Exposed! The Truth About Family Farms

Recently the City of Des Moines Water Works sued three counties in Iowa – Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun. The reason? Nitrates, which flow into the Raccoon River and threaten the city’s water quality. We are troubled by the behavior of both the City and the responses from the counties and general public.  Not surprisingly, a media circus has ensued with barbs flying and misinformation disseminated faster than we can Tweet.

I’m not writing to take a stand either way, but to point something out. That both the city and its public population and farm owners of all sizes and sorts – family to corporate – contributed to the issue by not properly understanding their soil and taking care of it and the environment.

For example did you know that healthy soil, completely covered in grass, naturally releases nitrates into normal everyday rain water?  Did you also know that over-fertilization of backyards all across this country is a much, much, larger contributor of nitrate pollution on a percentage basis than American agriculture?

Based on my experience in Iowa with other family farmers like me, I can also tell you that most of the family farmers I know, are extremely concerned about their soil and the impacts of our practices on the environment. We understand what the abuse of fertilizer does to the soil, water, and the food we feed our families. And we care deeply about being lumped together with those city and country dwellers who are unwilling to practice sustainable agriculture or who are unwilling to let their yard look a little worse than the neighbor’s yard.

Typically, the actions of a few soil the reputations of many (no pun intended) while the media fans the flames of discontent.

In a recent report, Food Tank: The Food Think tank showed how family farms can and do nourish the world while protecting the environment. It shows that millions of family farmers are using sustainable approaches to combat climate change and create resilience to food price shocks, natural disasters, and conflict. Agroforestry, inter-cropping, cover crops and green manure, solar drip irrigation, integrated pest management, and utilizing orphan and indigenous crops are helping protect natural resources, improving nutrient density, and increasing farmers’ incomes.

It also found that family farming drives economic growth and social stability by providing job opportunities. Small farmers create a “multiplier” effect that extends beyond the farm sector, spending a high share of their income in other sectors, including construction, infrastructure, and manufacturing, which creates demand for other goods and sectors in their communities. In Asia, for example, every dollar of income that the farming sector generates also creates an additional US$0.80 in non-farming sectors.

And of course, we provide healthy, good tasting food for you and your family.  So you can understand why digging into the facts around issues like the Raccoon River in Des Moines is so important to farmers like us. That is where the truth lies, not in the rhetoric.

Now if we can all keep that in mind when it comes to politics…