Iowa consumers want the state to promote traditional family farms, not factory farms, according to an Iowa State Fair survey by the Iowa Farmers Union. Executive director Dennis Smith says people who stopped by the Union’s State Fair booth said Iowa needs to preserve its waterways by saving them from manure spills.He says three-quarters of the people don’t think the state is doing enough to protect Iowa’s groundwater systems from pollution from industrial livestock operations. Smith says the survey also found more than 95-percent of Iowans think their food labels should show the country of origin, especially when meat is involved.Iowans were also asked whether they’d pay more for meat from livestock raised by farmers using environmentally friendly methods, rather than factory farms. Smith says he was surprised so many people –nearly 85-percent– said they would pay a premium price for such meat.The recently released poll was taken of more than two-thousand adults at the Iowa State Fair during its ten-day Des Moines run in August.
