Q&A: 99 County Meetings

Q: What’s on the minds of Iowans at your 99 county meetings?
A: In August, I completed my annual 99 county meetings for the 42nd consecutive year across the state.  When Iowans first elected me to the U.S. Senate, I started this annual tradition and have kept it every year since. I hold an hour-long Q&A with Iowans face-to-face to hear their ideas and listen to their concerns. Iowans set the agenda and I go to various places in the community to reach a cross-section of people. From local hospitals, schools, civic clubs, businesses, and factories, I understand people can’t always take time off work to attend a town meeting. In addition, touring manufacturing facilities gives me the opportunity to learn about the innovation and productivity here in Iowa, and after a tour of the business, employers often shut down the line to allow workers to ask questions. Across Iowa, the number one concern from river to river was the high cost of living and 40-year high inflation. Rural Iowans were especially hard hit by the soaring price of gas as so many people drive 30- to 40- miles one way to school or work. Farmers and truckers are feeling the pinch to pay $5/gallon for diesel. The high energy prices account for the lion’s share of high food prices at the grocery store. High energy costs make it more expensive to put crops in the ground, harvest, process, and ship products to the consumer. I was impressed by the resilience of our small businesses to survive the economy shutting down during the pandemic and claw back from supply chain disruptions and labor shortages. In Northwood, I was able to hear from LR Falk Construction, a business that specializes in custom crushing and delivery of limestone products for construction and farm applications. We discussed the benefits of the infrastructure bill I supported that will strengthen Iowa’s economy and quality of life for generations to come. In January, I started out the year meeting with workers at Shell Rock Soy Processing in Butler County and wrapped up my 99th county meeting in August with a town meeting in Bedford, in Taylor County. For the rest of the year, I’ll continue meeting with Iowans to have dialogue. Representative government is a two-way street and my county meetings are one way I like to keep in touch, eyeball to eyeball, with Iowans.
Q: What other issues are you hearing about from Iowans?
A: As a lifelong family farmer and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I’m looking ahead to the new five-year Farm Bill that will be written next year. I’ve been gathering feedback from producers across the state to help inform my work on behalf of the 87,000 farm families who have a direct stake in the next farm bill, from conservation, to crop insurance, rural development, supports for beginning farmers and protecting the family farm from foreign acquisition. For nearly 90 years, the farm bill supports productivity and ensures U.S. food security to provide an affordable, high-quality food supply to feed America. Many people aren’t aware that roughly 80 percent of the spending in the farm bill pays for nutrition programs to help lower-income Americans. In August, I visited Capital City Fruit in Norwalk. This family business started as a fruit stand and has grown into a packing, warehousing and distribution operation for fresh produce from farm to table. The company participated in the USDA food box program during the pandemic and donates thousands of pounds of food every year to help reduce food insecurity in the community. Recently, I’ve held a series of meetings with Iowa farmers, livestock producers and biofuel producers so that I can gauge their priorities for the new Farm Bill.  At the negotiating table, I’ll fight for reasonable farm payment limits to protect the taxpayer and integrity of the farm safety net. I often remind my colleagues in Congress that food doesn’t grow in the grocery store. I’ll also work to strengthen agriculture research to ensure farmers in the 21st century have the resiliency, innovation and expertise to produce food, fuel and fiber in a sustainable way. Farmers are stewards of the land, serving as temporary caretakers of the soil and water. From one year to the next, the family farmer has a vested interest to protect the environment and a covenant with posterity to leave it even better for the next generation. As one of only two crop farmers in the U.S. Senate, I’m proud to champion Rural America and fight for the two percent of Americans who produce the food that feeds 98 percent of the population.