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Iowa ag leaders see progress on water quality funding issue

Even though the 2016 Iowa legislature failed to agree on a solution to long-term, increased water quality funding, Iowa agricultural leaders say there was good progress on addressing the issue.

“I think it brought the topic to a lot of people who weren’t thinking about it—and there were a lot of different ideas floated out there,” says Bob Hemesath of Decorah, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. “So hopefully this will be a springboard for next year. Maybe there’s a new idea out there that’s completely new that we could find a way to fund it long-term.”

AUDIO: Bob Hemesath

Wayne Fredericks of Osage, president of the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA), says his group had “substantive conversations” with many legislators about water quality and the need for long-term funding.

“It just takes time to bring awareness among the majority of the body down there before you can move a piece of legislation that is this huge,” Fredericks says.

Fredericks says legislators’ understanding of the importance of water quality was evidenced by several bills put forth including Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy (iWill), the Governor’s plan coupling water quality funding with Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE), the House Republican plan utilizing a water excise tax and the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) and the Senate ending balance proposal.

AUDIO: Wayne Fredericks

Iowa ag secretary Bill Northey also expressed disappointment that an agreement could not be reached. But he points out the legislature did approve 9.6 million dollars to support the Iowa Water Quality Initiative in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1st.

“So we’re not rolling backward, but we lost a good opportunity, this session anyway,” Northey says, adding that he’s hopeful some groundwork was laid for “a better opportunity, in future sessions, of building that longer-term, more stable, predictable funding.”

AUDIO: Bill Northey