Independent family farmers are wedded to the water and the land. We understand that our fates are bound together. Family farmers are persevering despite underpriced grains and livestock.

The industrial system of agriculture hurts family farmers by forcing us to farm fence row to fence row with grain prices below the price of production, causing the decimation of topsoil, our most important resource. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

If farmers could get a fair price, they wouldn’t have to farm fence row to fence row, leaving more land to implement conservation practices that would protect our soil and water.

Members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement have been fighting for family farmers since the farm crisis in the ’80s. We know that family farmers, rural communities, our land and our water are worth fighting for. By filing a lawsuit against the state for their failure to protect our water — we are doing just that.

And I am happy to hear that this Public Trust Doctrine lawsuit has been upheld in court and will move forward, despite the state’s motion to dismiss. We must change this system because our farm and food system belongs in the hands of many family farmers, not under the control of a handful of corporations.