Rural Iowa needs a new, five-year Farm Bill

On Sept. 30, 2023, the 2018 Farm Bill that President Donald Trump signed into law during his first administration, officially expired, requiring Congress to subsequently pass a one-year extension of this critical legislation for our farmers, producers, and rural communities.

Understanding the urgent need to reauthorize the Farm Bill and newly entrusted with the House majority, my Republican colleagues on the House Agriculture Committee and I, along with four Democrats, passed a new, five-year Farm Bill on May 23, 2024.

Historically bipartisan, we hoped that our Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate would join us on this mission to get a new Farm Bill signed into law as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed when Senate Democrats instead chose to play politics with our farmers and refused to work with Republicans in the House of Representatives to approve a truly bipartisan Farm Bill, forcing us to pass a second one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill at a time when our producers needed us the most.

While this preventable setback is frustrating, our resolve to get a five-year Farm Bill to President Trump’s desk has not faltered.

Under the leadership of House Agriculture Committee chairman G.T. Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), we are working diligently to put the Farm Bill back together and deliver certainty and relief for the hardworking men, women, and families who feed and fuel our country and the world.

Representing the second-largest agriculture-producing congressional district in the entire country, I am particularly invested in getting the Farm Bill across the finish line. It’s why I’ve hosted chairman Thompson in Iowa on several occasions, including two trips to the Farm Progress Show in Boone and a stop by the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab and Iowa State University in Ames to view research like the Genome to Phenome Initiative.

I even had House Ways and Means Committee chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri) at the Iowa State Fair last year for a hearing on the need to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and secure tax relief for our farmers. Ensuring that our congressional leaders fully understand that Iowa is truly the breadbasket to our country and the world is important to me and critical to our producers.

According to recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we know that the farm economy has been weakened over the past four years. In December of 2024, we saw net farm income fall $41 billion over two years, one of the largest drops in history.

But we do not need government facts and figures to tell us that economic conditions in farm country are tough. Input costs are still too high, commodity prices are too low, and uncertainty prevents our farmers from planning ahead and making investment decisions.

These few examples underscore the pressing importance of passing a new, five-year Farm Bill as soon as possible.

As the only member of Congress serving on both the House Agriculture Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, I am in a unique position to advocate for our farmers on a wide variety of issues — from crop insurance and trade to foreign animal disease prevention and input costs.

In a recent Ways and Means hearing, I had the opportunity to speak with U.S. Trade representative Jamieson Greer, urging him to do everything possible to open new export markets for agriculture across the globe.

To complement our trading relations, I have also introduced legislation — the FRIDGE Act and the SAFE Act — to build our export markets. The FRIDGE Act would help construct refrigeration infrastructure — including cold-chain storage — at home and abroad to ship our perishable agricultural products worldwide while the SAFE Act would ensure that, in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak, agricultural goods from unaffected parts of our country could still be exported with the highest safety standards.

I am also a co-sponsor of legislation to double funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program to promote Iowa-grown and -raised products in foreign markets, ultimately putting more money into the pockets of our producers.

As we write the next Farm Bill, I remain committed to strengthening crop insurance and the farm safety net, ensuring that we support risk management tools for all producers including young, beginning, and veteran farmers.

When severe weather strikes or markets take an unexpected dive, crop insurance keeps our farmers whole and operations intact. But, according to research conducted by National Crop Insurance Services, only seven percent of American farmers reported that they could afford crop insurance without the successful public-private partnership between the producer and the federal government.

This is why it’s a no-brainer for me to make certain that our farm producers have access to reliable, affordable crop insurance plans. Our food, farm, and national security depend on it.

At the same time, with the average age of U.S. farmers hovering around 58 years old, I want to be sure that we are supporting the next generation taking over the farm.

The Crop Insurance for Future Farmers Act, which I introduced with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota), would encourage more young people to get involved in agriculture by lowering the cost of crop insurance for young, beginning, and veteran producers. This investment will help preserve our long-held farming traditions in rural Iowa and help our producers continue to feed, fuel, and clothe the world.

Further, during a time when the farm economy continues to struggle, our government has failed to administer the laws on the books to protect American farmland from acquisition by our foreign adversaries. If we fail to actively monitor foreign purchases of our farmland, we jeopardize our national, economic, energy, and food security.

As a strong advocate for stopping our adversaries — like China — from buying our farmland, I am glad to have introduced the FARMLAND Act, which will develop new oversight measures for foreign farmland purchases, require the secretary of agriculture to report the threats of foreign acquisition of American farmland to Congress, and punish foreign investors who fail to disclose farmland purchases.

Born and raised in rural Iowa, I firmly believe that American farmland belongs to American farmers, and I will continue to lead the fight to protect our farmers and rural communities.

Additionally, as we’ve seen with the latest bird flu outbreak, we must increase our efforts to not only keep foreign animal disease out of our country but also equip our producers with the tools that they need to prevent and respond to animal health crises.

That’s why I’ve led multiple letters to the Trump administration helping to establish a strong response to highly pathogenic avian influenza and avian metapneumovirus for our poultry, turkey, and dairy producers.

Further, it’s why I strongly support legislation to fully fund the three-legged stool of animal health, which includes the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, and the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank.

By investing in these critical programs, we can keep our flocks and herds healthy and prevent economic catastrophe for our producers.

We have an obligation to our farmers and producers to pass a new, five-year Farm Bill. We cannot continue to kick this can down the road and expect agriculture to succeed. We must outcompete China, open new export markets, protect crop insurance, and keep our country safe from foreign animal diseases.

Passing a five-year Farm Bill will help us reach these goals and invest in the long-term strength and stability of American agriculture and our rural communities.

This op-ed was originally published in the Northwest Iowa Review on April 22, 2025.