Joint Statement from the Iowa Food System Coalition and Partners on the Passage of the Big Beautiful Bill
July 24, 2025
The Iowa Food System Coalition, along with the undersigned organizations, strongly opposes the passage of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” and the wide-reaching harm it will inflict on Iowans and food systems across the country.
Marketed as reform, this legislation makes deep cuts to programs that serve as the foundation of food access, public health, and economic resilience—programs like SNAP, Medicaid, nutrition education, and critical USDA investments. These are not abstract policy shifts. They are real changes that will cause real harm: fewer meals on the table, fewer people accessing care, and fewer dollars circulating in local and rural communities.
“The lives of a lot of Iowa families are going to be made harder by the not-at-all beautiful bill Congress passed this month," said Anne Discher, Executive Director of Common Good Iowa. "I know from experience what a difference SNAP makes in tough times. It's terrible that fewer Iowa families can expect a backstop like that as the bill's provisions go into effect.”
“Investing in kids is the best investment our country can make. When they are fed and healthy, they do better in school and are set up to become successful members of our communities,” said Paige Chickering, Iowa State Manager for Save the Children Action Network. “This bill will make it much more difficult for hardworking Iowans to put food on the table for their families. With hunger and food insecurity rates steadily climbing, we need more investment and support for the most vulnerable among us, not less.”
“When people lose access to SNAP, that means fewer dollars being spent in local communities across our state, urban and rural alike. Fewer grocery stores and more food deserts may be on the horizon for Iowa,” said Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition. “Iowa is facing a $1 billion loss over the next decade as a result of the largest cut to SNAP in history. This will hurt all of us.”
We are witnessing a clear and coordinated departure from decades of progress toward a unified food system—one that sees nutrition and agriculture as two sides of the same coin.
“What’s unfolding is a dismantling of a Farm Bill coalition between nutrition and agriculture that has been central to Iowa farm families for decades,” said Tommy Hexter, Policy Director at Iowa Farmers Union. “Our members fear our government is being ‘penny wise and pound foolish.’”
This bill does not stand alone. It is part of a broader pattern: the dismantling of federal investments in local food procurement for schools and food access sites, the cancellation of truckloads of TEFAP foods for food banks, the shutdown of USDA’s Regional Food Business Centers, and the defunding of conservation planning and technical assistance. USDA has also removed diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) criteria from grant programs, and in July announced it would no longer consider race or sex in many farm loan and conservation programs—further rolling back efforts to level the playing field for underserved farmers. All of this comes at a time when climate volatility is increasing, making it more urgent than ever to invest in local supply chains, resilient infrastructure, and regional coordination.
“USDA’s technical assistance and conservation funding are the backbone of our work,” said Breanna Horsey, Executive Director of Sustainable Iowa Land Trust. “Major cuts to staff and program investments under the new bill will directly erode our ability to help farmers secure affordable farmland and guide them toward regenerative practices.”
In Iowa, the effects will be particularly acute. Our state’s food system depends on a delicate web of producers, institutions, consumers, and the programs that connect them. When access is cut and support systems are stripped away, it’s not just families who suffer. It’s small and mid-sized farms. It’s rural grocers and markets. It’s public schools trying to stretch food budgets and meet nutrition guidelines. It’s the entire ecosystem of local food infrastructure that holds communities together.
We reject the idea that public health, food security, and economic development are partisan issues. They are shared responsibilities. And this legislation shirks that responsibility entirely.
The Make America Healthy Again movement has gained broad popularity, because at its core, it names a truth many Americans feel: our food system is broken. But instead of confronting the root causes like corporate consolidation, inaccessibility, and years of disinvestment, this administration is dismantling the very programs that make our communities healthier, more resilient, and more self-reliant.
“If the current administration were serious about ‘America First’ or ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ the so-called Big Beautiful Bill would have invested in resilient local and regional food systems and our crumbling infrastructure,” said Chris Schwartz, Executive Director of the Iowa Food System Coalition. “Instead, we’re being served some big beautiful bullsh*t that transfers even more wealth from the poor, working, and middle class to the already unfathomably wealthy and powerful.”
“Our members rely on USDA support to protect their land and reach stable markets,” added Aaron Lehman, President of the Iowa Farmers Union. “Cutting that puts rural communities at risk and paves the way for more consolidation and fewer family farms.”
“Increased reference prices for the safety net and inclusion of Inflation Reduction Act conservation practices into long-term accounting were long overdue improvements that should have been included in the 2023 and 2024 farm bill discussion that went nowhere in Congress. We still need to pass a comprehensive farm bill that builds farmers, rural communities, healthy landscapes, and a stronger food system.”
We call on Congress to commit to a unified Farm Bill—one that acknowledges agriculture and nutrition as inseparable, interdependent, and essential to our shared future. That includes fully funding nutrition education, investing in technical assistance and conservation, and codifying programs that connect local producers to reliable markets like schools, food banks, and early care centers. These are the building blocks of a resilient food system—not burdens to be cut, but infrastructure worth defending.
Our communities are doing their part. It’s time our policymakers did theirs.
Signed,
Save the Children Action Network
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About the Iowa Food System Coalition
The Iowa Food System Coalition (IFSC) is a community of over 50 organizational partners and 600 individuals with professional and lived expertise, united to advance a thriving, sustainable, and equitable food system in Iowa. Through Setting the Table for All Iowans, our strategic roadmap, IFSC is leading efforts to increase local food consumption, build resilient rural communities, create economic opportunities, and improve the health of Iowans.
For more information or to arrange interviews with IFSC and its partners, please visit our News Room.
