Government : Candidate Profile: Bruce Gardner State Senate District 42

Bruce Gardner is running as an Independent for State Senate District 42, which includes most of Benton County and rural Linn County. District 42 is a newly drawn Senate district with no incumbent.

"Family farmers and rural Iowans need an advocate in Des Moines who is not beholden to the corporations and special interests," states Bruce Gardner. "What the current state government is doing is not working for farmers and regular Iowans in rural Iowa, and I am running to change that."

Bruce was born and raised on his family farm in Benton County. He has owned and operated a grain terminal and an ag marketing and research firm. He has also held private sector jobs in agricultural equipment manufacturing and agricultural input finance.

Bruce has also served the public working for federal and state farm agencies, with a focus on soil and water conservation, renewable energy, rural economic development, and public disaster relief efforts.

"I know the challenges of making a good living on the farm and in rural Iowa," states Bruce. "It takes hard work, but we also need policies that support farm families with a greater farm net income. We need greater investment in Rural Communities.

We need to support good Public Schools in rural communities.

We need policies that help us save our precious Soils and give us Clean Air and Clean Water and Clean Energy."

*Bruce is not affiliated with any Organization or Political Party.*

Issues

1. Clean Water and Soil Health

2. Clean Renewable Energy

3. A NEW Ag Future to include Rural Communities

4. Education for the Future

I was born and raised on a Benton County, Iowa family farm, which was once named the Farm of the Year and driven by conservation.

From there, I operated a commodity business with rail and truck transportation, after which I went into public service for the USDA and implemented soil and water conservation through farm planning and erosion controls.

Since that time, my responsibilities have included environmental non-profit government assistance, business and economic development with ag market and statistical research, disaster relief assistance during the Floods of 1993 and 2008.

I have conducted economic development including the state economic development for the Iowa Future Project, recycling and source reduction planning for the County of San Diego, and the development of the largest electric wind generation field in Southwest Minnesota that now is the backbone of renewable energy in Iowa, financed accounts of up to $10 million for an agricultural finance company, and was the Program Administrator for applications for I-JOBS grants.

I was the Project Coordinator for new projects, globally, for John Deere Power Systems, and was the Project Coordinator for a large Water Quality Initiative Nutrient Reduction project grant in Eastern Iowa.

Also, I was The Project Coordinator for SAT scoring and protecting students from harm in adverse situations and a Program Technician for the Farm Service Agency of the USDA and was an Asset Buyer for an Aerospace company.