Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn just appeared on Tucker Carlson's show, and the conversation went deep into issues that should matter to anyone who cares about farming, land ownership, and the future of rural communities. Lahn's not your typical politician—he's a guy who spent years restoring his great-great-grandfather's farmhouse board by board, and his campaign is hitting on some uncomfortable truths about what's happening to Iowa agriculture.

On the recent Prairie Farm Podcast episode, Lahn talked about similar themes in more detail. What comes through on both platforms is someone genuinely concerned about Iowa's trajectory. Let's dig into the issues he raised that actually affect land, farming, and conservation in this state.

The Land Ownership Crisis Nobody Wants to Talk About

Lahn made a point on Tucker that deserves attention: 25% of Iowa's farmland is now owned by out-of-state investors and funds. That's not a talking point—that's backed up by Iowa State University's 2022 Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey, which found that only 75% of Iowa farmland is owned by full-time Iowa residents, down from over 90% in the 1980s and 1990s. The remaining 25% includes out-of-state ownership and absentee landlords.

Think about what that means. Farmers who have ancestral connections to the land are becoming tenants again. When Lahn said we left Germany to escape that exact system, he wasn't being dramatic—he was being historically accurate.

And it's getting worse. According to recent data, Iowa farmland prices hit an average of $11,549 per acre in 2025, with premium ground in places like O'Brien County reaching over $16,000 per acre. Some auction sales in Polk County topped $38,000 per acre. Young farmers can't compete with institutional investors at those prices. It's that simple.

The Brain Drain: Young People Are Leaving

Here's another stat Lahn mentioned that checked out: Iowa ranks fourth in the nation for net out-migration of 25-29 year-olds with bachelor's degrees when adjusted for population. The Common Sense Institute Iowa found that from 1982 to 2024, Iowa lost a net 93,058 young people with bachelor's degrees, while gaining those with high school education or less.

On the podcast, Lahn pointed out that each person who leaves represents about $4.5 million in lifetime earnings lost to the state. The economics are brutal. We're spending public and private money to educate young Iowans, and then watching them take those skills to Colorado or Illinois because Iowa doesn't offer the same economic opportunities.

You can argue about what to do about it, but you can't argue with the numbers. If you want thriving rural communities, you need young people staying. Period.

The Health Question: Are Agricultural Chemicals Part of the Problem?

On Tucker, Lahn raised the issue of whether pesticides are connected to Parkinson's disease and cancer. This isn't conspiracy theory territory—it's legitimate scientific inquiry that's gotten surprisingly little attention from state policymakers.

Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the nation and the fastest-growing rate, according to the 2024 Iowa Cancer Registry report. Palo Alto County in northwest Iowa has a cancer incidence rate of 658.1 per 100,000 people—nearly 50% higher than the national average of 442.

Multiple studies have shown concerning links. The UCLA Health research found that long-term exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos is associated with more than a 2.5-fold increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Other research from UCLA and Harvard identified 10 pesticides directly toxic to dopamine-producing neurons, most still in use. The American Parkinson Disease Association reports mounting evidence that paraquat exposure contributes to PD risk—so much so that it's banned in 70 countries, though still used in the U.S.

On cancer, University of Iowa research has linked nitrate in drinking water (primarily from fertilizer runoff) to bladder, ovarian, and thyroid cancer. The Agricultural Health Study, which has followed 90,000 farmers and their spouses for 30 years, found elevated rates of certain cancers linked to specific pesticide exposures.

These aren't reasons to panic, but they are reasons to pay attention. When your state has cancer rates this high, and when you're pumping millions of pounds of agricultural chemicals into the environment every year, asking questions about connections isn't fear-mongering. It's common sense.

What Does This Mean for Prairie Restoration?

Here's where this all connects to what we talk about on this site. The industrial agriculture model that's driving some of these problems—the monocultures, the chemical dependency, the consolidation—isn't just bad for human health. It's been devastating for Iowa's native ecosystems.

Iowa has lost over 99% of its original prairie. What we're left with is an agricultural system that requires constant chemical inputs, depletes soil health, creates water quality problems, and pushes biodiversity to the margins. That system is also pricing young farmers out of land ownership and contributing to health issues we're only beginning to understand.

Native prairie restoration isn't just about pretty wildflowers. It's about creating agricultural systems that don't require as many inputs, that build soil instead of depleting it, that filter water instead of contaminating it. Prairie strips along waterways can reduce nutrient runoff by up to 90%. Native grazing systems can be profitable while improving land health. These aren't pie-in-the-sky ideas—they're working practices that more farmers are adopting.

On his own land, Lahn mentioned working with Tom Rossberg on a prairie restoration mix with over 100 species native to his specific area. That's the kind of thing that should be happening on more Iowa farmland, especially in areas that aren't prime cropground anyway.

The Bigger Picture

Lahn's campaign is raising questions that Iowa policymakers have been avoiding for years. Whether you agree with his politics or not, the issues he's highlighting—land ownership consolidation, young people leaving, environmental health concerns—are real and documented.

At Hoksey Native Seeds, we see these issues play out in conversations with farmers and landowners every day. People want to do better by their land. They want their kids to be able to stay. They're worried about water quality and health. And more of them are realizing that the industrial agriculture model that worked in the 1970s might not be the answer for the 2020s.

If you're working with degraded land, dealing with soil erosion, or just wanting to do something better for wildlife and water quality, Iowa ecotype native seed mixes can be part of the solution. Prairie restoration isn't going to solve all of Iowa's problems, but it's a start toward an agricultural system that works with natural systems instead of against them.

The conversation Lahn started on Tucker Carlson and continued on the Prairie Farm Podcast is one Iowa needs to have. Not the political part—the practical part about what kind of state we want to be and whether the current trajectory is sustainable. The data suggests it's not. What we do about it is up to all of us.