US: Iowa farmers look to grow water spinach

Jay Lee and about a dozen other Hmong farmers living in central Iowa are asking for permission to grow water spinach, a staple among many Asian populations that is considered a noxious weed in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture generally bans Americans from growing or possessing the vegetable because it can create a quick-growing mat on lakes that kills or crowds out native species. It's illegal in Iowa now.

A USDA official from Nebraska discovered several Des Moines-area farmers with the plant last year. That has set off a lobbying effort for Iowa to allow the spinach, which tastes like the common varieties sold in the United States.

"Lots of Asians love this food dearly, so we wish to grow this," Lee said.

Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey sympathizes with the farmers. "This would be like if someone said you couldn't grow sweet corn in Iowa," he said.

Except that sweet corn doesn't spread on its own.

"It's tough," Northey said. "As you sit with them, you get the impression of how important it is to the food that they eat and even culturally, all over Asia. They are so used to it where they grew up, it's hard for them to believe that it could be a threat. Of course here, we see it as an invasive species that could come in and take over."

As it stands, no one can legally buy, sell, possess or grow the plant in Iowa without a variance from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Northey and DNR Director Richard Leopold met separately with the Hmong farmers over the past couple of weeks.

"My staff are reluctant right now," said Leopold, who would have to approve the variance. "They are not supportive of a variance of any kind."