AgEmerge Podcast 197 with Chris Jones
Iowa’s fight over water quality is no longer academic. Monte Bottens sits down with Chris Jones—a research scientist, author, water-quality expert, and candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture—to examine how nitrate pollution, agricultural policy, public health, and rural decline are shaping the future of farming.
Chris has spent more than 40 years advocating for clean water and sustainable agricultural practices. He managed the water-quality testing laboratory at Des Moines Water Works for eight years, helping oversee operations at one of the world’s largest nitrate-removal facilities. He later worked as an environmental scientist at the Iowa Soybean Association, where he helped establish some of the state’s first independent water-quality monitoring systems.
At the University of Iowa, Chris worked as a research engineer and helped develop Iowa’s first real-time public water-quality sensor network, giving the public unprecedented access to information about the condition of the state’s rivers and streams. He is also the author of The Swine Republic: Struggles With the Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality, selected by the Library of Congress to represent Iowa at the 2024 National Book Festival. In 2024, he helped found Driftless Water Defenders, a grassroots organization protecting the waters of northeast Iowa’s Driftless Area.
During their conversation, Monte and Chris explore the forces behind polluted rivers and stressed water systems—from tile drainage across the Des Moines Lobe to the timing and rate of nitrogen and manure applications. Chris explains how fall fertilizer applications, concentrated livestock production, CAFO placement, and wet soils influence what appears in rivers months later. He also discusses why cover crops may provide their greatest water-quality benefits during the spring.
Chris Jones Online:
https://www.facebook.com/chrisjones4ia
https://www.instagram.com/chrisjones4ia
https://www.youtube.com/@chrisjones4IA
Timestamps:
02:15 - Chris Jones explains his run for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture
09:17 - How the Des Moines water system faces nitrate pressure
13:07 - How tile drainage carries nitrate from fields to streams
16:20 - Why nitrate loss is driven by weather, soils, and mineralization
23:53 - Rate, timing, and distribution as the real nutrient challenge
28:04 - What cover crops can and cannot do for nitrate reduction
31:13 - Spring versus fall manure timing and nitrate loss reduction
34:28 - Why fall anhydrous often means more total nitrogen applied
39:16 - Why diversification, not just regulation, may be the long-term fix
43:30 - Meat processors, livestock diversity, and rebuilding local economies
44:56 - Oats, food hubs, and creating a third crop for Iowa
49:27 - Soil health as the underlying system behind better water quality
53:03 - Why the burden should not fall only on farmers
54:35 - Getting 50% of Iowa school food from Iowa farms
59:09 - Food hubs, small-acre farming, and opportunities for young growers
61:12 - Dignity, consolidation, and what agriculture has taken away
63:12 - Five policy changes Jones says Iowa should pursue
73:32 - Help for beginning farmers and access to land
September 22 • 1h 19m 31.9s
