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CEDAR RAPIDS | A super PAC backing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley enlisted a pair of central Iowa farmers to criticize his Republican opponent, Joni Ernst, for a lack of leadership on renewable fuels and climate change – issues they said hit home with Iowa ag producers.

Bill Gannon, who has been farming for six decades, said flooding was rarely a problem until 1993. Since then, the Mingo farmer has seen crop damage and soil loss nearly every year due to flooding.

“Serious rain events cause great losses for farmers who are trying to make ends meet,” Gannon said on a conference call sponsored by NextGen Climate.

The group is working to elect Braley of Waterloo, who has served eight years in the U.S. House.

Gannon believes “climate change is a given.”

“You just don’t get this much variation in weather … it is not normal,” Gannon said. “Either (Ernst) doesn’t go outdoors or she can’t find her rain gauge.”

The Ernst campaign called his criticism “false attacks from a group funded by a California extremist billionaire who opposes ethanol.”

Ernst spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel was referring to Tom Steyer, who is bankrolling NextGen Climate.