Iowa Farm Organizations Call for 2018 Water Quality Funding

Iowan farm groups are calling for state legislators to stimulate their agricultural operations with an increased injection of tax dollars, hoping for long-term assurance of monetary support. 

The money would go towards state programs that prevent soil and fertilizer run-off from Iowa farmlands while also improving the general quality of water for the state. This is the main priority for 2018, according to Matt Steinfeldt of the Iowa Farm Bureau. 

Steinfeldt also believes that increased governmental funding would catalyze the investment of private funding from farmers across the state. Beyond this, other farm group representatives have called on the Iowan government to consider implementing funds over the long-term to sustain the aspirational improvements. 

“I know that budgeting is very difficult and it’s very easy to focus on the annual needs of the state budget and water quality is an issue that quite frankly is a long-term issue,” said Mindy Larsen-Poldberg of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. “So I would ask that you consider the long-term as well as the short-term as you head into this very difficult year.” 

This push towards sustained tax dollar injections follows a 2017 bill that passed which pooled its funding from gambling taxes. The new 2018 legislation that may pass proposes to source tax funding from state sales tax revenue rather than the source utilized over the past year. Some representatives believe this would push more urban money into the rural parts of the state.