The Swine Republic

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Interested in the truth about Iowa and the Midwest's water quality? You won't get it from Iowa's agricultural and political leaders. Among midwestern Corn Belt states, Iowa contains some of the world's most productive farmland, the state frequently tops all others in harvested totals of corn and soybeans and has helped the U.S. be the world's largest producer of corn every year since at least 1961. Iowa also has a lot of animals that eat corn and soybeans. The state is first in egg and pork production and fifth in the number of feedlot cattle. Concentrating both cropland and livestock within the state has created efficiencies in production, transportation, fertilization, and accumulated wealth for a lucky few. The immensity of this production has come at a cost: soil erosion, the loss of wildlife habitat, a lack of public parks and recreation areas, foul air from animal waste, and especially degraded water. Iowa has over 70, 000 miles of streams, and only 15 segments of these meet all the designated uses outlined under the Clean Water Act. The pollutants from Iowa's rivers ultimately drain to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, part of which is killed off every summer by Corn Belt pollution from farms 1, 500 miles upstream. More than 20% of Iowans drink water treated for the removal of nitrate--a regulated drinking water contaminant that results from corn and livestock production--and nearly 7, 000 private wells are contaminated with this pollutant.