LEILA FADEL, HOST:
To Iowa now, where there's a competitive governor's race this year. One of the major issues in the campaign is water quality - specifically how the management of farmland affects the water people drink. Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters takes us to a soybean field in northern Iowa.
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CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE: Pretty simple. What we're looking at right now is some soybeans, but what's different is that there's not black soil in between the rows - there is last year's corn rotation from 2025.
ZACK SMITH: Yeah, the residue that's leftover essentially acting as kind of armor on the soil.
MASTERS: This is Zack Smith. He's part of a group of farmers that call themselves the Lobe Rangers. That's a nod to the geological region where they farm - the Des Moines Lobe. He's showing me strip-tilling, where farmers plant rows upon rows of vibrant, green soybeans right next to brown residue from last year's crops. They say it enriches the soil and locks in nitrogen fertilizer.
SMITH: It equates to when it rains here, more likelihood for the water to go into the soil versus running off.
MASTERS: That's important because nitrate in the soil can travel through underground farm drainage tiles into streams and rivers that eventually gets turned into drinking water. There are many Iowans who get their water from private wells where water does not have to meet the federal standard. Studies show there's a connection between consuming water with high nitrates over time and certain forms of cancer. Iowa continues to have the second-highest rate of cancer in the country and is one of a few states that has rising rates of cancer. That's according to an annual report by the Cancer Registry. David Cwiertny runs the University of Iowa's Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination.
DAVID CWIERTNY: I think what's most sort of bothersome to me is that when, you know, the EPA acknowledges that that science is there and it needs to be studied to determine if the standard is sufficiently protective to public health and then that doesn't get done, it leaves, you know, water providers in Iowa in a tough spot. It leaves consumers in Iowa in a very difficult position.
MASTERS: There are strategies to curb farm pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus but implementing them here is largely voluntary. That's something many voters want to address in the state's race for governor.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) America, America, God shed His grace on thee.
MASTERS: It came up at this town hall in the small, southern Iowa town of Corydon (ph). The Democratic candidate is the state auditor, Rob Sand. In Iowa, where Republicans outnumber Democrats, Sand is running as a moderate and needs Republican support if he wants to win.
ROB SAND: Nitrates do, at a certain point, cause cancer. What that level is is something that is an item for discussion. But at the same time, we also see nitrate levels in Iowa that are above even the high level of where people think that link is for safe consumption.
MASTERS: Sand is also quick to tell me politicians are the problem, not farmers. He and the GOP gubernatorial nominee are both calling for the funding of a water-quality program that was passed by voters in 2010 but never funded by the state's legislature. His Republican opponent also identifies with the goals of the MAHA movement.
ZACH LAHN: We're not allowing Mother Nature, we're not allowing God to purify the water by allowing it to sift through the substrate into the aquifers.
MASTERS: That's Zach Lahn, who narrowly won the crowded Republican primary, beating out a congressman backed by President Trump. The MAHA pack endorsed Lahn, and during his victory speech, he talked about taking on the big ag cartels. And he tells me the state has to look at its agricultural practices.
LAHN: It doesn't matter how low your taxes are. If your kids are leaving and your people are dying, you're not winning.
MASTERS: Back on the Lobe Rangers farm, Matt Bormann says he hopes the conversation on the campaign trail leads to change.
MATT BORMANN: The fact that we're talking about it denotes that there's a problem, and we just got to get more people on board to do something about it.
MASTERS: The Lobe Rangers have picked up a following online with their videos highlighting their take on how farmers can play a part in clean water. While they're not endorsing, Sand just appeared in photos with them and Lahn is going to meet with them soon. One thing is clear - the quality of water runs to the governor's office in Des Moines this year.
For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in Kossuth County, Iowa.
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