Agriculture

Since I was first elected, I have traveled to every county in Iowa’s 4^th Congressional District at least twice a year. It’s a commitment that I made to my constituents that I would be transparent and accessible while taking their concerns, ideas, and suggestions back to Congress and offering meaningful solutions to the problems facing our communities, state, and nation.

On October 1^st, the new President of Mexico – Claudia Sheinbaum – was officially sworn into office. While politics in Mexico may seem inconsequential to domestic affairs here in the United States, this development is very significant for our country, and particularly for our agricultural community.

After years of inflation, high interest rates, increased energy costs, trade uncertainty, and bureaucratic red tape, the outlook for the farm economy is bleak. U.S. farmers and producers continue to face drops in farm income, regulations like WOTUS still pose the threat of punitive and costly fines, and inflation has made the cost of doing business more expensive and forced producers to delay new equipment purchases.

There are many reasons to pass the Farm Bill this year. Prices for corn, soybeans, and other commodities have fallen well below producers’ break-even point, over 100 million birds – including turkeys, broilers, and layers – have been infected by bird flu since 2022, and net farm income is estimated to fall by $10.2 billion this year alone. Inflation also remains a painful tax on our farmers who already face unnecessary and punitive red tape like WOTUS and looming expirations on important pro-growth tax provisions in 2025.