A Winning Food and Farm Policy for Rural America

On June 2, Scholten, who describes himself as a Lina Khan Democrat, announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. (Khan was the Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission under Biden). He hoped to win the Democratic nomination and go head-to-head with the GOP incumbent, Sen. Joni Ernst. Earlier this May, Ernst faced intense scrutiny from constituents at a town hall in Butler County, Iowa, for her support of President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (what Scholten calls the “Billionaire Bailout Bill”) and its proposed cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP. When a member of the crowd shouted out “People are doing to die” because of the cuts, Ernst answered flippantly, “Well, we all are going to die.” On September 2, Ernst confirmed that she would not seek re-election in 2026.

Scholten knew that to win a statewide race he would need significant rural support. To that end, he crafted “A Fair Game Plan for Famers and Us,” the text of which Barn Raiser is proud to publish below accompanied by an intro by Scholten himself.

On August 18, Scholten withdrew from the race, and endorsed fellow Iowa House member Rep. Josh Turek whom he described as a “prairie populist” like himself.

“A Fair Game Plan for Farmers and Us” was created from my experience running against Rep. Steve King (R) in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, then the 2nd most agricultural district in America. As a 6th generation Iowan (the first to be raised in town), I got into politics because my Grandma Fern told me on her deathbed to take care of our family farm and to preserve the family farm way of life in Iowa and in America.

Across the United States too many communities are rapidly diminishing as corporate ag monopolies suck the wealth out of them. Consumers are left paying more at the grocery store. The food system is broken for all of us. This is a national security issue—a nation that can’t feed itself is in deep trouble. The average age of a farmer is nearly 60 years old while farmland is being consolidated and increasingly owned by Wall Street investors, foreign countries and Bill Gates.

Our nation’s current farm policy is based on helping multinational corporations and investor landlords. Instead, we need to revive our rural communities by helping farmers regain independence and provide a healthier, more secure food system for consumers. To do that, we must restore competition and conservation in the farm bill. 

That’s why earlier this year I decided to launch my candidacy for U.S. Senate in the 2026 midterm election. My first policy priority was to release “A Fair Game Plan for Farmers and Us” because it is not only the right thing to do but it also connects core progressive values—fairness, competition and community—to the people too often left behind: rural Americans. For decades, Democrats have struggled to win rural votes, even as corporate consolidation has devastated family farms, hollowed out small towns and handed power to a few multinational monopolies. This plan flips the script. It’s not just an agriculture policy—it’s a roadmap for reclaiming rural America.

Although I am no longer in the race for the U.S. Senate (I will continue to represent my district in the Iowa State House), it is my conviction that we need to hold every office holder accountable to the standards outlined in this plan as the farm crisis deepens in our rural communities.

If Democrats want to prove they are the party of the people—not corporations—this is the fight. Backing “A Fair Game Plan for Farmers and Us” means standing up for farmers, standing up for fairness and standing up for the future of America’s food system. What follows is the 11-point plan I based my U.S. Senate campaign on.

A Fair Game Plan for Farmers and Us

1. Bust Up the Agriculture, Railroad and Food Monopolies

In 1888, Iowa had the proud distinction of passing the first ever antitrust law as farmers confronted monopolies in the railroads, bank lenders and grain elevators. Now, in 2025, farmers face even more consolidated markets, and even worse, we’ve allowed our food supply to be owned by China and Brazil. Farmers today face record input costs and depressed commodity prices as a handful of corporations dominate every part of the food supply chain thanks to both parties being asleep at the wheel. 

• Farmers used to get 40% of the food dollar. Now it’s at a record low 14%
• Iowa has lost 90% of its hog farms in the last 40 years
• In 1992, 97% of farmers were independent. Now, 70% of all hogs are sold under contract to buyers like Tyson and Smithfield (now owned by a Chinese corporation)
• Corn and soybean farmers are facing their highest ever input costs

Due to this loss of independent farmers, we’ve also lost hundreds of livestock yards, seed mills, processing plants and grocery stores. My family owned a seed store in Larchwood in Lyon County that no longer exists. 

Here are some of the outrageous examples of concentration farmers and consumers face both on the input and output side:

• Seeds: Thousands of seed companies have become the “big 6,” which is now the “big 3” thanks to the approval of three big mergers in recent years: ChemChina—Syngenta, Bayer—Monsanto and Dow—DuPont (Corteva). This was after they had already eliminated previous competitors, Pioneer HI-Bred, founded by Iowa’s own Henry Wallace, and DeKalb. Monsanto and Corteva now control 77% of the corn seed market and 66% of the soybean market.
• Fertilizer: In 1980, there were 46 fertilizer firms. In 2017, Potash Corp and Agrium merged to create Nutrien Ltd. Now only Nutrien and Mosaic control the entire market for Potash fertilizer, and 4 companies represent 75% of nitrogen-based fertilizer: CF Industries, Koch, Nutrien and Yara-USA. Now fertilizer prices are up 200% in recent years.
• Grain Buyers: Just 4 companies control 90% of the grain trade: Cargill, Bunge, Archer Daniels Midland and Dreyfus.
• Meat: Four companies control 85% of the meat market, two being owned by China and Brazil. Four companies control 70% of the pork market, with one in four hogs now owned by Smithfield. Where there were once 10,000 slaughterhouses, there are now about one-tenth. Fifty plants produce 98% of the supply. This endangers our entire food system if one plant goes offline, as what happened during Covid with Tyson’s plant in Waterloo, Iowa. The CEO of WH Group in China made $291 million after buying Smithfield. 
• Dairy: Just 2 firms, Dean Foods and Dairy Farmers of America, control 60% of the milk supply. In 2020, DFA was allowed to acquire Dean Food’s processing plants. 
• Railroads: Farmers rely on railroads to move grain, fertilizer, livestock and equipment as do so many small and medium-sized businesses. The railroad robber barons are back as there are currently only six Class 1 railroads left. In 1980, prior to the Reagan deregulation administration, there were 40 Class 1 railroads. Now, Union Pacific is in talks to merge with Norfolk Southern. The Surface Transportation Board needs to oppose more consolidation in this critical sector.
• Right to Repair: Four companies control the majority of tractors, combines, planters and precision ag equipment. John Deere alone controls 53% of the large tractor market and 60% of combine sales. Major machinery companies have restricted access to who can fix their diagnostic software, forcing farmers to pay for certified technicians that may be located far away from them. Small town and independent repair shops have also closed as a result. Farmers need to be able to manage and repair their own equipment. 

We need to pass a farm bill that addresses these issues. I advocate for the following:

• The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission need to investigate mergers that should never have been approved. Back in the 1980s, we successfully broke up AT&T’s monopoly. We can do the same with our seed, fertilizer and meatpacking companies.
• Put a moratorium on all future ag mergers and oppose grocery mergers like the attempted Albertsons-Kroger merger that would have continued to reduce consumer choices. Start enforcing the Robinson Patman Act, which has not been enforced since the 1980s, to stop the loss of independent grocery stores. This would ban price discrimination that allows big box stores like Walmart and Dollar General to undercut local grocery stores.
• Update and enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), which was originally passed over 100 years ago to break up consolidation in meatpacking. The first Trump administration got rid of the agency that used to be in charge of the PSA, the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration. A new and more robust office of antitrust is needed within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
• Consider a Strategic Fertilizer Reserve in the same way we have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve for national security purposes. China and India have wisely implemented this already. We also need to continue investments in reviving domestic fertilizer production.
• Stop foreign takeovers that jeopardize our food security. Make sure food security concerns are part of any attempted foreign agriculture mergers considered by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. If this had been the case, there is no way Syngenta and Smithfield would have been allowed to be purchased by companies aligned with the Chinese Communist party. Nor should JBS, a notoriously corrupt Brazilian company, have been allowed to take over Swift and other U.S. meatpacking companies.

2. Reform Commodity Payments So It’s Not Just the Top 0.01% Benefiting

• The recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” expanded a subsidy program that primarily showers the richest farmers with government money. Currently the top 1% of farm program recipients receive 25% of all payments, and the top 10% receive 70%. Farm subsidy limits were raised from $125,000 to $155,000 and new loopholes granted for farm entities to claim even more money. This impacts less than one-tenth of 1% of farmers and will fuel more consolidation in land ownership while failing to assist most family farmers.

3. Keep Farmland in Farmers’ Hands! Ban Foreign Ownership and Reduce Wall Street Buying Up Farmland

• China and other foreign countries have been buying up farmland in the U.S. Bill Gates is now one of the largest owners of farmland and hedge funds are competing with local farmers. We need to encourage local and in-state ownership—people who prioritize our local communities, not absentee landlords who only care about making a profit for Wall Street. 

4. Label “Made in USA” Food With Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling

• Currently meatpacking companies don’t want you to know that the hamburger or steak you are eating might not come from American ranchers. If we know where our T-shirts are made, we need to know where our food comes from. 

5. Invest in Conservation, Not “Get Big or Get Out” Policies

• Planting fencerow to fencerow has proven to be a detriment to farmer’s profits as well as harming soil quality in our most productive land. We now have a water crisis that has impacted Iowans both in rural and urban areas with polluted water wells and the need for costly treatments for municipal water systems, possibly contributing to why Iowa ranks #2 in the nation now in cancer rates. Currently there are years-long waiting lists for conservation programs that the Trump administration is attempting to cut.
• We need to increase investments in programs like the Conservation Security Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Reserve Program that can help with cover crops and buffer strips that have been proven to improve water quality. Crop insurance should be tied to stewardship incentives that protect our land and water and also be expanded to specialty crops.

6. Allow Easier Entry Into Trucking 

• During planting and harvest, there are often not enough commercially licensed drivers to haul grain, livestock and farm equipment. We should reform federal age restrictions and help farm kids get their commercial license.

7. Decentralize the Supply Chain: Invest in Local and Regional Food Systems

• The U.S. currently has the largest ever trade deficit in food: $58 billion in 2024. We are becoming dangerously reliant on imports to feed ourselves, which is a huge national security concern. It’s a heavy irony that while Iowa helps feed the world, 85% of all our food is imported into the state. For example, 60% of apple juice is now made in China. We need more local food and less foreign imports.
• We need to rebuild local processing plants and infrastructure by allowing ranchers and farmers to slaughter livestock locally instead of having to drive hours to USDA-approved corporate slaughterhouses. Consumers want to buy fresh, local, safe meat. 
• The Trump administration eliminated the Regional Food Business Centers aimed at strengthening the local food supply chain. Funding for Local Food Purchasing and Local Food for Schools were also cancelled, at a time when Iowans are experiencing increased hunger. Farmers across the country, including Iowa, lost a tremendous amount of guaranteed income to feed children and supply food banks. 

8. Reform Checkoff System That Taxes Farmers Unfairly

• Farmers are currently taxed to support a “checkoff” system that is designed to support promotion of U.S. food, but has now been thoroughly corrupted by USDA to fund corporate lobbying groups that serve the interests of multinational corporations like JBS and Smithfield and not farmers. 

9. Invest in Homegrown Iowa Energy

• Iowa has proudly developed homegrown biofuels that have reduced our dependence on foreign oil. Wind energy has benefited farmers as well. The Trump administration’s attack on renewable energy threatens this progress. Hemp could also be a key crop for renewable fuels if combined with extraction for fiber, food or CBD production.

10. Stop Overregulation and Eminent Domain Abuses 

• Eminent Domain should never be used to take private property away to enrich corporate interests such as the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline. 
• USDA should not engage in pointless over-regulations such as the mandatory electronic animal ID that is designed for meatpackers profits while taxing farmers. Nor should they unfairly target farmers like South Dakota’s Charles and Heather Maude with prison time for overzealous land disputes.

11. Immigration Reform That Treats Workers Fairly

• We know Iowa’s agricultural industry cannot succeed without hardworking immigrants, but we also cannot have chaos at the border. Visas and other programs must be reformed to allow for legal pathways for those wanting to come to Iowa and contribute to our communities.

J.D. ScholtenMore by this author →

J.D. Scholten is the Iowa State Representative for District 1 and a professional baseball player.  A sixth-generation Iowan, he lives in Sioux City.