Around 50 Iowa Farmers Union members met with state legislators this week in Des Moines. President Jana Linderman says two of the major issues they concentrated on were water quality and environmental as well as local foods. She says as far as water quality and environmental protection goes, the water nutrient management strategy needs tweaking.
Linderman says there’s no specific legislation they’re supporting at this time concerning water quality but are interested in working with legislators as the session progresses. She says local foods opportunities for Iowa’s farmers have been advancing but more needs to be done. Linderman says there is specific legislation they’re backing.
Linderman says her group would like to see more joint venture opportunities between neighboring farmers to move forward with marketing and processing of local foods. She says legislators seem very receptive to those ideas.