Environmental group: Iowa waterways improve little after $4.4B expense

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There is little evidence that Iowa has cut runoff pollution significantly since 1995, even with $4.4 billion in federal spending on agricultural programs, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported. That’s the word from the Environmental Working Group, which has released a new database detailing spending on voluntary programs in which farmers use conservation techniques on their land. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent $29.8 billion on conservation efforts the past decade. The environmental group suggests the money would have been better spent on targeted efforts.