The Iowa Corn Growers Association last week released its final list of state and federal policy priorities it will lobby for in the upcoming year.

"Our dedicated members engage in policy development to establish the goals and priorities each year to aid in the success of the corn industry," says ICGA President Kurt Hora, who farms near the southeast Iowa town of Washington. "We create a list of top issues from our nearly 7,500 corn farmer-members, and lobby for changes and defend policy that impacts our farms. I cannot wait to see what we accomplish this coming year, at the statehouse in Des Moines with the Iowa Legislature and with Congress in Washington, D.C."

Setting priorities
ICGA state priorities, listed in alphabetical order:
• Conservation, water quality. Long term, try to get increased funding for Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
• Livestock. Support the livestock industry and existing laws regulating livestock operations.
• Renewable fuels. Obtain funding for Iowa's biofuels infrastructure cost-share program.
• Research. Push for increased funding for ISU Experiment Station and long-term agricultural research.
• 2017 Taxes. Seek full state coupling of the federal Section 179 small business expensing provision.

2017 ICGA federal priorities, listed in alphabetical order:
• Environment. Defend against burdensome environmental regulations.
• Ethanol. Retain the Renewable Fuel Standard.
• Farm Bill. Protect crop insurance funding.
• Trade. Expand bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.
• Trade. Protect funding for Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD).

Increased cost-share funding
ICGA will be lobbying the Iowa Legislature in 2017 for more funding for soil conservation and water quality improvement practices. Hora and other ICGA leaders are working with legislators and various coalitions, trying to increase the availability of cost-share money to help farmers put more conservation on the land. As a farmer, he knows money is needed, especially to increase the relatively new edge-of-field practices like bioreactors, saturated buffers and nutrient filtering wetlands. They have proven to be effective in removing nitrate-N from drainage water.

One challenge to put a new practice into operation is altering what you’ve been doing on your land. “Guaranteed funding of edge-of-field practices would let me know there is assistance available to get the practices working properly over a period of time,” Hora says. Coalitions of groups like ICGA and the Iowa Soybean Association are working with federal and state agencies, and nonprofit organizations to develop more funding to cost-share the installation of edge-of-field practices. A combination of new funds and a refocus of existing funding are the ideas being explored to address the deficit.

Paying for practices
The Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance and the Iowa Department of Agriculture, along with 46 partners, are aligning $48 million to improve water quality in watersheds, with $9.5 million from NRCS for edge-of-field and other conservation practices. To meet the state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy goal, an estimated 120,000 bioreactors and saturated buffers, and about 7,000 wetlands would be required. Total costs have been estimated as high as $4 billion.

In addition to asking the Iowa Legislature for more cost-share money, farm groups are working on other supplemental funding possibilities, too. For example, the Iowa Ag Water Alliance is working with the Iowa League of Cities to develop a policy framework to give utilities credits for investing in farmer-implemented conservation practices. If ways can be identified to help pay for edge-of-field practices, farmers will install them.

Get engaged
"ICGA provides several opportunities to members throughout the year to get engaged in the lobbying process and to voice their opinion on different issues. If you have not been before, then I encourage you to join us at a “Day on the Hill” at the state Capitol in Des Moines, or attend your local ICGA local roundtable discussion," says Hora. "Finally, if you are not a member of ICGA, I encourage you to join our organization today and get engaged on issues impacting your farm."
The complete 2017 policy resolution book is available on its website or in hard copy for free upon request by emailing [email protected] or calling 515-225-9242.