Chris Jones, who is running for the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture seat in the coming election, held a campaign event in Mount Vernon Tuesday, May 19.

Jones said he is someone who has seen the issues facing Iowa’s water quality, as he’s seen them from different perspectives in his career.

“I’ve seen it from the private sector when I worked in Minnesota, from the municipal sector when I was working with the Des Moines Water Works, from the agricultural sector when I worked with the Iowa Soybean Association and from the academic sector when I worked with the University of Iowa,” Jones said. “I have a unique experience and perspective that no one else has.”

Jones obtained his bachelors of science from Simpson College in Indianola and then went to Montana State for his graduate degree.

Jones said that we’ve all seen what the toll has been in polluted waterways high in nitrates.

He noted that back in his time at the Des Moines Water Works when they saw the high nitrate levels in the river, one question that constantly came up was where was the outrage for the impact of drinking water for 600,000 people.

“I think the outrage has finally arrived in this state,” Jones said, as water quality has become a top issue in the election.

With Iowa’s cancer rates also increasing, Jones said people are very concerned and questioning Iowa’s polluted waterways in relation to both.

Jones said one way to help reduce nitrates in the drinking water is to start diversifying the crops in Iowa’s fields from just corn or soybeans.

Jones said with costs of production increasing (the cost of diesel is up, the cost of fertilizer is also increasing), the state is also the second highest in farm bankruptcies and the suicide rate is increasing.

“We need a Secretary of Agriculture who is working for all Iowans,” Jones said.

Jones said that with investment, Iowa could increase forage crops for cows and let cows grow on pasture lands again, reviving the beef industry.

“We could be sending people on domestic trade missions to get other states to buy our beef, not other nations,” Jones said.

Jones also said more could be done to help grow produce for Iowans in cities, something that 90 percent of Iowans want is fresh, seasonal foods.

Another issue Jones said is facing the agricultural industry is giving opportunities for younger farmers to get into the industry.

Jones said he has 33 policy ideas listed on his website, ChrisJonesForIowa.Com

“You may not agree with all of them, but there are a lot of ideas related to agriculture,” Jones said.

A questioner asked about how to get to some of these ideas in revitalizing Iowa’s agriculture and not impact farmers in the process.

Jones said that giving farmers the grace to transition from some systems of agriculture to others would be beneficial, as well as indemnifying farmers and offering help to allow them to transition from one crop to a different crop.

A person asked about the water quality standards changes that have happened, and the $670 million spent on water quality by the Reynolds administration.

“Our water quality has only got worse since the nutrient reduction act went into place,” Jones said. “We need to be regulating row crop and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO).”

Jones also said that getting the regents universities out of the pocket of big agriculture dollars is important to a questioner who stated an aversion to seeing the University of Iowa promoting that they help to feed America.

A questioner asked about the renewable fuel standard increasing impacting production of more soybeans or corn for ethanol.

Jones said Iowa should be looking towards a retreat from ethanol, looking for what is to come after the ethanol market. He pointed to what happened to coal producing states who didn’t divest from the collapse of that industry as what Iowa should avoid.

A questioner asked about funding for the water monitoring system that was reduced years ago.

Jones said that he would reinstate that as soon as possible of being elected, that the data on nitrate levels in waterways minute by minute is beneficial to all in the state.

A questioner asked if there have been discussions about debates with Mike Naig leading up to the general election.

Jones said that it’s early, that they haven’t had those discussions quite yet, but he hopes for a couple of debates on the issues.