Iowa Farm Bureau leader: Farmers must fight misinformation that threatens ag gains

Misinformation about food and farming that gets shared on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels threatens gains in agriculture, the leader of Iowa's largest ag group said Wednesday.

"It seems that people who don’t farm and don’t understand farming have plenty of opinions about how we, as farmers, should be farming," Craig Hill, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, told about 1,000 farmers Wednesday.

"This new threat that’s emerged is one that places limits on our progress," Hill said during the group's annual meeting in Des Moines.

Hill said after his speech he's concerned about people who don't use "a lot of science or education," spreading messages that "prey on people's fears."

"We have 40,000 people killed in car crashes every year — every year," he said. But "no one has been killed by an genetically engineered product," an area that generates a lot of concern about safety.

During his speech, Hill said members have successfully fought efforts throughout the year to curtail farming.

For example, farmers spoke out at supervisor and state environmental protection commission meetings, Hill said. "They stepped up. They helped raise awareness of how these activist-led tactics could affect their way of life.

"And they helped to turn the tide against those who attempted to block livestock farming in Iowa," he said.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch petitioned the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission last fall to tighten the rules that guide where large hog confinements can be constructed.

The groups also have pushed for a moratorium on new livestock confinements, saying manure from the facilities runs off farm fields and pollutes Iowa waterways.

Neighbors also complain about the smell and insects that can come from confinements.

Jess Mazour, an Iowa CCI organizer, said Wednesday that it's more than the Des Moines group that opposes growth in the state's pork industry.

"Over 20 percent of counties say they’re not happy with the current system," Mazour said Wednesday. "It's residents who are directly impacted. It's county supervisors who are elected by citizens who are impacted.

"It’s not just a few people raising a stink about this," she said. "Iowa is saying enough is enough."

Hill said in his speech that Iowa farmers are investing in conservation practices that improve water quality.

Hill said 87 percent of Iowa Farm Bureau members surveyed say they're using conservation practices on their farm. And 71 percent have plans to apply new conversation practices to their farms.

"Iowa farmers know water quality is important," he said, "so important, even though they've seen three years of a downturn in the market for ag products, 73 percent surveyed are spending their own money to apply conservation practices."

"Farmers are putting words to action," he said.

After his speech, Hill said the group will continue to defend the rules that guide where confinements are constructed, a formula called the master matrix.

"Livestock production is important in Iowa," he said. "We have a very good set of regulations and rules" that oversee permitting and siting of animal confinements.