Editorial: Clean up water by focusing on landlords

Editor's note: This story was changed to clarify a USDA study on farmland rentals. Of the 105,194 farmland owners who rent out land in Iowa, 20 percent are engaged in farming, and 80 percent do not farm, the study says. About half of Iowa's farmland is rented or leased, the study said.

If ever there was an easy time to be a farmer, it’s not now. Crop prices are low and show few signs of rising. Net farm income in 2016 is expected to hit its lowest level since 2002. And producers are under fire for polluting water from here to the Gulf of Mexico.

Farmers might rightly feel a bit defensive. Much of the debate over Iowa’s dismal water quality has focused on whether farmers are doing enough. That question, however, misses an important point.

Just 20 percent of Iowa farmland owners who rent out land actually farm themselves, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The rest are “non-operator landlords” — retired farmers, investors and heirs. Some live in cities or out of state. About 40 percent have never farmed before.

Let’s be clear: All farmers must be responsible stewards of the land. But what if their landlords don't understand the value of planting cover crops or investing in bioreactors? If no one ever washed a rental car, as the economic maxim goes, how much should we realistically expect a tenant to do?

Those questions should be kept in mind while considering discouraging news from last week. An Environmental Working Group study of eight Iowa watersheds found little increase in acres devoted to two farm conservation practices — buffer strips and grassy waterways — that are considered critical to protecting water.

That study and others should finally light a fire under the Iowa Legislature. Lawmakers must take action this session to improve the health of the state's rivers, lakes and streams. Their emphasis should be on providing the right mix of carrots and sticks to prod landlords to invest in farm conservation practices.

Lawmakers have several options in financing conservation practices. They should finally pass a three-eighths of a cent sales tax that would support the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund created by voters. They could consider a $4.7 billion plan from Gov. Terry Branstad that taps a school infrastructure sales tax. Or they could propose a different way.

Regardless, Iowa needs a "sufficient, permanent and dedicated funding source," according to a Greater Des Moines Partnership water quality task force.

The task force offers the Legislature a blueprint to act. Its recommendations include finally putting a deadline on the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy's goals and creating watershed management authorities that would develop plans across the state.

The plan also calls for low-interest loans or grants to finance farm improvements. A loan fund could help landowners improve their tile lines, for example — but only if they also put in expensive improvements to prevent the improved drainage from moving soil, nitrate and other potential pollutants off fields.

So the details will be crucial.  Lawmakers must ensure that public investments are directed to practices that offer the most public benefits. They must create a “culture of measurement,” as the task force recommends, providing the right tools to monitor conservation practices and ensure long-term environmental protection.

The timing is right to act. The Des Moines Water Works lawsuit has everyone’s attention. Democrat Tom Vilsack is working with Iowa’s Republican administration, and an Iowan will likely not be U.S. secretary of agriculture next year. Water quality problems won’t be solved quickly, but will only worsen if we wait.

It’s not the time, however, to glibly blame farmers. Iowa needs everyone — landlords, tenants, urban and rural Iowans — working together to make progress.

Who are the landlords?

Of the 105,194 farmland owners who rent out land in Iowa, 80.6 percent do not farm land themselves, a USDA study says. Almost half of those non-operators are individuals, but partnerships, trusts and corporations also own significant amounts of farmland.

In 2014, Iowa farm landlords received $3.74 billion in rent payments, the second highest total in the nation.

Most non-operator landlords are principal landlords, either individual owners or the principal in a partnership. An analysis of USDA data by Wendong Zhang, an Iowa State University extension economist, found this about principal landlords in Iowa in 2014:  

• Their average age is 68.5 years. About 30 percent of farmland is owned by someone over age 75.
• 58 percent of principal landlords are male.
• 45 percent are retired from farming, and roughly 40 percent have never farmed before.