A recent Iowa Starting Line article noted University of Northern Iowa students do not plan to stick around after graduation. For a state with a workforce problem, this is not good.

Whether it is on the microlevel, people leaving rural Iowa for a larger Iowa city or on the macrolevel, people leaving the state of Iowa, most people probably have children or grandchildren or family friends who have left the state. It seems to be a common Iowan experience. Unfortunately, opportunities and forward thinking on retaining Iowans are harder to come by.

Farming is not easy, but the entrepreneurship of running one has always been enticing. Unfortunately, the likelihood of more farmers entering the marketplace is becoming harder. In the latest USDA census of agriculture, the middle class of farmers have continued to hollow out. Get big or get out or start a smaller hobby farm, but like the rest of society, it needs a middle class. Without these middle-class farms, other opportunities in rural Iowa have dried up. These farms have given people an opportunity to stick around the rural communities.

Unfortunately, policies chosen by those in the state legislature are not helping all Iowans want to stick around for the greater good of the state or enticing other Iowans or not to move to the state. Plenty of my college friends stuck around in the state, but I still know quite a few who moved away after college and do not plan on moving back any time soon. A close friend who wants to move back is hesitant on moving back, and he is the most Iowan of the friend group.

Everyone knows there is a workforce shortage in the state of Iowa. At some point, part of the issue must be the perception of the state and the need to change it. When the people in charge of the state are pursuing policies which are not focused on encouraging more people to stay or come to Iowa, it creates an unsustainable future. Like how I am not going to plant corn in a field for five years straight. I would undermine my future for short term success.

Whether it is the lack of inspections at nursing homes, lack of rural health care, or lack of skilled technical labor, what the state of Iowa projects matters. Those University of Northern Iowa students are the canary in the goldmine. It is time to listen and to change direction. If Iowa continues down this path, schools and farms in rural Iowa will slowly turn the lights out one by one. It will not be all at once but think about what Iowa was like 50 years ago and think what it will be like in 50 years. Is this the best direction? Keeping friends and families in the state and welcoming former Iowans and new Iowans needs to be in our best interest. Iowa needs it.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.