Today’s Iowa Supreme Court decision finding drainage districts have unqualified immunity from Des Moines Waterworks lawsuit claims is critical to the farmers in the three Iowa county drainage districts. Although not the final decision in the federal court lawsuit, this decision should have a significant impact on the remaining Iowa and federal Clean Water Act claims. We will continue to closely review the decision and the impacts moving forward on Iowa farmers’ livelihoods.
Iowa’s pig farmers must adhere to several state regulations that are designed to protect the environment that we all live and work in. The pork industry can demonstrate decades of continuous improvement relating to environmental stewardship and the supreme court’s opinion aside, IPPA will continue to focus on coordinated and collaborative efforts to continue driving improvement.
The association has always promoted environmental stewardship and has honored a pig farmer each of the past 10 years for environmental excellence. IPPA has invested more than $1.5 million in environmental programs and water quality improvement since 2013 alone. On Wednesday, Iowa Pork announced a $25,000 cost share partnership with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to assist pig farmers in installing saturated buffers and bio-reactors on their farm land.
IPPA has established policy fully supporting the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy and is working in collaboration with the Iowa Corn and Soybean associations and other ag partners to enhance Water Quality Initiative efforts in the state.
Source: IowaPork