Dozens of highly educated, passionate people packed a meeting room re­­cently at Drake University, motivated by fear of the unknown.

I should’ve guessed by the title, “Challenges to Providing Safe Drinking Water in the Midwest,” that the real “challenges” these folks face center around their misperceptions of modern farming.

Although I met some very pleasant people, I think their misperceptions aren’t accidental; they’re intentional. I think many in that room distrust or dislike today’s farmers because they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to prove today’s farming practices are responsible for everything from early menstruation to all kinds of cancer and infertility.

A familiar act

We’ve been here before. But, with today’s 140-character attention spans, too few of us remember when the late, great Walter Cronkite cast a national spotlight on chemophobia (the unrealistic fear of chemicals or compounds perceived as synthetic).

So one by one, speakers at the recent Drinking Water in the...