Farm Bureau wants you to clean Big Ag's mess

The Farm Bureau continues scheming to avoid regulations and accountability. Instead of Big Ag cleaning up its own pollution, they support public funding of water quality improvements. We know that this takes the pressure off Big Ag to make any meaningful changes, meaning pollution will just keep flowing into our water. If the Farm Bureau supports this resolution, that automatically signals a red flag.Check out this open letter by CCI member in response to this bad idea! It’s no surprise the Iowa Farm Bureau is coming out in support of public funding for Iowa’s water crisis. Public funding allows corporate ag to continue business as usual.Corporate ag has reaped the profits by externalizing their costs on to the public for decades by creating water and air pollution, not paying their fair share of taxes, monopolizing the market, etc.  Now they’re saying taxpayers should clean up their mess.Any policy proposal that uses public money, including increaing the sales tax 3/8 cent to fund IWILL, only kicks the can down the road.  IWILL was never meant to be a handout to corporate ag; it was created to invest in Iowa’s parks, trails, and natural resources.While we’re at it we need meaningful mandatory regulations.  It should no longer be optional to protect our water.  It’s time Iowans stand up to big ag bullies, Governor Branstad, and both Democrats and Republicans at the Statehouse to tell them polluters must pay and we need mandatory regulations to protect our water.-- Mary Clark, Iowa CCI member