Although the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey, along with a Republican nominee to fill that position, Craig Lang, are praising the bipartisan passing of water-quality funding legislation, other organizations are saying that it is “too timid” of a response to the state’s issues. President of the Iowa Farmer’s Union, Aaron Lehman, says that this legislation falls short on promises. “It does not create an adequate and sustainable funding stream for water quality programs,” he say. “It fails to adopt a coordinated watershed approach to program design, funding allocation and monitoring and evaluation. It does not provide a quality monitoring program for rural water supplies.” Iowa Soybean Association CEO, Kirk Leeds agrees. He says this plan is just “nibbling around the edges of what is truly needed.” He adds that they will, “Take the governor at her word that the legislature’s action ignites a much more constructive and reality-based conversation and approach for achieving goals established in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.” The plan, Leeds says, will reallocate tax dollars in Iowa’s State budget and from the existing infrastructure fund. However, the promise of more than $20 million in funding could be challenging in these lean budgeting years, he says.
