If you were to stop for a picnic in the country, you probably wouldn't dream of drinking the water from a nearby stream. You imagine those chemicals seeping into the groundwater and running off into waters to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. In late summer, you would see huge combines crawling up and down the fields, but you don't see many people in the fields. In fact, you are struck by how few people you see even in the towns you drive through. Yet the highway is bustling with trucks bringing food to and from Iowa, linking it to distant parts of the country and even the world.
Some aspects are the result of powerful economic forces and intense competition from overseas.
Farms of all sizes would grow a variety of crops and some would include livestock operations. Some would raise energy crops for use in producing electricity and fueling cars. The soil would regain its richness, since farmers would no longer poison it to control insects. New methods like crop rotation and the use of beneficial insects would control pest populations. And rural streams and rivers would again run clean enough for people to swim and for fish, birds, and other wildlife to flourish.