On Friday, Feb. 21, while on my fifth biannual 36 County Tour, I stopped in Harrison County.
On previous stops in Harrison County, I toured Agrivision in Missouri Valley, stopped by the Dunlap Livestock Auction, met with veterans in Logan, visited IGNITE Pathways in Woodbine, and met with the Harrison County Farm Bureau in Logan. I always enjoy meeting with our families, farmers, veterans, and local businesses.
This time, I stopped in Dunlap to grab some lunch and have a roundtable discussion with hog farmers and members of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. We discussed California’s ridiculous Proposition 12, foreign animal disease prevention, the Farm Bill, Chinese purchases of our farmland, and my legislation to get rid of the death tax for good. We ate at Dairy Sweet, which was named Iowa’s best breaded pork tenderloin in 2024 and serves an impressive 40,000 pork tenderloins each year. The perfect place to talk about Iowa pork production.
One issue that is top-of-mind for our hog farmers is Proposition 12. In 2024, California’s radical Proposition 12 went into full effect. This law prohibits the sale of certain animal products that aren’t in compliance with the state’s own out-of-touch agenda. This is an assault on Iowa hog farmers and egg producers by millions of out-of-state voters who have likely never stepped foot on a farm. It is no shock that bureaucratic red tape is at its worst in the state of California, but Californians have no jurisdiction over how Iowa farmers raise our hens and hogs. That’s why I co-led the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act – which was included in the Farm Bill that we passed out of the House Agriculture Committee last year – to help overturn Proposition 12 mandates on Iowa hog farmers.
Foreign animal disease prevention is also a top priority for Iowa’s producers. Every producer fears a foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak that could devastate flocks and herds, preventing our farmers from selling their high-quality product on the global market. That’s why I helped introduce the Foreign Animal Disease Prevention, Surveillance, and Rapid Response Act, which reauthorizes three vital programs that defend American agriculture from devastating animal disease outbreaks. This legislation was included in the Farm Bill that I supported as a member of the House Agriculture Committee last year. I also recently led a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins asking that the U.S. Department of Agriculture strengthen its effort to resolve the ongoing outbreak of High Path Avian Influenza (HPAI) affecting poultry and dairy producers across Iowa and our country. We must look towards an aggressive strategy to protect our flocks from disease, establish a Strategic Initiative to combat the spread of bird flu, and make indemnity payment rates fairer for our producers.
Additionally, I introduced the Safe American Food Exports Act – which was part of last year’s Farm Bill – to formally authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture to negotiate regionalization agreements with our global trade partners before an animal disease lands on American soil. This legislation would allow livestock, poultry, and other animal products from unaffected areas of the country to continue to be safely exported in the event of an animal disease outbreak. I will always work to ensure that our producers are well equipped to fight FAD and can continue to access the international marketplace.
Finally, we discussed the need for a revitalized, five-year Farm Bill. With the input and feedback of our producers back home, my colleagues and I worked to strengthen crop insurance protections, open new export markets for Iowa agriculture, gut wasteful spending in the SNAP program, overturn California’s Prop 12 mandates, and keep China away from our farmland. In 2023, my amendment to the Lower Energy Costs Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives to ban China from buying American farmland suitable for domestic energy production. Furthermore, I noted that I recently introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act to permanently eliminate the death tax on our family farms and small businesses.
I truly appreciated hearing from our hog producers and would like to thank Lori Thomsen – who owns and operates Dairy Sweet – for her hospitality and the incredible lunch. In Congress, I will always be an outspoken advocate for Iowa’s families, farmers, and businesses. I look forward to another stop in Harrison County very soon.
