Agriculture secretary race is a referendum on dirty water

There’s an old saying in journalism, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” It’s a memorable version of the wise admonition “trust, but verify.”

In Iowa, our current efforts to clean up nitrate-polluted waterways contaminated mainly by agricultural operations is all trust, no verification. Trust, but don’t verify, is what Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig’s approach to water quality is all about.

How do we know taxpayer- funded voluntary conservation practices are working when there is no monitoring required? Trust him, we’re making oodles of progress.

But how do we reconcile that with the fact some Iowa waterways have the highest concentrations of nitrate in the nation? Upwards of 80% of that nitrate comes from cropland and livestock operations. Trust him. Don’t play the “blame game.”

Why do large corporations selling farming inputs, including fertilizer, have so much political influence over how we deal with water pollution? Trust him. He’s a former Monsanto lobbyist.

Blame the weather for our lousy water. Trust him. We can’t do anything about that.

Should we reform a system that forces many farmers to plant only corn or beans and overapply fertilizer in an effort to boost annual yields that factor into crop insurance, loans and land value? What about the overproduction of corn to feed the ethanol industry? Why are our state government and regulatory agencies wholly owned subsidiaries of Big Ag? What about studies showing potential links between nitrate pollution and multiple forms of cancer?

Trust him. Everyone wants clean water.

“Water is a critically important topic here in this campaign cycle,” Naig said in September, He’s so right.

Naig, a Republican, is up for reelection this fall. He is being challenged by Democrat Chris Jones, a former engineer and water researcher at the University of Iowa. Jones is an evangelist for clean water, but his plan is not faithbased.

TODD DORMAN