Lunch & Learn: The Fight to Protect Swampbuster and Midwestern Wetlands

"We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." -- Aldo Leopold
In October of 2024, the Iowa Farmers Union and other sustainable agriculture groups moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit seeking to invalidate the "Swampbuster" provision of the 1985 Farm Bill, which has protected wetlands in Iowa and nationwide for nearly four decades. The voluntary program encourages farmers across the country to preserve ecosystems that act as natural flood controls, water quality managers, and habitats for native species.
During this Lunch & Learn discussion, we'll talk about the Swampbuster program's impact on Iowa farmland and farmers. We'll be joined by Katie Garvey, an attorney at the Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center, who is representing farmers like John Gilbert from Harkin County, who formally entered the case as intervenors. We'll also hear from Elle Gadient, an IFU member, who farms about 12 miles downstream from the land at the center of the case in Delaware County. Elle and John will discuss the impact the abolishment of Swampbuster could have on their family-scale farms.