(From Fion and Chloe)
1. In what ways are farms in Iowa invisible and what are the consequences on the U.S. that result from that invisibility?
2. How do the issues concerning American agriculture compare to the image politicians create when it comes to farming?
The farms in Iowa, and the state of Iowa as a whole, are largely invisible to the rest of the US. Even as “pundits declare that Iowa’s relevance to presidential politics has come to an end”, what keeps Iowa relevant, even with a tiny population of just three million people, is agriculture; primarily the federally subsidized corn industry. However, this corn industry, which provides so many jobs and such a large percentage of the state’s income has a dark side – the pollution that comes with commercialized agriculture. The water in Iowa is “brown” and people have not been drinking water from rivers in Iowa “since the civil war”. This is what is truly invisible – people do not realize the impact that this industry is having on the state as a whole. Iowa’s rivers are poisoned and the corn industry, which provides the state with some relevancy on the national stage, is the cause. The corn industry is keeping Iowa afloat, yet at the same time bringing it down and the monopolization of the corn industry by companies like Tyson is part of what makes Americans diet so poor, because the cheap food is not healthy.
American politicians tend to oversimplify the agricultural situation in Iowa and don’t convey to the public the environmental issues caused by the farming industries. Politicians, particularly on the conservative side appear to be part of the problem. The monopolization of the farming industries by big companies is what is at the core of the environmental issues. These companies (Tyson, Smithfield) simply do not care about the environment in which they operate. They are seeking to maximize profits, and by owning the entire production process – “everything except the cages of the chickens – they are able to run the entire process as they see fit. That being, little regard for the environment, the quality of the food they are producing and whether or not the food is good for people. Yet politicians flock to Iowa, every four years and try to win favor with the large Christian population there. The government, under Obama, has tried to reform the industry and impose restrictions on the activities of these companies. Ultimately the companies outplayed the government and led to the sale of the cornfields to the giant Shuanghui Group.
Iowa’s farms may seem very appealing as Donald trump points out ” I want to grab the corn like you’ve never seen before.” However, this beauty has a very contrary side to it. Which is the pollution it has caused. Iowa is the largest corn producer in America, its farms look very natural but the invisibility behind these landscapes is the massive pollution it is responsible for. The corn industry has caused water to be toxic and undrinkable.As the article states “In 2014 the Corn belt down fertilizer pollution led to toxins that poisoned the water supply” thus causing the national guard to distribute bottled water. This is extremely outrageous! A state with poisoned water supply but massive Corn production. The pollution is invisible to the people of America.
American politicians truly don’t see the severity that producers have on the environment. Candidates like Donald Trump contradict themselves on their Immigration policies and the relation it has to food production. Trump does not realize the cornfield that he complimented was of latino laborers hard work. They compliment the huge production the state has but also state how immigrants should be sent home at Mexico’s expense. Nonetheless Trump does not realize much of Iowa’s agriculture business depends on latino laborers. Politicians only visit Iowa for self interest. They visit Iowa to gain votes during the caucuses, but totally ignore the environmental issues. It surprises me that now a foreign company controls much of Iowa’s politics and its landscape.
Similar to the deliberate staging of Donald Trump’s rally, the farming issues in Iowa are intentionally kept invisible to the majority of the United States. If we, as critical thinkers, take this into account, the staging is invisible to the audience and the preferred image is visible. In the same fashion, the farms effects remain invisible, but what is evident is the desired products of the farms (e.g., corn, soybeans). Although the farm areas in and around Iowa face many obstacles concerning water pollution and soil nutrient levels, politicians (those who can bring certain subjects from invisibility to visibility) decide to remain silent and thereby, leave those issues concealed; as is stated, “All of this went unmentioned in the presidential campaign…” (29).
Such actions, not taken by politicians during their caucuses in Iowa, allow the concerns to remain unseen. If such problems are left to fester, the effects will not be contained to just one area, and the consequences of harsh corn growing will affect the nation starting with its water and food sources. Richard Manning compares the drainage system of Iowan farms with the human body by stating, “…like veins, the networks gather fluid…before discharging into rivers…” (25). In doing so, he lays out the idea of how neglecting this system can cause a predicament that will affect all parts associated with the system. The veins, which are the drainage pipes, connect to a larger “organ” that ultimately is in charge of everything- the heart or the river. The drainage system is the circulatory system of the farms of Iowa. By allowing plaque to build up in the veins, the condition of the heart will worsen and soon the body will suffer a heart attack. In this manner, by allowing nitrate run-off to continue to stream into the rivers at toxic levels, the unusable condition of the rivers will become heightened until the environment surrounding the water is damaged. Those who depend on the river for a means of drinkable water can no longer use it; those who depend on the river to farm can no longer use it; those who depend on the water to feed their animals can no longer use it. Even those who do not depend on the river directly will face issues concerning the quality of water, and the quality of food that has been grown in the nitrates and phosphorus discharge.
In the beginning of Richard Manning’s “The Trouble with Iowa” he starts of with a story of him at one of Donald Trump’s rallies. Donald Trump started of talking about the corn that Iowa is known for and then transitions to the issue of immigration. During Trump’s speech he was talking about Mexican immigrants and he said it’s “such a big problem no one wants to talk about.” Like the immigration issues Trump talked about the farms of Iowa also have a huge problem no one wants to talk about and that makes the farms of Iowa invisible. Iowa has many pollution problems dealing with water pollution and waste pollution due to the farms they have and the lack of action in the area. In the article Richard Manning discusses the pollution that comes from the hogs and chickens in Iowa. He says “each hog produces the waste of about 2.5 people meaning Iowa bears the shit equivalent, from hogs alone, of about 45 million people, fifteen times its human population. But Iowa also has 52 million laying chickens. These birds more manure than all the people in the state. Almost none of it passes through a sewage treatment plant before making its way through drainage pipes to public waterways.” In this part of the article Manning describes the severity of the manure problem in Iowa and how it not even goes through a sewage plant before going to public waterways and polluting them. The lack of the attention to the situation is one of the main causes of the issue and further goes to show how Iowa’s farms are invisible.
When it comes to Iowa farming many politicians do little to nothing to help the problem. In the article Richard Manning specifically targets John Kasich who “signed a palliative bill, endorsed Big Ag, that did nothing to sully his business-friendly reputation or to limit the phosphates and nitrates responsible for Toledo’s problem.” In Ohio Kasich does what most politicians do in response to Iowa’s pollution problem. While he did not outright ignore the problem he essentially did nothing to help if nothing was done to limit the nitrates responsible for the problem. However the image politicians create about farming is perfect. In the very beginning of the article it starts off with a quote of Donald Trump saying “I’m driving through the beautiful fields. So rich so beautiful.” He describes the corn and the farms of Iowa as if they are perfect and there is no pollution problem.
Farms have been around since man started settling down and domesticating. Through time farmers were necessary and plentiful. Now a little less so, America is a huge country with many people, however only one percent of the american population is actually a farmer. One might wonder, how could that be, how can one percent feed ninety-nine of the huge american population? The answer is technology, GMO’s and pesticides and new tractors and planters have allowed this nearly invisible population to succeed on feeding America. A clear example of this are the farms in Iowa. They have such a small population that are actually mostly farmers, who because of the lack of diversity in population has no real opposition. Meaning they could farm all they’d like with no restrictions. One might be wondering how could this be a problem farmings natural, if it’s unrestricted, what’s the issue? The issue is that the technology is causing massive amounts of pollution, to the point where water in Iowa is dangerous to drink. Could you imagine being afraid to drink tap water in one of the most industrialized countries in the world. The runoff of chemicals and uncontrolled amount of animal feces id polluting the land and the water. Since no one really see’s this no one does anything about it. Now one might think again “alright, so there’s an issue one that effects nature tremendously, shouldn’t the government do something about it?” which would be a decent assumption… until one realizes that government cares more about staying in power than things that actually matter. The Iowa caucus is the first primary election for the presidential election. It is believed that they set the precedence for the all primaries because it’s the first, and when people win the first state people assume they’ll win the rest. This basically grants Iowa immunity from any federal central government intervention. Without any central intervention, and no state intervention because the farmers are the only ones who vote for said state officials. Iowa is basically immune.
The farms in Iowa are invisible because the issues regarding them are rarely addressed by politicians due to the financial power of the agriculture business in the Midwest. A couple of corporations, such as Tyson, own a huge chunk of the agriculture business. They have almost completely controlled the whole process of converting chicken and hog into fast food, which is then distributed to places like WalMart and Pizza Ranch. Since these very few corporations have a very tight knit oligarchy going on, they have the money and power to influence many politicians. This ensures that no politician mentions the issues surrounding these farms, and everybody continues to get paid. This has a huge consequence on the U.S. The farms found in Iowa and the rest of the Midwest create so much pollution, that it contaminates rivers to the point where it’s unsafe to drink from them. These very rivers are the source for bottled water for many Americans. Unsafe drinking water is the characteristic of a “third world” country.
Since Iowa and other Midwest states tend to be on the conservative side, conservative politicians need to act all friendly with the corporate farms that control the political landscape of these states. These politicians either completely ignore the issues regarding the farms, or actively indulge in these farms and act like they are doing a great thing for Americans. Conservatives have made it a tradition to visit Pizza Ranch, a restaurant that directly uses the chicken and corn produces by these huge corporate farms. By participating in this tradition, conservative politicians give off an implication of support for these farms, and by extension, the mass pollution of the rivers that make up the Midwest. Donald Trump, a conservative, also has shown his support for these farms. ” I’m driving through these beautiful fields. I want to grab that corn like you’ve never seen. So rich, so beautiful.” This completely disregards the problems with these corn fields, and instead creates a nice picture. With the combined effort of these politicians, these farms ultimately stay invisible.
Since the Civil War, people in Iowa have been using river water as a source in their every day lives. Within the last decade, factories have been sending harmful chemicals and sewage through a pipe that leads to a river. Farmers who use the river water as a source for their agriculture have run into a problem. Farms in Iowa are invisible because their main source of farming is tainted by the work of large companies. The big companies have more power over the small farms so they have the last say. This makes it hard for the farmers to fight back causing them to remain invisible. The consequences on the U.S. from the invisibility of farms is causing more money to be spent, but then the problem is not fixed. For example, to upgrade the equipment to have drainage pipes for drinking water costs about $180 million, but that amount is only a percentage that they need in order to completely fix the problem.
Politicians are trying to show the people that they are trying to fix the problem when in reality nothing is changing. Politicians try to maintain their image in order to create business opportunities for them. They perform one good gesture to distract the public from what’s really going on. For example, Ohio’s governor John Kasich, called out the National Guard to distribute bottled water in response to the river pollution. However, he did nothing to limit the phosphates and nitrates in the river. Politicians do certain things that shows the people they are trying to make a change, but then other things that won’t damage their relationships with big businesses or other politicians in order to make money and gain votes.
In Richard Manning’s “ The Trouble with Iowa”, Manning’s discusses the invisibility that the state of Iowa is currently dealing with and the hardships it brings upon not only its residents, but America as a whole. Of course with the current campaign in play mostly all candidates are making the invisible Iowa become visible, and although it may seem to be great it really doesn’t help Iowa at all. One good example the article gives about Iowa’s invisibility goes back to the polluted drinking water that Iowa gets daily due to the insufficient waste system hog factories have, and as a result making the water become toxic. The article makes this fact well known by stating in all capitals, “There are about 21 million hogs in Iowa, and each produces the waste of about 2.5 people, meaning Iowa bears the shit equivalent of fifteen times its human population.” Aside from the hog farms there are also chicken farms that produce the same amount, sometimes somewhat more, manure than the hogs do which also pollute the water; this basically means that there is waste in the water that is equivalent to approximately thirty times Iowa’s population. From that point everything turns out to take a different stand as many candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties say that they would be able to fix the issue; one solution from the Democratic party and candidate Ted Cruz endorsing “ the Renewable Fuel Standard.” However just by stating that they are able to fix said problem leads to another whole bunch of consequences such as disturbing Iowa’s ecosystem and even going more into debt by purchasing expensive equipment that may not even fix the problem. At the end of the day Manning’s illustrates that Iowa’s invisibility turned out to be just a stepping stone for the politic campaign because although the candidates of the current presidency claims that they can and will fix the problem, Iowa is just another place they need under their belt to rise to the top.
The farms in Iowa are seen to be invisible because from the outside people just see how beautiful the fields are and not see what happens behind the scene of the production of those crops. In the U.S., Iowa is practically invisible because no one knows about the pollution or how animals are treated until it is brought out to the public view. What make Iowa relevant to the U.S. is its agriculture, there production of corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay make up what the U.S. sell in the markets throughout the entire country. The negative side of the production in Iowa’s agriculture is the pollution that comes with it. Some of the problems include the water sources in Iowa in being “brown” and undrinkable to the people residing there since the “civil war” because of the use of nitrogen fertilizers from industrial agriculture. The problem in this is that federal laws do not regulate run offs in which causes these pollutions in the river because they are seen as “nonpoint source” rather than being a “point source” in which comes from a factory pipe which is regulated. As well, the lack of regulation in hogs, chickens, and other animal’s waste causes the water source in Iowa to be polluted. These animals produce more “manure than all the people in the state. In which none passes through a sewage- treatment plant or even a septic tank before making its way through drainage pipes to the public waterways and drinking water.” There are ways in which the waste of these animals can resolve the pollution issue but it cost a lot and some of the companies rather not go through all the expense.
When Donald trump was driving, he passed by a field and described it to be “beautiful” and that he “want to grab the corn like you’ve never seen. So rich, so beautiful.” In this you can say that Donald trump does not realize the pollution in which comes in making these corns. Than he goes on, on how immigrants are “such a big problem, and nobody wants to talk about it” In a way Iowa’s agriculture can be said to be this way the pollution in Iowa are so big that no one seems to talk about it, but just care for the production being made. Although John Kasich try to resolve the problem in Iowa it didn’t do much of a difference because even if the waters of Iowa were to get cleaned out it would return back to how polluted it was before. Due to the lack of regulation of dumping waste of production, the waters in Iowa will never return back to a clean state. As well, the companies such as Tyson and Smithfield do not care for the ways of how the production affects the environment but only care for profit. These companies rather sell cheap unhealthy food than care for where it comes from and how it affects the people around them. Making farms seem more industrial than agricultural like it was back then. Politicians only come to Iowa for their campaigns and self-interest rather than being there for what they can provide for the people there.
Richard Manning’s article, “The Trouble with Iowa,” depicts a side of industrial agriculture that has been overlooked. Farms in Iowa have become invisible, creating effects on the U.S. that are not so hidden. Rain water becomes polluted and undrinkable after coming into contact with the nitrogen fertilizers from industrial agriculture. While pollution from a factory pipe is regulated, runoff from a farm is considered a “non-point” source and isn’t regulated by the federal government. This invisibility has caused immense pollution in rivers and streams that pass through farmland, even killing a sizable stretch of the Gulf of Mexico that is now called the Dead Zone. Although in Iowa farm pollution comes through a pipe, it still goes overlooked and water becomes undrinkable. Another way in which farms in Iowa are invisible is the fact that corn and soybeans cover 23 million of the 24 million acres of the state’s cropland, which is contributing to the problem of obesity in the state, as well as the country. Jeb Bush managed to slim down by adopting a diet that avoided any food produced by Iowa, but hasn’t spoken about the country’s underlying nutrition problem. Americans consume corn and soy, but they also end up consuming animals that have been fed corn and soy. This increase in corn and soy consumption has cause obesity numbers to rise and it all goes back to the farms in Iowa where these crops are produced. Yet the farms have become invisible because people no longer think of Iowa as playing an essential role in American politics.
The nutritional issues concerning American agriculture are overlooked when it comes to the image politicians create. Despite, slimming down by avoiding food produced by Iowa farms, Jeb Bush ate a deep fried Snickers bar at the Iowa state fair to appeal to the mass population that is obese form over-consumption of corn and soy. Furthermore, a homegrown chain called the Pizza ranch, which “offers several forms of industrial pork and chicken embedded in a matrix of cheap carbohydrates (5)” has become a mandatory stop for Republican candidates hoping for a shot at the presidency. These candidates sit and eat with “ruddy men in ball caps, most of them obese, many of them corn growers, chicken growers, or hog growers under contract to a handful of corporations (5)” while also speaking about issues that affect their lives. Politicians are basically ignoring the problem of nutrition cause by American agriculture, and instead show this image of celebration and support for agriculture to gain votes for their campaign.
From The Trouble With Iowa by Richard Manning, the invisibility of Iowa is the environmental pollution caused by industrialization and farming processes.The author used nitrate pollution caused by selling river water, corn fertilizer poisoning the water supply, and the defecation of animals polluting the water as examples of negative effects caused by industrialization and farming, and yet people does not realize such problems exist. People appreciate that Iowa is the biggest state that produces corn and hogs, and are proud of the contribution of Iowa, but they do not see the side effects that these profits bring. The industrial pollution is causing the locals unable to drink the river water, and the same water is being used to produce the corn that we eat. Richard went deeper into the topic by talking about the usage of corn, how these corns are either consumed by human, or by animals such as hogs, and as more hogs there are, the more crap they produce, and these hog defecations goes to nowhere rather than the rivers in Iowa. Also, the amount of hogs that people consume in the United States has risen dramatically, and the direct influence of that is obesity. These negative effects are all hidden understand the glorious appearance of Iowa. Consumers, and even political candidates, they only look at the profits and the goods that are produced by Iowa and it’s farming industry, but they do not look at the whole picture, of how this kind of agriculture is killing the state indirectly.
The image that politicians created has basically no connection with the issues that is concerning the American agriculture. Politicians do not look or care about the negative effects, so why would they even talk about it to the public? Politicians would only look at the positive outcomes from the agriculture, or in a special case, Donald Trump, which only care how to kick the farm workers out of the United States just because they are Mexicans. Since politicians do not bring up these topics, people do not realize and see it. The biggest issue is the pollution caused by agriculture businesses, and all they care about is the profit from these farms, rather than how to use the land in the best efficient way. There is no solution to this problem unless more people start realizing and caring, but with politicians and organizations that don’t give a damn about the pollution but only the profits, is only a matter of time before Iowa’s environmental structure start to collapse, then people would probably start to notice the “darkness” under Iowa’s famous agriculture.
In “The Trouble with Iowa” by Richard Manning, the invisibility of the farms in Iowa is discussed as well as how the states invisibility effects the U.S. Despite Iowa having the first caucus and representing the beginning of a presidential election, they are seen as merely a farming state with only 3 million people. With the current Presidential campaign going on, the candidates are bringing attention to Iowa but not in the way that the state really needs.
For the past decade or two, Iowa has faced problems with the water that they drink. The people of Iowa get their water from the river but before this water gets to them, it goes through different pipes that ends with the water being polluted beyond the federal standards for drinking water. In Iowa there is a huge hog and chicken population that is the main cause for the pollution of the water. According to the article, the manure of the hog population in Iowa is equivalent to about 45 million people with the chickens also producing more manure than the population of Iowa. The waste does not pass through anything before getting into the drain pipes eventually leading to the drinking water.
None of the presidential candidates mention the true nature of Iowa, which leads to nothing being done about the drinking water situation.
The invisibility of Iowa does not only effect the state alone but it also has a huge effect on the United States. The river contamination in Iowa causes the drinking water to be poisoned, which creates a chain reaction. The drinking water is not just contaminated for the residents of Iowa. Most American water bottle companies get their drinking water from these rivers but if they are now contaminated, the drinking water in bottles is now also poisoning people in all of the U.S.
Politicians paint a pretty picture when it comes to the image of American agriculture. They make it seem like everything is working perfect and that their is nothing that the rest of the U.S. has to worry about. In reality, American agriculture is not at its best and actually faces dire problem. One of the problems being the polluted drinking water.
Iowa is the most predominant producer of corn and soybeans, with a production value that amounts to 23 million of the state’s 24 million acres of cropland. Iowa is considered to be the most fertile land of the United States of America; yet, disregard, malfunctions, and careless actions obscure the purity of such land. Agricultural fertilizers traveling from the Corn Belt down the Mississippi River have killed a large stretch of the Gulf of Mexico that now is called the Dead Zone. At least one third of Iowa’s farmland is underlaid with drainage pipes which contribute 25% of the nitrate pollution responsible for the Dead Zone. “Don’t drink the water” is today’s sound advice in much of Iowa. Pollution. Pollution is what’s making Iowa sink into hogs’ manure. There are circa 21 million hogs in Iowa, each of which produces waste for about 2.5 people, compounding to 45 million people if the hog’s manure were man’s. Added to the hogs are the chickens; 50 million laying chickens living in concentrated animal-feeding operations (CAFOs), which produce more manure than all the people in the state.
Many agricultural problems seem not to be properly taken care of from the side of the government. The total cost to Iowa for the epidemic of bird flu that hit the hundreds of thousands of caged and CAFO’d chickens, was finally estimated at $1.2 billion. All of this went unmentioned in the presidential campaign. The Government [apparently] has many times found effective ways to cover itself from mistakes people [not directly involved with agricultural problems] are not informed about. For some reason there are only 28 inspectors in Iowa whose job is to oversee 4,000 hog factories, and regulate the manner in which factories in Iowa pump manure. Why doesn’t the government install at least one inspector per hog factory? It seems like the ‘city-people’ have to pay the mistakes higher authorities commit, (by paying higher taxes for example), while on the other side, authority figures like Carly Fiorina suggest that the way to deal with the problem is to find a faster way to deliver federal payments to chicken farmers who had lost birds. Those farmers who lost most birds were the ones who caged and CAFO’d their animals. Farmers who raise animals in old-school conditions, like Chris Petersen, are tangible proof that no matter the degree of epidemic of bird flu, if you properly manage not to cage nor to CAFO your animals, almost none of them would die.
So, why do people tend [or prefer?], to close their eyes and to make invisible a problem (such as pollution and wrong animal-raising-techniques), which is clearly tangible and dangerous to millions of people’s lives?
Iowa is the largest producer of crops that contribute to obesity in the U.S. and also one of the largest producers of pollution in the U.S. and barely a single person knows about this. The media has been keeping this from the rest of the country for a few years now and there are consequences. Iowa contributes to 25% of the pollution in the Gulf of Mexico known as the Dead Zone. One third of the land in Iowa has drain pipes running beneath that contaminates the soil. And on top of all of that it produces more waste then it can manage due to the millions of hogs and chickens within the state.
Media is to blame for the country not knowing and the reason is obviously money. Iowa produces so much crops that it generates millions and millions of dollars for companies and taxes to the government. The result of this invisibility of Iowa is a negative one. The country will not be able to battle obesity if the only crops coming out of Iowa are the fatty ones. 23 out of the 24 millions of acres in Iowa are used to produce such fatty crops like soybeans and corn. Another result will be the continuation of the pollution inhabiting Iowa and the Gulf of Mexico. If the country doesn’t know about it and the government overlooks such a thing due to money how can anything get changed. Only thing happening from this invisibility is obesity and pollution in the U.S and i hope that more people are made aware of this so that change can be made because the people of America are worth more then just money unlike what the government seems to think.
If I asked you say the first U.S state you could think I would imagine that Iowa would not be the first state to come to mind. When it comes to invisibility Iowa is as under the radar as it gets. In Richard Mannings “The trouble with Iowa” he explains how Iowa’s tendency to go unnoticed causes major political and environmental problems that are less likely to be addressed because of they often go unseen by the public outside of the farming state. Manning Brings ups how the problems of Iowa often go unnoticed until the Presidential election comes around and is used to help a candidate’s campaign, however this sudden spotlight tends to never truly help out anything in the long run. In the text Iowa’s long standing problem is water pollution due to waste product from farm animals. This problem has caused a vast amount of drinking water to be contaminated so drastically that it could kill you. However since Iowa is a vastly rural state populated by a majority of caucasians it hasn’t been a major headline on the national scale.
Pigs and Chicken waste accounts for a feces and waste level that triples the human population that lives there. In the article rivers and basically most forms of running water are poisoned to a saturated extent that the author compares to chocolate on page 6 “ Both were swollen and as brown as Bavarian chocolate because of catastrophic erosion from the upper stream fields. Now the rivers were too thin to plow and too thick to navigate–and certainly too foul to drink, polluted as they were with nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides, and hog shit.” This presents a major problem to the American people because Iowa is the leading producer of corn crop which is also the most important crop produced in america. Politicians tend to create an image of importance and regulation when it comes to agriculture for their campaign but often push the problem to the side in the future. This cause the corporations and farms that create the waste to cling to a inexpensive production way that keeps the staggering amount of pollution headed in an upward direction.
If I asked you to say the first U.S state you could think of, I would imagine that Iowa would not be the first state to come to mind. When it comes to invisibility Iowa is as under the radar as it gets. In Richard Mannings “The trouble with Iowa” he explains how Iowa’s tendency to go unnoticed causes major political and environmental problems that are less likely to be addressed because of they often go unseen by the public outside of the farming state. Manning Brings ups how the problems of Iowa often go unnoticed until the Presidential election comes around and is used to help a candidate’s campaign, however this sudden spotlight tends to never truly help out anything in the long run. In the text Iowa’s long standing problem is water pollution due to waste product from farm animals. This problem has caused a vast amount of drinking water to be contaminated so drastically that it could kill you. However since Iowa is a vastly rural state populated by a majority of caucasians it hasn’t been a major headline on the national scale.
Pigs and Chicken waste accounts for a feces and waste level that triples the human population that lives there. In the article rivers and basically most forms of running water are poisoned to a saturated extent that the author compares to chocolate on page 6 “ Both were swollen and as brown as Bavarian chocolate because of catastrophic erosion from the upper stream fields. Now the rivers were too thin to plow and too thick to navigate–and certainly too foul to drink, polluted as they were with nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides, and hog shit.” This presents a major problem to the American people because Iowa is the leading producer of corn crop which is also the most important crop produced in america. Politicians tend to create an image of importance and regulation when it comes to agriculture for their campaign but often push the problem to the side in the future. This cause the corporations and farms that create the waste to cling to a inexpensive production way that keeps the staggering amount of pollution headed in an upward direction.
Although Iowa is responsible for a great majority of the entire nation’s agriculture, a lot of the situations regarding the farms in Iowa are invisible to the rest of the population. This is essentially making the statement that what goes on behind the scenes may not always be visible to all. Iowa is one of the states that faces many unfortunate events when it comes to its agriculture economy – hence the title, “The Trouble With Iowa.” Interestingly enough, the author begins by mentioning Donald Trump’s fascination with the corn in Iowa. Along with his fascination, he also makes condescending statements regarding the Latino population, who happen to be the very laborers responsible for harvesting the corn and crops in Iowa. This opening statement pertains to the idea of invisibility, where Trump fails to acknowledge the hard work that Latinos devote in taking care of the crops, almost as if they were invisible and not worthy of credit. The theme of invisibility plays a major role when it comes to the farms in Iowa because the mass population fails to see and comprehend the effort, hardship, and pollution that Iowa is encountered with in the process of supporting the agriculture demand of the nation.
Politicians tend to discredit the problems that relate to agriculture and farming, such as pollution, which can be quite threatening to the environment. This is especially true for Republicans, such as Donald Trump, who do not believe that the environment is in any danger. However, as the author mentions in the article, there are many problems that come with “grasping corn.” These problems include tensions of immigrants, health and obesity, environmental problems, poverty and income inequality, etc. Politicians tend to overlook these problems, which can be quite detrimental in the long run if many people aren’t aware of them.
Farms considered an invisible source to the problem that they have with drinking water because of the fact that pollution from the drinking water it comes from Hogs. Hogs produce 2.4 percent poop which is the same as the average person so if you multiply that by how many hogs are in Iowa they contaminate the water because of how drainage takes in their fecal matter. Chickens are also another source of the why the water is contaminated. As well as the run offs from the farms.
2. Politicians make these problems seem as if it’s tedious because corn is not only for eating but it also helps with the industrial gas so people like Ted Cruz make it seem as if the Farmland is just another thing that they hope to fix but in actuality they can’t fix it because of how it affect the ecosystem and of how much money it will cost in the end.