Iowa Food System Coalition Statement on USDA’s Ranchers First Initiative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2026
Tommy Hexter,
Executive Director
Iowa Food System Coalition
Iowa Food System Coalition Statement on USDA’s Ranchers First Initiative
The Iowa Food System Coalition is glad to see the political conversation beginning to recognize that the playing field is not level for American farmers, and that it has become increasingly diffi cult for families to keep farming and pass their farms on to the next generation. Iowa farmers have fewer choices about what they can profitably produce, while more control and more of the profi ts have become concentrated in a small number of large multinational corporations.
The Ranchers First Initiative includes several pieces that could provide greater stability to Iowa farm families and help them diversify their farms and boost profits, particularly support for small and regional meat processing, beginning farmers and ranchers, and stronger institutional markets for American-raised beef.
However, this announcement must also be viewed in the context of the chaos that has recently been inflicted on the beef market. The administration has expanded imports of foreign beef in an effort to bring down historically high prices for consumers. At the same time, USDA is asking American ranchers to retain breeding stock and rebuild the cattle herd, which could eventually put additional downward pressure on the prices cattle producers receive.
Rather than asking American producers to compete with more imported beef, we believe policymakers should also address consolidation and competition within the beef industry. Stronger antitrust enforcement and more competitive markets can help address the gap between what families pay at the grocery store and what farmers receive for their cattle.
Supporting American beef producers with new livestock insurance, grants and loans while simultaneously threatening their markets and prices sends conflicting signals and makes Iowa producers feel more unstable. Supply and demand are a delicate balance, and these kinds of shocks do not represent the safe and stable policy farm families need to make decisions about their future.
The long-term solution cannot be choosing between affordable food for families and viable family farms and ranches. We need more local and regional production paired with significantly more regional processing infrastructure and reliable, competitive markets that allow farmers to make a living while keeping food affordable for consumers. That can help farmers scale up their production, keep more profits in rural communities and provide nutritious food to Americans nationwide.
Programs like Ranchers First and Harvest to Hallways can address pieces of that challenge, particularly through investments in regional processing and stronger purchasing relationships between farmers and public institutions. But those efforts will only make a meaningful difference if they are not contradicted by larger shocks to the cattle market. These investments also need to be sustained, accessible to family farms and local processors through county USDA offices, and consistently backed by long-term Farm Bill policy rather than one-off agency announcements that can be expanded, cut or reversed from one administration to the next.
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About the Iowa Food System Coalition
The Iowa Food System Coalition (IFSC) is a community of over 60 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.
Find photography, b-roll and additional media resources at iowafoodsystemcoalition.org/newsroom.
