POLICY
The F.A.I.R. Farm Deal
Food, Agriculture, Infrastructure, and Resilience: a farm-to-school plan for healthier kids, cleaner water, and stronger Iowa farms. Support it by signing our petition.
Iowa’s agricultural productivity dwarfs that of most states and many countries, but Iowans only rarely eat food that has been grown and produced from within the state’s borders. This is a huge missed opportunity for Iowa citizens, schools, and farmers who could all benefit from effective government policy that would drive local and regional production of fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, grains, dairy, eggs, honey, and other Iowa-grown foods.
Iowans spend roughly $13 billion on food every year. Too much of that money leaves the state because Iowa has not built the markets and infrastructure to help farmers sell more food to Iowa buyers. Meanwhile Iowa imports over 90% of our own food.
That must change.
The F.A.I.R. Farm Deal sets a clear year-over-year goal: increase the volume of Iowa-grown food sold in Iowa markets and build the infrastructure needed to make that growth last.
Rigid state policy now focuses heavily on a narrow set of agricultural markets. Corn, soybeans, livestock, ethanol, exports, and global trade will continue to be important to Iowa. But this focus has not brought widespread prosperity to rural areas and the consolidation that has accompanied specialization has driven downward the population in 70 of our 99 counties and encouraged young people to leave for distant cities and states.
Iowa farmers need more markets. Iowa families need access to healthy food. Iowa communities need more of their food dollars staying close to home. And if we are serious about cleaner water, we need to give farmers more profitable options on the land.
As Secretary, I will treat food systems as essential infrastructure. Iowa invests in roads, bridges, and broadband because they connect people to opportunity. Food infrastructure should matter for the same reason. It connects farmers to markets, kids to healthier meals, rural communities to new jobs, and Iowa families to food grown closer to home.
The best place to start is our schools.
Iowa schools serve nearly 80 million breakfasts and lunches per year. In most communities, the school cafeteria is the largest and busiest restaurant in town. When schools buy Iowa-grown food, they improve meals and student health, create steady demand for farmers, strengthen local supply chains, and build the infrastructure needed to serve other Iowa buyers over time.
Farm to school is the starting point. The goal is bigger: grow more Iowa food, create more Iowa markets, and build a stronger, more resilient food system for the state.
Invest $10 million annually in Iowa’s Local Food and Farm Program Fund to grow more Iowa food.
Iowa created the Local Food and Farm Program Fund in 2011, but it has not been funded at the scale that Iowa’s food economy requires.
Chris Jones will change that by putting existing agriculture and water quality dollars to work building the markets Iowa farmers need to grow more food for Iowans. That includes support for food production, processing, marketing, certification, local purchasing, revolving loans, loan guarantees, and farm business development.
Governor Kim Reynolds and incumbent Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig have boasted about spending hundreds of millions of dollars on voluntary conservation incentives in the last decade. Investing a fraction of that funding to diversify our agriculture system is also a smarter water quality strategy. Iowa cannot keep spending money on downstream fixes while ignoring the market forces that shape what gets planted upstream. If we want healthier people, cleaner water, more perennial vegetation, and more pasture-based systems on the land, farmers need profitable and diverse markets that make those choices possible.
One of the clearest places to start is schools. Iowa schools buy food every year, serve kids in every county, and can help create steady demand for Iowa-grown food. By investing in the broader local food system, Iowa can make it easier for farmers to sell to schools and easier for schools to serve Iowa-grown food to kids.
Invest in the “missing middle” of Iowa’s local food supply chain.
Local food cannot scale up if the system cannot move it. Institutions like schools need food that can be gathered from multiple farms, stored safely, processed when needed, delivered reliably, and prepared by busy food service teams.
Investment is required in the part of the food system most people never see: food hubs, storage, processing, delivery, equipment, school kitchen upgrades, and the coordination needed to get Iowa-grown food from farms into school kitchens.
In a state facing serious concerns about cancer, chronic disease, and children’s health, Iowa should be investing in the nutrition of the next generation. Schools need food that is fresh, safe, affordable, and realistic to serve.
Set a 10-year goal for Iowa schools to source 50% of their food from Iowa.
Buying Iowa-grown food for Iowa schools should be easier than it is right now. Schools need to know what is available, who they can buy from, how to order, how to track purchases, and how to get reimbursed. Farmers, food hubs, and processors need clear expectations, fair pricing, predictable demand, and support meeting school purchasing requirements.
Achieving that goal will require statewide coordination through IDALS, the Department of Education, and a state-supported partner network, including approved vendor systems, procurement support, reimbursement, reporting, pricing guidance, and technical assistance.The goal is simple: make Iowa-grown food easier to buy, easier to sell, and more common in school meals across the state.
Train the next generation of Iowa food and farm leaders through schools, FFA, 4-H, and community colleges.
A stronger local food system needs people trained to grow, process, move, cook, and sell Iowa food. It also needs young people who can see a future for themselves in food and farming.
Across Iowa, many young people are interested in growing food for their communities, starting farm businesses, using land for food production, and connecting agriculture with health, conservation, and local economies. They need real pathways to do that.
Chris Jones will support workforce training through community colleges while creating stronger pathways for high school students, FFA, 4-H, and school food programs to learn about food production, processing, food safety, distribution, and farm business development.
These are practical skills tied to real work in Iowa communities. Building a stronger local food economy can help more young Iowans find meaningful work close to home and see agriculture as a future they can be part of, not one they have to leave behind.
Modernize regulations to help Iowa producers reach bigger local markets.
Schools are most communities’ largest food buyer. When schools buy Iowa-grown food they create the demand and capacity that farms and food businesses need to serve entire communities, including hospitals, nursing homes, food banks, child care centers, senior living facilities, grocery stores, restaurants, and other local buyers.
Many of those buyers require higher levels of certification, food safety documentation, insurance, processing, and packaging. Chris Jones will help Iowa producers and food businesses meet those requirements through certification assistance and regulatory relief when necessary.
The goal is to use schools as a starting point, then build the capacity Iowa needs to help farmers and food businesses capture more of the $13 billion Iowans already spend on food each year.
Protect Iowa food farmers from pesticide drift and strengthen enforcement.
Pesticide drift is a major threat to Iowa food farmers, local food markets, and public trust. A single drift incident can cost a farmer tens of thousands of dollars, damage market contracts, threaten organic certification, and wipe out months of hard work. Current penalties are not a deterrent and are unreflective of potential and actual harm being imposed upon Iowans.
Iowa’s existing pesticide laws will be zealously enforced. The plan will reduce claim review times, strengthen protections for farmers harmed by drift, and push for fines that reflect the real cost of the offense.
It will also support increasing pesticide applicator licensing fees, which are now minuscule relative to the potential harms, as one way to pay for stronger enforcement, drift protection, and support the expansion of Iowa’s local food capacity.
Advocate so schools can use existing USDA food dollars to buy locally sourced food.
Schools already receive federal support to help purchase food. Too often, those dollars are tied to systems that complicate local purchasing. Iowa should push for an optional pathway that allows schools to use existing federal food dollars for minimally processed, locally sourced foods when those options are available.
That would help bring more Iowa-grown food into school meals without putting the full cost on state and local budgets.
Give the next generation of Iowa food farmers the certainty they need to grow.
Food farmers need the certainty to plan beyond one season at a time. Beginning and next-generation farmers face major barriers to both land and capital access. Farmland is expensive, competition is intense, and too often the only realistic path into agriculture is inheriting land or taking on more debt than a new farm business can carry.
Chris Jones will work to broaden Iowa’s Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Program to support land and capital transfer to farmers engaged in food crop production. He will also support long-term leases, long-term food purchasing contracts, land transition models, and first-farm down payment assistance to help beginning farmers buy or lease land and build viable farm businesses.
For decades, policy has created certainty for commodity agriculture through various USDA programs; the Renewable Fuel Standard, trade policy, tax policy, conservation programs, regulatory relief, infrastructure, and other supports that reinforce the current system.
Food farmers deserve the same seriousness. That means long-term purchasing commitments for Iowa-grown food and state leadership that helps farmers plan for the future. Under new leadership, IDALS will lead the development of these policies, alongside the Iowa Legislature, federal partners, and Iowa communities.
