on several board including the Iowa Rural Health Association, Heartland Health Research Alliance, and Pesticide Action Network, as well as on the Executive Committee for the Cancer Free Economy Network and Design Team for Green America’s Soil & Climate Alliance.  

Mary Jo Forbord, a registered dietitian and fifth generation farmer from Western Minnesota, works to understand and promote the connections between healthy soil, nourishing food, clean water, and healthy people. Forbord worked in health care and community nutrition as Executive Director of the Sustainable Farming Association and as Healthy Eating Coordinator at the University of Minnesota, Morris. She co-owns and operates Prairie Horizons Farm where she tends a diverse, certified organic orchard and gardens and works to protect the tallgrass prairie ecosystem through rotational grazing and browsing of cattle and goats.

Michelle Kenyon is the Executive Director of Field to Family, a comprehensive regional food hub and market powered by partnerships with producers, institutions and community members. She  successfully led a team in the design and implementation of several initiatives, including a farm-to-school program and an online farmers market. These efforts aim to cultivate a community food system that enhances environmental sustainability, supports the local economy, and promotes public health. As of the end of 2023, Field to Family had facilitated nearly 2 million local food purchases from over 130 local producers.
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TAKE ACTION! Tell Your Legislators – Don’t Permanently Weaken CAFO Rules! 

UPDATE – The Iowa Senate passed SF 2370. It is now before the Iowa House. Please call your legislators and ask them to remove the language on Executive Order Number 10 from this bill!

A bill before the Iowa Senate would permanently prevent the DNR from strengthening factory farm rules and regulations.

A section of Senate File 2370 would codify Executive Order Number 10 (EO10), Governor Reynolds’ directive to reduce the overall regulatory burden of Iowa’s rules and regulations across all state agencies.

If passed, SF 2370 would have a direct influence on how factory farms are regulated by permanently:

  • Prohibiting the DNR from strengthening current CAFO rules and regulations in Chapter 65 of the Iowa code.
  • Requiring a rigorous retrospective analysis for proposed rules to determine if the costs imposed by the rules justify their benefits. This serves the CAFO industry, not Iowans.
  • Removing restrictive language and determining less restrictive alternatives to a proposed rule.
  • Requiring the DNR to go through a new rulemaking process from scratch every five years, further weakening CAFO regulations.
  • Enabling the DNR to forgo public comments for a rule or retrospective analysis if it finds good cause that the input would be “unnecessary, impracticable or contrary to the public interest.”

We already see how EO10 directly impacted the recent Chapter 65 revision, which included a few new protections for CAFOs built in risky karst terrain. The governor’s office refused to approve the much needed improvements because they don’t  comply with EO10. As a result, rural residents with private wells remain at risk for high nitrate consumption, which studies link to several cancers and birth defects.  

Iowa needs stronger factory farm regulations, not weaker ones. SF 2370 benefits no one but the factory farm industry.

Contact your legislators today and tell them to VOTE NO ON THE SECTION ON EO 10 from SF 2370. . Click here for a sample letter. Find your legislator here. 

The health and well-being of Iowans should come before the financial interests of the multinational, multibillion dollar livestock industry! 

 

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ACTION ALERT: Tell Your Legislators to Vote NO on SF 2371!

The 2024 Iowa Legislative Session is moving along and bills that made it through the first funnel are now being debated more widely across both chambers. Our legislators need to hear from us to know why we will hold them accountable to stop bills that hurt the people and places we love!

Senate File 2371 (proposed by Senator Annette Sweeney, District 27, Hardin County) would allow manure from an open feedlot or animal truck wash facility to be applied to fields in an emergency situation before the Iowa DNR has approved or denied a submitted nutrient management plan. In current code, these facilities are required to have a nutrient management plan fully reviewed and approved by DNR before spreading any manure from their structures.

Talking points in opposition of SF 2371:

  • Changing the rules to allow manure to be spread before a nutrient management plan is approved threatens the integrity of the entire process of having a nutrient management plan in the first place.
  • An open feedlot shouldn’t be collecting manure before they have an approved nutrient management plan thus avoiding “emergency situations.”
  • Changing the rules opens the door for further deregulation of our livestock farming as it relates to water quality. Without having the necessary approval by the DNR in these cases, this risks over-application of manure that seeps into our groundwater and runs off into our waterways – furthering our water quality crisis.
  • This bill is written for a very rare case where a farmer has started collecting manure before they have a plan approved – we should not be changing our code for rare cases because that will cause cases of mismanagement where this loophole is needed to become more commonplace.

In fact, this bill was introduced into the Senate Agriculture committee, headed by Sen. Mike Sexton whose wife, Becky Sexton, owns Twin Lakes Environmental Services, the company that developed the Supreme Beef nutrient management plan.

The Supreme Beef plan was challenged in court as insufficient, and a judge issued an injunction against manure application until the plan was approved by the DNR. Special interests shouldn’t call the shots in making laws affecting the entire state.

Have your voices heard, Iowans – at a time when our water quality is already declining, we must not make it easier for our waterways to be polluted by providing loopholes like this to the industrial livestock industry.

Find your legislator here and write them an email using our talking points to let them know why you oppose this language.

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ACTION ALERT! Urge Agriculture Committee Chair Mike Sexton to Schedule HF 164, the Factory Farm Moratorium Bill, for a Subcommittee Hearing!

The 2023 Factory Farm Moratorium Bill (HF 164) has been introduced and assigned to the House Agriculture Committee, but we need your help to make sure it gets a hearing and vote!

Representative Mike Sexton of Calhoun County is the new Chair of the House Agriculture Committee this year, and it’s his job to assign the HF 164 to a subcommittee for a vote. But HF 164 has been in the Ag Committee for more than two weeks, and he hasn’t done it yet.

So we’re asking factory farm fighters across Iowa to give him a call and ask him to do the right thing and assign HF 164 to a subcommittee.

You can reach Representative Sexton at 1-877-796-1948. When you call the number, you will hear a brief voice recording, and then be transferred to Representative Sexton’s phone.

The deadline to move bills out of Committee is Friday, March 3, so the time to call is now!

Thank you for taking action to support a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms.

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STOP FACTORY FARMS LOBBY DAY 2023!

Join us once again for the 2023 Stop Factory Farms Lobby Day!

January 25, 2023

10:30 am – 3:00 pm at the Iowa State Capitol

1007 East Grand Avenue, Des Moines

 

The unchecked expansion of factory farms has wreaked havoc on Iowa’s independent farmers, water quality, and rural communities. Iowans have fought for years against the factory farm model, from opposing new factory farms in our communities to introducing new legislation to stop the expansion of factory farms. They have been voicing their support for a factory farm moratorium since 2018.

This coming legislative session will mark the sixth year that legislation for a moratorium on factory farms will be introduced in the Iowa legislature. And with a new crop of legislators in office, now is the time to educate our elected officials about the need for a moratorium, and show them just how much support a moratorium has!

We’re bringing together supporters of a factory farm moratorium from across the state to show the power and diversity of this movement. Regardless of whether you live in Iowa City or Calhoun County, we’ve all seen the damage that factory farming has done to our water, our communities, and our quality of life.

The morning will begin with with a briefing on the issue, an analysis of where legislators stand, and a lobby training, then move to the Capitol for a rally and lobbying!

 

Our schedule:

10:30 am                Start the day with some steaming hot coffee

10:45–11:45 am    Lobby Training – We’ll prepare you with everything you need to know to effectively lobby

12:00 – 12:30 pm  Lunch – Will be provided

12:30–1:00 pm      Rally – Together we’ll let our legislators know how important this is. We’ve got some great speakers lined up. Bring signs – or use some of ours.

1:00–2:00 pm        Lobbying Our State Legislators

2:00 – 2:30 pm      Debriefing Meeting – How did our legislators respond?   

Register for the lobby day here and get more details on where to show up. 

We’re looking forward to seeing you on January 25!