No longer enough to tweak the corn-soybean rotation

News stories this summer warning that much of Iowa’s waterways are too polluted for either recreation or drinking brought increased relevance to the closing reception on July 11 of an exhibit at ISU’s Brunnier Art Museum.

“Compelling Ground: Landscapes, Environments and Peoples of Iowa” aims to build on the impact of the museum’s 1995 exhibit “Land of the Fragile Giants.” The artwork and accompanying published essays highlight how changes that have occurred in the past 25 years have significantly affected the environments, landscapes and people of this state. 

Agriculture, not surprisingly, is a major theme.

As the goal of the curators is to engage communities to build paths forward in addressing the multiple issues Iowans face presently and into the future, I would like to share an edited portion of the essay I contributed to “Compelling Ground” — “A Cautionary Yet Hopeful View of Iowa’s Agricultural Future.”

Iowa is my home; this is where I was born and where I now work with my husband on our farm. As a child, I was sure that our family farm — with its woods, pasture and stream; barnyard with animals; garden and orchard; farm lane between fields of hay, corn, oats and soybeans; numerous neighbors, friends, cousins and grandparents, and a nearby thriving small town — was the most beautiful and nurturing place anyone could live. 

My great-great-grandparents were born in the southeast corner of Iowa in about 1846; their parents were among the first sizable influx of white settlers to Iowa territory. This was only possible after Indigenous Peoples were brutally forced from this land of woods and prairie while the labor of enslaved Peoples made the Southern plantation system possible. This history cannot be denied. In fact, the injustices and inequalities of the colonization that our country was founded on still influences our agricultural and economic policies. 

While Iowa’s agriculture has changed, the destructive effects on our environment and on people continue. 

Multinational corporations have turned farmers into cogwheels of a global industry that exists through the exploitation of nature and labor. Immigrants, people of color and others who have been marginalized by the system do the essential work of making sure food gets to our tables, all while enduring poor working conditions and low pay. Many of these workers are in the meat industry — in dairy, hog and poultry confinements or on the line of the meat processing plants. Our soils are eroding and our water is polluted while we produce as much corn and soybeans as possible, mostly to feed animals in confinements. Our ecosystems are significantly altered from their natural state. 

We no longer have the farm families dotting the landscape, the families that contributed to the vitality of the rural towns. As each year goes by, more farmsteads are bulldozed for more acres of corn and soybeans, and more towns have withered away, losing their schools, grocery stores, basic services and sense of community. 

My farmer neighbors are hard-working and dedicated to family and community. They have a deep desire to do what is right. Yet the family farm of my youth rarely exists and is no longer a future possibility for the vast majority of young people. Today’s commodity farmer is trying to do the right thing while the “right thing” is being politically distorted and reduced to agronomic practices on millions of acres of just two annual crops while the majority of livestock is now in confinements and feedlots, often corporate-owned. Although there is a smattering of diverse farmers growing a diversity of foods for the local market, they are still a small portion of farming in Iowa and, like the commodity crop farmer, they also struggle with issues related to markets, labor, land and weather.  

In the spring of 2020, as the pandemic rocked the world, our farm became even more of its usual refuge. I began to look more closely at the perennial plants around our farmstead. I learned that the sentinel tree near the driveway, a towering white pine, provides a multitude of health benefits when the leaves and stems are made into a tea. Did the person who planted this tree over 100 years ago have those health properties in mind? Most certainly Indigenous Peoples used this tree as well as many others in healing of body and spirit. 

Knowledge of medicinal plants is just one aspect of what we have lost in this progression to the modern age of data collection, biotechnology, chemicals, plastics and ultra-processed foods. It is no wonder that our greatest health risks are diet-related diseases or that we have become so separated from the natural world. 

A highly respected Iowa agriculture economist told me a few years ago that “it is the nature of agriculture to consolidate” in reference to farmers farming more acres and corporations owning livestock.

Does this logic conclude that the depopulation of rural Iowa, the withering away of towns and small businesses, the decay of the structure of community, the erosion of soil and pollution of water, the disappearance of native plants, insects and animals that made up this bountiful land, are results that we have to just accept because it is the “nature” of the system? 

I say “no.” 

If we want to create positive change, we must address the problems that agriculture has created. And, we can’t do this by simply looking inside Iowa’s borders. We must look for broader solutions to address the global issues of climate change; loss of biological diversity, including the extinction of whole species and the steep decline of pollinators; and the social/political issues of hunger, food insecurity and migration. 

Is there hope for a better food and agriculture system? Yes, but it will take a radically different way of thinking to create that new system, one that gets us to a place in which this human population can live in harmony with nature while also addressing the deep inequalities and injustices of the current system. It won’t be enough to tweak the corn-soybean rotation with soil-and-water saving practices. We must take bold action to truly address the economic, social and environmental crises we face. 

Alternatives abound. Indigenous Peoples are regaining their traditional foods. Young urban people of color are creating supportive communities in which fresh, local foods are grown and distributed. Efforts to create local economies are gaining ground. The difficult questions of land access and land ownership, especially for beginning farmers, has shown some success with worker-owned cooperatives and land trusts. To expand these creative ideas, the basic rules of the game need to change. 

True democracy, in which each of us can have a voice, could set the rules for the economy that will get us there. These rules will no longer allow corporations to extract wealth from our communities. In addressing both food and energy needs of the future, the decisions and solutions must be transparent. The role of government needs to be defined and recognized as working for us and for our future. Rules and regulations are not our enemy, but are necessary to create stability and equality. 

Agroecology is now recognized around the world and increasingly in the U.S. as the farming model to address social, political and environmental concerns. Transitioning to agroecology can begin by enacting the Parity system similar to FDR’s New Deal of the 1930s. This will reset the conditions in which we produce food and bring stability to our rural economy. Price floors on commodities, supply management and food reserves would all be spelled out in a just and equitable methodology. International trade would also be addressed so that all nations can ensure their farmers receive fair prices, the environment is protected and people have healthy, seasonal and culturally defined diets. Food sovereignty, the ability to define our own food systems, could then become a reality. 

We ask a lot of those who produce, process, distribute and serve our food, our most basic need. The future of agriculture in Iowa can thrive only with a worldview of solidarity and mutual support for all human beings as we find the path to build new ways of bringing food, nourishment and joy to all our tables. 

I want to thank Brunnier Art Museum for the courage to take on this topic. I encourage Iowans to view the full art exhibit and read the essays. The exhibit remains on display through July 23 at Scheman Building in Ames. The museum is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays 1 to 4 p.m. The cost is free; however, there is a suggested donation of $8.

Churdan farmer Patti Naylor participated in a United Nations committee on world food security in 2019.