Environmental activists continue to misinform Iowans about the progress our state’s farmers are making in improving water quality. The latest attack, by the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC), tried to portray the Iowa water quality initiative as an ineffective, ill-conceived ef­­fort that will re­­quire a cen­­tury or more to reach stated goals.

To make its point, the IEC ap­­pears to purposely confuse the economic comparison scenarios out­­lined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (INRS) with the plan’s goals and a federally established baseline used to measure progress. The activist group then minimizes farmers’ progress on water quality practices and says agriculture is...