Jones believes facts can beat ‘cropaganda’

It is so richly ironic.

In the spring of 2023, two Republican state lawmakers, Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan, and Sen. Tom Shipley, R-Nodaway, used their clout to push the University of Iowa to shut down a blog they did not like.

It was the blog UI Research Engineer Chris Jones used to speak truth to power about Iowa’s dirty water and the agriculture practices that make it that way. It was not his first run in with peeved lawmakers.

Zumbach was also leading a legislative effort to remove funding for a network of water quality sensors that keep tabs on nitrate and phosphorus flowing into streams and rivers. Jones’ water quality research used data from those sensors.

By some sort of wild coincidence, two of those sensors are on Bloody Run Creek, a northeast Iowa trout stream. One is within sight of a controversial cattle feedlot project involving Zumbach’s son-in-law. What are the odds?

But all the cranky lawmakers accomplished was giving Jones time, lots of it.

Jones opted to retire. Not long after that, a book of his writing on the intersection of water quality and agriculture was published. “The Swine Republic” has sold like hot cakes. He used the word “cropaganda” to describe the message Iowans are getting from the agriculture establishment.

Jones has traveled the state, sounding the alarm about our nitrate-laden waters and the corn, beans and CAFOs system that has made them that way. He and Iowa City attorney Jim Larew started the “Driftless Water Defenders” to initiate lawsuits and other actions targeting water pollution. Two more chapters have popped up in other parts of Iowa.

Now, Jones is considering a run for Iowa secretary of agriculture in 2026. He’s said a final decision will come in mid-January. He would run as a Democrat but criticizes both parties for doing little or nothing to stop the exploitation of Iowa’s environment.

So, the two Republicans who sought to silence Jones actually gave him a bigger platform to deliver his message to a much larger audience. Ironic, don’t you think?

“I think people should see what I'm doing here as a referendum on the condition of our water and the condition of our environment here,” Jones said this past week in an interview. “And if you look out and you see that it's not adequate, then maybe I'm your guy. If you think it's if you think it is adequate, then I'm probably not your guy.

“I just feel an obligation to do this, because there's just no one that I see on the political landscape that's willing to take this on. And I think people here in Iowa deserve somebody to take this on,” Jones said.

Voters would have a clear choice. Current Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig is a former Monsanto lobbyist who marches to the tune of large agricultural corporations and farm groups, such as the Iowa Farm Bureau. Soybeans, corn, 60% of which is used to make ethanol, and platitudes about how Iowa’s water is getting better thanks to taxpayer funded, edge of field runoff control practices.

Do they work? The state doesn’t ask.

Jones has a different message.

“We're not in a state of crisis. It's not a water crisis. We're past that. We're in a state of failure,” Jones said. “You know, we're rationing water in our biggest city. We have 6,000 private wells that have been contaminated with nitrate, thousands more with E coli. We have 130 lakes that are, for the most part, unusable in the summertime because we have these terrible algae blooms and E coli.

“The livability of this state is being degraded by our agricultural systems. We need to talk about that, and we need to figure this out,” Jones said.

Jones said one big step toward cleaning up our water would be to embrace alternative crops to corn and soybeans, such as more environmentally friendly oats, barley, fruit crops or vegetables. He would give farmers who want to diversify an “off-ramp” with incentives to pursue alternative crops.

“We need more land in pasture. We need forage crops for cattle, like clover and alfalfa, so they're not eating corn all the time,” Jones said. “I hear all the time that, oh, we're just handcuffed to this corn soy rotation, corn soy and CAFO. Well, you know, that's not true.”

Farmers who blow past the off-ramp would face some regulations. Among his ideas is keeping crops off land at highest risk for flooding. Fall tillage, which can result in more fertilizer runoff, should be banned, as should applying manure to frozen ground, which can end up in waterways.

“What I say all the time is, look, if what you do affects everyone, then everyone should have a say in what you do,” Jones said.

Perhaps Jones’ biggest break with Iowa political orthodoxy is his opposition to ethanol. Planting a mountain of King Corn for fuel has been bad for our waterways. Big government still is needed to keep the industry afloat.

“Why are we doing this? You know, isn't there something else we can do on this land that would benefit our society better than fuel ethanol?” Jones said.

“I think it's the worst natural resource decision that's ever been made in this country. It's polluted our water here in Iowa. It's polluted our aquifers. It's polluted the Gulf of Mexico. And for what environmental benefit? You know, it just isn't there,” Jones said.

“West Virginia clung to the coal for as long as it could. And look what happened. They've lost a third of their population. It's one of the poorest states in the country,” Jones said. “Ethanol is going to go away eventually, and so we need to start planning a transition away from it now.”

Jones knows the sort of reception he’ll get from powerful interests. They’ll burn the crops and blow up the bridges before they let him get elected.

“I have no fear of that. Because I have nothing to lose here,” Jones said.

He also understands an agriculture secretary’s power is limited. Any legislation he proposes must be passed by lawmakers and signed by the governor. He can’t issue Trumpian executive orders to make change happen.

“But that person does determine where money is spent,” Jones said.

“I believe I've heard Kim Reynolds say that during her time as governor, the state has spent about $700 million on water quality. And you know, clearly, we have not gotten the outcomes that we want from that $700 million,” Jones said.

Jones has never run for office. He’s not yet sure how he’ll raise money. But if he wants this to be a true referendum, he’ll need resources to get his message heard above the din of races for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House.

But he has the right message. Maybe that’s enough. Many Iowans are ready to hear it.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com