A Democratic candidate for president was in Marion County over the weekend. Senator Kamala Harris of California met with farmers who shared challenges and opportunities farmers face at Coyote Run Farm near Lacona. Challenges include the trade war with China, vertical integration of the supply chain where fewer and fewer companies are supplying seed and chemical inputs, and the observation that the largest farms have received the bulk of farm payments made to help compensate farmers for the loss of trade to China, when it’s the small to medium size farms that need the help. Matt Russell, co-owner of the farm and the Executive Director of Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, a faith-based organization that seeks solutions to the climate crisis, says that there is optimism too. Russell stressed that if government policy paid farmers for environmental services as if it were an additional crop, farmers could provide services that pulled carbon from the air, help save our soils and improve water quality, among other benefits. Russell’s publications in the New York Times, the Kansas City Star, and the Des Moines Register have drawn interest from media outlets from around the world, and the attention of the Democratic Presidential candidates. Russell says it isn’t a partisan issue, and that he has reached out to Republican leaders as well. Harris is the third Democratic presidential candidate to visit the farm.