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Letter: Branstad: Veto bill that hurts small farmers
Op-Ed · April 27, 2017


Dear Governor Branstad, I’m writing to urge you to veto the legislation that virtually eliminates ISU’s Leopold Center for sustainable agricultural research.


This legislation is a step in the wrong direction for the small farmer and it puts the future of Iowa at great risk as it pursues the temptations of the globalized mass market. I’m very much impressed by the collaboration of small farms which use a variety of approaches to allow for smaller farms to keep and have a place in Iowa’s economy and family heritage. Practical Farmers of Iowa is this collaboration and it brings together organic with non-organic farms in a common dream to keep healthy and, most importantly, generation-spanning production going.

The state’s bottom line support has made it possible for many other private gifts to be made as well to advance the Center’s work. Scattergood Friends School has native Iowan students who learn about how farms work. They’re ending up as honors students at ISU and eventually as small farmers in their own right. Farmer’s National has told me that organic farmers are now in high demand by their clients as they are able to bring higher returns to production. This is the economic opportunity that should not be passed over by closing the Leopold Center.

I see the Leopold Center’s same commitment to the grandchildren of today’s farmers. Cutting budgets in hard times is certainly sensible and wise. Completely emptying out a program’s coffers is irresponsible as far as Iowa’s future is concerned. Please do not approve this legislation.

Yours,

Thomas Weber

West Branch