By land or by sea, David Osterberg is determined to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.

The Democrat from Mount Vernon has criss-crossed the state and has even canoed several Iowa rivers in his campaign against incumbent Charles Grassley.

Throughout Osterberg’s political career, he has been a salient advocate for the environment, and with a master’s degree in water resources management, he is certainly qualified.

This year, he is taking his environmental views and applying them to the U.S. farm program.

“This is one of those rare times when we can do something good for farming and something good for the environment,” he said. “And this is that time because the old system is bankrupt.”

The “old system” is not actually that old. The 1996 farm bill, called the Freedom to Farm Act, removed federal regulations and subsidies for farmers in an effort to simplify farming.

But when corn and soybean prices plunged this fall, Congress was forced to rescue farmers with emergency payments.

“The present senator is one of the people who brought us that terrible act [in 1996],” Osterberg said. “Something has to happen about these low commodity prices. There is no reason to expect that they will not be as low next year.”

Osterberg advocates a return to regular government payments, but he says there should be “rewards for good stewardship” of the land.

“Much of cleaning up Iowa rivers is doing something about farming,” he said. “It’s politically possible. This is going to be one of those years in which we can do it because it’s going to be clear that things are not working.”

This emphasis on conservation has been absent during Grassley’s 18 years in the Senate, Osterberg said, citing the zero score Grassley received from the League of Conservation Voters.

Osterberg says his record as a state representative proves he will make a change.

“I was able to demonstrate that I could pass strong, bipartisan legislation,” Osterberg said of his 12 years in the Statehouse.

During that time, the Legislature approved the wind-energy bill (1983), the Groundwater Protection Act (1987) and the Energy Efficiency Act (1990).

Osterberg also attacked Grassley for his vote against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.

“We ought to punish these people for not having voted for campaign finance reform,” he said. “Mr. Grassley is one of those people who voted down the McCain-Feingold law. And he did it not once, but three times.”

The bill would have curtailed soft-money donations, which are given directly to political parties by corporations and wealthy individuals. Soft-money gifts are not limited under election law.

“They’re causing voters to not even vote, because they know that the big money interests … buy votes,” Osterberg said.