Vilsack Endorses Sand and His Farm Policy Proposals

From the big stories to the little moments, your support helps us cover it all. ANKENY – Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand spoke with farmers and former Iowa governor and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack Wednesday about his plans to support Iowa's rural and agricultural economies. Vilsack said he was "excited" by Sand's "innovative" approach that aims to make farms, rather than farmers, work harder. "It's very direct, and I think it speaks significantly and centrally to the challenges that many Iowa farmers face today," Vilsack said of the policy proposal. "And I think, frankly, it will have a profound impact on not just the farm community but on rural communities generally." Sand's "Opportunities for All" policy includes a plan to invest in programs that will diversify the family farm with things like manure digesters that process manure into renewable natural gas and an easily transportable, rather than liquid, fertilizer. Vilsack has been a proponent of this technology, which can add an additional, on-farm revenue stream. Vilsack said farmers have been in a "farm crisis since 1973" when the focus of the farm shifted "solely on productivity and production." "American farmers have done exactly what we asked them to do," Vilsack said. "The problem is that it only benefits fairly large-scale operations, and as a result, over the course of the last 50, 60 years, we've lost nearly a million farms in America." The loss of these farms, he said, was a "significant hit to rural communities." "I think you two gentlemen have laid out a plan that addresses the fundamental weakness of our current farm policy," Vilsack said, speaking to Sand and lieutenant governor nominee Dave Muhlbauer. "Your plan is predicated on a very simple proposition which is, it's not the farmer that you have to work harder." Vilsack, along with more than 50 other farmers and former Iowa agricultural leaders comprise the list of "Ag Leaders for Sand" who endorsed Sand and Muhlbauer Wednesday. The list included former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture and former lieutenant governor Patty Judge, along with two former presidents of the Iowa and National Corn Growers Associations, former officials who served in various U.S. Department of Agriculture offices and farmers from counties across the state. LaVon Griffieon, a Polk County century farmer who hosted the roundtable and also endorsed Sand, said the "Opportunities for All" policy was a "breath of fresh air." The plan also includes Sand's aim to raise the state minimum wage to $12 per hour, to end the state's privatized system for Medicaid, build more houses in rural Iowa and to establish a "rural prosperity" office. When asked about funding these programs to help farmers diversify their operations, Sand said Iowa's Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation trust fund, often referred to as Iowa's Water and Land Legacy or IWILL, could be a "massive source of funding." The trust was approved by voters in 2010 to fund things like outdoor recreation and cleaner water, but the trust, which would receive three-eighths of one cent revenue from a sales tax increase, has never been funded. Sand said if it had been funded 16 years ago when 63% of Iowans voted for the measure, "we would be 16 years ahead of where we are right now." "Farmers are part of the solution, Sand said. "They sign up for these conservation programs, they get put on a wait list. The problem is politicians." It's politicians' responsibility to "fix this" and support programs that help farmers with things like conservation, at the level that farmers want to participate, Sand said. The Democratic nominee for secretary of agriculture Chris Jones has proposed policies to diversify Iowa's crop land and work to improve the state's water, though his approach involves a significant deviation from Iowa's current model that prioritizes corn, soybeans and ethanol. When asked by reporters about Jones' policy, Sand said he hasn't read Jones' proposals and that he has not been "weighing in" on other races and doesn't plan to do so. Sand is running against Republican Zach Lahn, who has proposed anti-trust lawsuits against agricultural input companies and protecting Iowa land ownership, among other things, as ways to support family farms. The stories that matter to you, delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe for free.