Neila Seaman

Iowa View contributor

It’s clear that Donald Trump, who has announced his intention to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency if elected, would be a disaster for clean air, clean water and the environment in Iowa and across the nation. But Iowans also need to be deeply concerned about Trump’s agricultural policies, especially now that he’s revealed the six Iowans on the GOP nominee’s 64-member agriculture advisory committee.

Safeguarding water quality and protecting wildlife are two of the Iowa Sierra Club’s top priorities. Unfortunately, it’s clear that the six Iowans participating in Trump’s Agriculture Advisory Committee represent the interests of major agricultural corporations and not the people or family farmers of Iowa.

To put a point on it, right now Iowa’s water is so dirty that, simply in order to provide safe drinking water, the water utility serving one sixth of our population had to take three separate counties to court in order to combat farm runoff pollution. Increased corn and soybean production on factory farms for biofuels puts our water at risk, while undertaking massive new corporate plowing operations reduces wildlife habitat.

It's essential for presidential candidates to have advisers who advocate for policies that protect the environment and the water we drink. Unfortunately, the Iowans on Trump’s advisory committee have one-sided, pro-corporate agriculture backgrounds.

The committee members from Iowa range from prominent figures like Gov. Terry Branstad — who has supported finely textured beef (“pink slime”); gave millions of dollars in taxpayer money to a dirty new fertilizer plant and a new, industrial-sized hog processing plant; and resisted efforts by EPA to clean up Iowa’s waters — to Bruce Rastetter, who made a fortune in large-scale industrial hog operations, ethanol plants and farm real estate.

The other committee members include figures on the side of Big Ag like Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey, who has opposed policies to reduce farm runoff pollution, resisted the Environmental Protection Agency efforts to clean up Iowa’s waters, and generally supports the interests of massive agricultural corporations.

Then there is Annette Sweeney, who as chair of the House Agriculture Committee pushed for passage of an “ag gag” law which imposes criminal penalties for whistle blowers obtaining access to livestock operations who expose untoward operations. Joining them is also Sam Clovis, who has no credentials in agriculture but serves as Trump’s national chief policy adviser and national campaign co-chair. And, finally, is Ron Heck, a soybean and corn farmer who served as a member of the Iowa Biodiesel Board and will promote policies friendly to industrial agriculture.

Developing a 21st century agricultural policy that protects our environment while feeding the nation is hard but necessary work. Unfortunately, our current model of industrial agriculture only benefits the Big Ag corporations at the expense of family farmers, citizens and consumers in Iowa and around the country. If elected, it’s clear that with an advisory group like this, Trump will simply double down on these policies benefiting some of the largest corporations in our country at the expense of our people.

Neila Seaman is Sierra Club Iowa chapter director. Contact: Neila.Seaman@sierraclub.org