Hepp Forms Group to Advocate for Better Water Policy

IOWA — James Hepp, along with fellow Iowa farmers Matthew Bormann and Zack Smith, formed the Lobe Rangers and began posting videos on Facebook in March. These videos demonstrate regenerative farming practices and advocate for policy interventions aimed at improving water quality.

Hepp manages approximately 1,600 acres of corn, soy, and small grains in northern Iowa. He implements farming practices such as tilling only narrow strips of land to maintain soil health and refraining from applying nitrogen fertilizer when crops are not growing. He also plants cover crops on his farm following each harvest. He adopted these practices to reduce expenses related to diesel, herbicides, and fertilizer.

Agricultural nitrogen and phosphorus runoff contributes to algal blooms and unsafe nitrate levels in Iowa's waterways. This runoff also impacts the Gulf of Mexico.

Iowa's 2013 Nutrient Reduction Strategy established voluntary guidelines to reduce chemical runoff from farmland into waterways and public drinking water sources. The strategy estimated that at least 60 percent of Iowa's cropland would need to utilize cover crops to achieve a goal of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus in major waterways by 45 percent by 2035. Last year, 17 percent of the state's corn and soy fields were planted with cover crops.

The farmers previously served on their respective county Farm Bureau boards. Bormann served as president of his county Farm Bureau and received a Young Farmer Achievement Award from the Iowa Farm Bureau in 2013. He and Smith are fifth-generation farmers.

Hepp said. "If you’re not doing it now, I don’t know what’s going to make you do it besides regulation." He said, "We’re doing this and it works. Like, what do you mean that you can’t afford to do it?"

Smith said. "People want clean water. If that’s the case, we need to have policy that gives us a mathematical chance of that happening."

Bormann said. "Right now, it’s easy to stick your head in the sand, because there’s no consequences, you know." He said, "We’re not tree huggers. We’re whiskey-drinking, women-loving farmers and, you know, we’re actually doing it. We’re actually doing it to scale."

State programs and U.S. Department of Agriculture grants offer financial incentives and technical support for farmers who adopt conservation practices such as cover crops and buffer strips. In early May, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and state Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig proposed a legislative package that included $52 million for on-farm conservation in central Iowa and $100 million for public water treatment infrastructure.