Wendong Zhang, assistant professor, was interviewed in an April 26 Gazette story, "Most Iowans favor fertilizer tax to improve water quality, but farmers prefer recreation fees, new survey shows."
Results of a survey conducted by Zhang and Yau-Huo (Jimmy) Shr, of the National Taiwan University, presented in a new policy brief from the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, found that two-thirds of public respondents said the importance of reducing nutrients in Iowa’s waterways is very important or extremely important, compared with 43.5 percent of farmers in the survey. And more than 70 percent of the public said having no or minimal algal blooms or scum in Iowa lakes is important or extremely important, while only 37.6 percent of farmers felt the same way.
“We hope this will help legislators (and) extension educators put more effort into educating the general public, not just in the agricultural industry, about the importance of nutrient reduction and the efforts represented in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy,” said Zhang.