Iowans tell Reps. Nunn and Miller-Meeks to reject current Farm Bill

The House Ag Committee’s Farm Bill will hurt rural communities to grow corporate profits

As the U.S. House prepares to vote on the Farm Bill, Iowa farmers and rural families are calling on Representatives Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks to reject legislation that does nothing to address massive cuts to critical food assistance programs or the harm that tariffs have caused for farmers.

Iowa farmers are facing high input costs and falling crop prices due to tariffs that both Nunn and Miller-Meeks have repeatedly supported. Their Republican Tax Law made historic cuts to food assistance that supports farmers and rural economies to fund tax breaks for billionaires and this Farm Bill does nothing to alleviate the pressure since Nunn and several Republicans blocked several amendments that would have restored funding for Iowans, including securing food assistance for veterans and children.

Ryan, a direct-to-consumer farmer in Madison County, said that he’s disappointed in this version of the bill.

“Voting for this Farm Bill is like patching a bald tire,” Ryan said. “It doesn’t address the root challenges in agriculture, and it sure doesn’t prepare us for the world farmers are operating in today. Our leaders are doubling down on the same tired playbook that got us here. And we know exactly where that leads: fewer farmers, more consolidation, shrinking rural communities, and a failure to diversify our cropping systems or build the value-added industries that keep local economies alive.”

Today, Nunn is doubling down on his agenda for billionaires and wealthy corporations by supporting language that puts the profits of pesticide corporations over the health and freedoms of Iowans harmed by overexposure to the chemicals.

Ryan called the pesticide liability protection a bailout: 

“What’s being slipped into this bill is a sweeping corporate subsidy, dressed up as regulatory policy. By limiting pesticide liability, it effectively shields manufacturers from the financial consequences of their own products. That’s not reform, it’s a corporate bailout, bought and paid for by lobbyists and bankrolled by the health of rural communities.”