State will dip into reserves to cover soil conservation program

Over 200 cultivators, conservationists and contractors were at the statehouse today, relieved to hear lawmakers have decided to dip into the state’s cash reserves to cover a state program which provides grants to farmers to pay for soil conservation projects. Those projects were endangered because the state’s race track casinos refused a deal that would have resolved the dispute over the taxes they pay the state, taxes which finance environmental programs. Jeff Fritz. a soil commissioner in southeast Iowa’s Jefferson County, was at the statehouse today. He says the state of Iowa is based on agriculture and he’d like to see our natural resource of soil preserved. Fritz has received state “cost-share” dollars that helped pay for terraces and tiling on his farm near Brighton. Fritz says the state needs to invest in this program which helps farmers keep the soil here rather than floating down the Mississippi.