We said the pledge of allegiance every morning in our schools growing up. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

We were and are very proud to be Americans who believe that undivided, we are resilient. That liberty is a part of being American, to be free from oppressive restrictions and to know that we live in a safe and just country whose actions are law-abiding.

Our farms have Regional Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) grant contracts that are currently on pause and frozen. These contracts, awarded to us through a highly competitive application process, are to help purchase infrastructure needed to get Iowa farmers’ food sold to Iowa retailers, restaurants, hospitals, clinics, schools, day cares, and eaters across the state.

These grants are for one-time purchases to acquire equipment and improve facilities for local food aggregation and distribution. Some of these purchases have already been made with the contractual understanding that farmers would be reimbursed. We have reached out to Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley and Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks to help get the funding unfrozen so we can put it to work on our farms, businesses and in our communities.

We are farmers who grow food for our communities, state and country. We support and are supported by the local businesses that still exist in our shrinking rural communities. We bring economic vitality and value to our rural communities because we purchase feed from our local feed mills, hire local welders to repair and build farm infrastructure, purchase goods from our local farm stores, keep money in our local banks, and pay local property taxes that help support our local schools, police, fire departments, and libraries.

We use our local veterinary offices, we hire local people to work on our farms, and when a neighbor is in need, we show up. Without farmers, our rural communities suffer. We have witnessed what the loss of farmers from the 1980s Farm Crisis has done to our communities.

These dollars help kickstart new Main Street businesses and support and provide markets for more Iowa food producers. Helping Iowa feed Iowans will make our rural communities more resilient, reduce reliance on the federal government, and most importantly, help grow farms and farmers. Iowa needs more farmers, not fewer.

In late 2024, Iowa funded 24 RFSI grants, a $3,018,154 investment into Iowa agriculture. These projects are projected to support over 300 local farmers growing their farm businesses, increasing market access through connections to the robust food hub network that exists here in Iowa. This investment will have a 10x positive economic impact on Iowa over the next few years.

Federal funding for local food infrastructure is not a handout. These investments help build farm businesses that don’t have access to the agriculture subsidies and safety nets given to commodity producers. The small- to mid-sized farms that the RFSI grants support are in step with the current administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.

These farm businesses get fresh, nutritious, Iowa-grown food to Iowans. Iowans deserve a healthy, plentiful, and affordable local food supply that is more resilient to shocks in the supply chain and comes from local soils, farms and farmers. We are helping make our rural communities healthy again.

When we signed these contracts, we committed to what they contained and expected the government to honor its word. Farmers operate in a business that carries significant risk and need to have some certainty that a signed contract will be honored. Farms have already purchased inputs for 2025 and are depending on these RFSI funds to help process and distribute products for customers and markets. Farmers are now on the hook to pay for projects that they only could afford with this funding.

We want to trust and know that our federal government and congressional representation have integrity and are protecting and working for Americans. And most importantly, we need to be reassured that those ingrained words that pledge our allegiance to this magnificent country are also pledged and upheld by our country’s current leaders.