Republican Gubernatorial Campaign Highlights Divergent Views on Agriculture Policies
In the race for Iowa’s governorship, Republican candidate Zach Lahn emerges as a critic of major agricultural corporations, vowing to regulate their use of harmful chemicals and pesticides. However, his choice for lieutenant governor, state Rep. Derek Wulf, presents a potential conflict in this stance.
Announced as Lahn’s running mate on June 12, Wulf has been serving parts of Black Hawk, Benton, and Tama counties in the Iowa House of Representatives since 2023. During his tenure, Wulf has been supportive of farm chemical producers, notably attending a White House event focused on increasing pesticide usage.
Before his political career, Wulf was employed by the agricultural giant Cargill. His connections to Bayer, a company heavily involved in agricultural chemical production, are particularly notable. Bayer’s divisions contributed $1,000 to Wulf’s campaign in both 2024 and 2025, a significant donation for a district with under 32,000 constituents.
In 2024, the Modern Ag Alliance, representing companies like Bayer, applauded Wulf and other lawmakers through an ad in the Des Moines Register for supporting a glyphosate immunity bill. This bill aimed to protect agricultural companies from lawsuits related to glyphosate-induced illnesses, provided their products had appropriate warnings. Although the bill did not pass into law, Lahn has promised to veto any similar measures if elected. Critics argue that glyphosate can drift to non-consenting areas and has been associated with cancer risks.
Journalist Laura Belin reported that Wulf attended a concert by Luke Bryan, where he was photographed with the Modern Ag Alliance logo. Bayer was one of the corporate sponsors of Bryan’s tour.
Despite the Modern Ag Alliance’s claims of Wulf’s support for the glyphosate bill, Lahn’s campaign disputes this. The bill did not advance to a House vote, leaving Wulf’s official stance unrecorded. However, Wulf has cast votes favoring agricultural interests, such as supporting a budget that reduced funding for water quality monitoring in Iowa’s rivers. Lahn, in contrast, prioritizes reducing water pollution from agricultural sources.
In February, Wulf supported increasing the threshold for declaring waterways as impaired, and authored legislation to prevent lawsuits against agricultural companies for greenhouse gas emissions. He described the bill as “ag friendly.”
Wulf’s participation in a White House event under President Donald Trump, which expedited the approval of new pesticide ingredients, further highlights his alignment with agricultural interests. The executive order expanded the use of chlormequat and bifenthrin, pesticides linked to adverse health effects.
Lahn, aligned with the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, risks alienating this base due to Wulf’s record. In the upcoming general election, Lahn will contend with Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, who also emphasizes addressing the state’s increasing cancer rates. Sand’s running mate, Dave Muhlbauer, is a fifth-generation farmer and Crawford County Supervisor.
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