It was with a sinking heart that I read Joni Ernst’s letter in Monday’s paper. While she addressed some real issues in agriculture and interstate commerce, her argument did little to advance her case.

Joni is right when she says that asking farmers to make expensive adjustments to their practice without adequate lead time is unreasonable and that multiple and conflicting sets of regulations restrict interstate commerce.

But Joni is wrong in thinking that agricultural reform is a liberal issue. The people in fifteen states that voted to restrict the importation of products from Iowa did not make these decisions because they are liberal elites that do not understand agriculture. They made these decisions because they had studied the issues and decided to stop supporting an unhealthy, inhumane, and unsustainable system with their dollars. They sent a clear message to Iowa’s farmers.

There is a solid case for working with Iowa’s farmers to draft a new farm bill that would help them transition to more diverse, sustainable, and profitable practices. For nearly four decades, Iowa’s farmers have been betrayed by governors and legislators from both parties. Corruption at all levels of government contributed to the problems our farmers face today.

The Food Security and Farm Protection Act will neither provide food security nor protect our farms. Farmers cannot expect people to purchase things they neither want nor need. If people want responsibly sourced pork and can’t get it, they will choose to eat something else. Much of the world’s population refuses to eat pork on religious grounds. It’s not like we can’t live without it.

This bill will not create new markets for our farmers. It will not stop the deterioration of our soil or restore our water cycle or aquifers. To solve these problems, Joni would have to work across the aisle to reform the farm bill. She would have to listen to all sides, study the issues, and help write laws that benefit all of us.

Joni has failed us as a representative and as a legislator. She is too busy picking fights with half the people that she serves to remember that she Senator to all of us. We need people in Congress that can talk to one another and solve problems. We had such hopes when she was elected, but our hopes have been dashed. It is time for her to go.