Mohler for Iowa

Proposed legislationwater and agThe agenda

FAIR Act

Farmers' Access to Independent Markets and Repair

An Act relating to competition in agricultural markets, including antitrust enforcement, local meat processing, agricultural equipment repair, purchasing of Iowa-grown food, and livestock grazing infrastructure, making appropriations, and including effective date provisions.

Page one

The short version

What's broken, what the bill does, and what it costs, in plain English. If you read one thing, read this.

Iowa family farmers take all the risk, do the hard work, and care for our soil. Right now they're caught in a vise. On one end, a handful of fertilizer, seed and chemical companies set the price of every input. On the other end, a few buyers decide what they'll pay you. In 2024, four packers handled 82 percent of the nation's federally inspected steer and heifer slaughter. A market with four buyers is not a free market.

The FAIR Act (Farmers' Access to Independent Markets and Repair) does five things.

It gives the Attorney General a $1,000,000 farm competition unit to enforce Iowa's antitrust law in farm markets, work with federal investigators and report yearly on farmers' complaints.

It invests in local meat processing. In the state's last grant round, small processors asked for over $1.5 million and got $355,000. This bill puts $1,500,000 into that program and cuts red tape: the state must decide a locker's license within sixty days and help small plants with paperwork free. Expanding independent lockers keeps more value in southern Iowa instead of shipping our profits out of state.

It puts the right to fix your own equipment into state law, not a voluntary agreement with the Farm Bureau that either side can walk away from. Manufacturers would have to offer farmers and independent shops the parts and tools dealers get at no higher price, and diagnostic software and manuals free, enforced by the Attorney General.

My opponent voted for right to repair this spring, and he was right to. House File 2763 passed the House 70 to 18 and stalled in the Senate. Its repair section set no penalty and named no one to enforce it. This bill does both.

It puts Iowa-raised beef and Iowa-grown crops in our schools and public institutions. This fall Choose Iowa gave 125 schools about $1,600 each. This bill adds $1,000,000, and lets state prisons, hospitals and universities pay up to 5 percent more for Iowa-grown food, with a $500,000 fund covering the difference.

Southern Iowa ground was made for pasture and cattle. The state's main cost-share doesn't list grazing fence or livestock water as practices, and its Cattle and Conservation Working Lands program doesn't reach our four counties. This bill puts $2,000,000 into cost-share for fence, tanks, pipelines and wells on pasture in every county, paying up to 50 percent of the cost.

The bill spends $6 million of new state money in its first year. The license deadline, free help and repair enforcement come out of existing budgets, and we haven't priced them.

Family farmers in this district are not asking for a handout. They are just asking for a fair shake.

That's the whole bill in brief. The rest of this page is the detail behind it, for anyone who wants to dig in.

See where it goes

Where the state's farm-market money goes

How to read this Money starts on the left and flows right along the streams; the moving dots show which way. A thicker stream carries more. Point at or tap a box or a stream to see the amounts.

The bill's amounts are one year of new money, on top of whatever the regular budget provides. We found no locker grant line in the agriculture, economic development or standings budget bills passed this year, but we did not read every budget bill, so the chart shows the last amount appropriated, not a zero. Last year's locker money came from the skilled worker fund. This bill's comes from the general fund. The state's grazing help today, the Cattle and Conservation Working Lands program, is left off the Today side: we found no yearly figure for it, and it does not reach our four counties. Right to repair has no appropriation, and we have not priced the Attorney General's cost to enforce it, so it is not shown. Neither is the agencies' other new work, which is also unpriced.

The same numbers, side by side

Today

  • The most the law allows each yearAntitrust settlement fund to All antitrust work
    $500,000
  • This school yearState general fund to Iowa food in schools
    $200,000
  • Last appropriated for the year that ended in JuneSkilled worker and job creation fund to Grants to local lockers
    $249,695

Under this bill

  • UnchangedAntitrust settlement fund to All antitrust work
    $500,000
  • NewState general fund to Farm competition unit
    $1,000,000
  • New, on top of any regular budget lineState general fund to Grants to local lockers
    $1,500,000
  • New, on top of the current programState general fund to Iowa food in schools
    $1,000,000
  • New fund that pays the price differenceState general fund to Iowa food at state institutions
    $500,000
  • New, open in every countyState general fund to Fence and water for cattle on pasture
    $2,000,000

The analysis

What it costs, and what we don't know yet

For anyone who wants the costs and the tradeoffs. Every figure is a range where the future is uncertain, and every one links back to where it came from.

The math

What it costs and who pays

  • Unchanged
    $500,000
  • New
    $1,000,000
  • New, on top of any regular budget line
    $1,500,000
  • New, on top of the current program
    $1,000,000
  • New fund that pays the price difference
    $500,000
  • New, open in every county
    $2,000,000
Under this bill, stream by stream. Each bar starts at zero, and they all share one scale. A pale band is a range; the analysis below says how it was built.

New state money: $6 million from the general fund, for the budget year that begins July 1, 2027. The bill appropriates one year only. Keeping any of it going takes a new appropriation each year, like any other budget line.

  • Farm competition unit, Department of Justice: $1,000,000. A state law can't direct a federal investigation. The unit enforces Iowa's own antitrust law, and can share what it finds with federal agencies and other states when a court allows it. The amount is a policy choice, not a priced staffing plan. For scale, current law already lets up to $500,000 a year from the state's antitrust fund, which holds money won in antitrust cases, go to all of the state's antitrust work (section 553.19). The unit's money comes on top of that. We haven't found a published figure for what the fund actually spends in a year.
  • Local meat processing: $1,500,000 for the Department of Agriculture's butchery innovation and revitalization grants. That's about what processors asked for in the last round: 23 requests totaling over $1.5 million, of which the state awarded $355,000. The agriculture budget passed in 2025, Senate File 646, gave the program $249,695 for the year that ended in June. We found no line for it in this year's agriculture budget, House File 2771, or in the economic development and standings budget bills, but we didn't read every budget bill, so we don't say it has no money. The sixty-day license deadline and the helper for small plants come out of the department's existing inspection budget. We haven't priced them.
  • Iowa food in schools: $1,000,000, on top of the $200,000 the Choose Iowa school purchasing program has this school year under House File 2771. The state pays a school one dollar for every dollar the school spends on Iowa food through the program, and current law lets the department spend up to 5 percent of the money running it.
  • Feed Iowa First fund: $500,000. This is the most the price preference can cost in a year. When the fund runs out, state institutions go back to taking the lowest bid. Up to 5 percent of it can go to running the program. We don't know how much state institutions spend on food, so we can't say how much Iowa food this will move. The bill makes each one report it every year, so that number will exist. Those reports are work for each institution's own staff, and we haven't priced it.
  • Grazing cost-share: $2,000,000 for a new fund at the Department of Agriculture's soil conservation division, paying up to 50 percent of the cost of fence and livestock water systems on pasture, and up to $20,000 for one person in a year. The division may keep up to 5 percent of the fund each year for running the program. At that cap, once that allowance is taken out, the money pays for about 95 full-size grants. Smaller projects stretch it to more producers. For scale, House File 2771 gives the division's main soil conservation line $8,185,000 this year, from the environment first fund, to cover the existing cost-share program, the conservation districts and administration. We don't have cost figures for fence or water systems, so we can't say how many miles of fence or how many tanks the money buys. The bill makes the division publish that by county every year.
  • Right to repair: no appropriation. The Attorney General enforces it under the consumer fraud law with the staff the office has. We haven't priced that work. The cost of making parts, tools and software available falls on manufacturers, and dealers may lose some repair business to independent shops. Because the bill makes diagnostic and repair software free to farmers and independent shops, manufacturers also give up whatever they would have charged them for it.

Who pays: state taxpayers, through the general fund, for the new money above and for the agency work we haven't priced. The cost of right to repair falls mostly on manufacturers and dealers.

If the work we haven't priced turns out to need more people, the state should pay for them rather than stretch meat inspectors and the Attorney General's office thinner.

Open questions

What we don't know yet

The latest USDA report puts the four biggest packers' share of fed cattle slaughter at 82 percent in 2024, and it was 77 percent in 2023. It is a national share of steer and heifer slaughter, not an Iowa figure. It also isn't new: it was 85 percent in 2012. I can't say the problem is getting worse, and I haven't confirmed who owns the four packers from a primary source.

We can't put a dollar figure on what that concentration costs an Iowa cattle producer. We didn't find a study we'd stand behind that measures it here.

Iowa family farm bankruptcies rose from 7 in 2024, to 18 in 2025. The federal courts' own tables show it, counting filings under the federal bankruptcy chapter written for family farmers, in both of Iowa's federal court districts. But all of the increase came in the Northern District, which went from 3 to 14. The Southern District, which takes in all four of our counties, had 4 in each year. These are small numbers, they count filings rather than farms that closed, and they don't tell us why anyone filed. I don't tie them to packers or input prices.

Iowa has 29,978,165 acres of land in farms, according to the Census of Agriculture taken in 2022. I couldn't find a good count of how much of the food Iowans eat is grown here. The only estimate I found is from a report Iowa State University's Leopold Center gave the Legislature in 2012, which said "it is estimated that only 14 percent is grown within the state." It doesn't show how that was estimated, and it's fourteen years old.

I can't promise the grants reach our district. Of the nine grants announced in September 2025, none went to a business in Appanoose, Davis, Monroe or Wapello County. The grazing program is open in every county, but nothing in it reserves money for southern Iowa. Its priority for pasture on highly erodible land may favor hilly ground like ours. I haven't mapped where that land is, so I won't claim it. If the first county report shows the grazing money isn't reaching southern Iowa, the next appropriation should set some aside for it, and the same goes for the locker grants.

Who gives something up

The tradeoffs

Right to repair isn't our idea alone, and in Iowa it isn't a party fight. House File 2763 passed the House 70 to 18 on April 27, 2026, and my opponent voted yes (House Journal). Lobbyists for the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Soybean Association, the Iowa Pork Producers Association, the Iowa Cattlemen's Association and the Iowa Farmers Union registered for it. Deere & Company, the Iowa Nebraska Farm Equipment Dealers Association and the Iowa Association of Business and Industry registered against it. That House vote is good news. The next Legislature should finish what the House started, with a way to make it stick. What this bill adds is a way to enforce it: a violation is an unlawful practice under the consumer fraud law, and the Attorney General can take a manufacturer to court over it. Like that House bill, it makes repair manuals and diagnostic software free, and it bars a manufacturer from requiring its authorization or an internet connection to use that software. It differs from the House bill in other ways too. It caps what a manufacturer may charge for parts, hardware tools and software updates at what its dealers pay, while the House bill asked only for fair and reasonable terms and costs. Any contract term that signs these rights away is void. Irrigation equipment is covered, though the House bill left it out. On the other side, a manufacturer may withhold a tool that would switch off emissions or safety controls or push an engine past its rated power, an exception the House bill didn't have. And this bill leaves out the House bill's second half, on who owns farm data. Its structure follows Colorado's law, signed in 2023.

Federal action may get much of this done for Deere owners anyway. In July 2026 the Federal Trade Commission and five states asked a federal court to approve a settlement that would require Deere to give farmers and independent shops the repair tools its dealers get, for ten years. Iowa wasn't one of the states. If the court approves it, this bill's biggest new effect is on the other manufacturers, and on what happens after those ten years. Even if the court approves it, a settlement covers one company. Farmers who run other brands need the same right today, and Deere owners will need it in year eleven. That's why it belongs in state law.

The Farm Bureau agreement isn't empty. The memorandum Deere signed with the American Farm Bureau Federation in January 2023, commits Deere to make tools, software and manuals available on fair terms. What it doesn't give a farmer is a way to make it stick: a farmer's disagreement with Deere or a dealer goes to good-faith consultation, and either side can withdraw from the agreement, including if a right-to-repair law passes. A promise is worth more when someone can enforce it, and under this bill that's the Attorney General's job.

Iowa already has a buy-Iowa rule. Under section 73.1, state bodies are supposed to buy Iowa-grown food when it costs no more, and section 8A.311 gives Iowa products preference when bids are comparable. So this bill's real change is letting state institutions pay more for Iowa food. That's what it's for, and it costs money. I think it's worth paying. The cost stops at what's in the fund, and the yearly reports will show whether state institutions are buying more Iowa food. They won't separate what the preference bought from what would have been bought anyway, so lawmakers should also ask the department what the fund paid out before putting more money in it. Schools on the federal lunch program are exempt from the Iowa rule, which is why the bill sends school money through the Choose Iowa grant instead.

The school program this bill builds on belongs to the Department of Agriculture. The Legislature made it permanent this year in the Iowa Farm Act, Senate File 2465, and funded it in House File 2771. This bill adds money to it. It's a good program and the right one to build on. The state should fund it like we mean it, and this bill is a start.

The state already helps cattle producers on pasture. The Department of Agriculture's Cattle and Conservation Working Lands program, which began in Taylor County in 2016, helps producers turn row-crop acres into pasture and hay. The department says more than 1,100 producers have taken part, more than 16,000 acres have been converted, and more than $11.7 million has come from the department (March release). This year it is expanding to more counties with Farm to Faucet money the Legislature passed this year (August release). None of the counties either announcement names is ours. The state's cost-share rules aren't blank on livestock either: they pay for fence that keeps livestock off newly planted trees and shrubs, and for a livestock water tank built into a pond structure, only if the structure is fenced. What they don't list is fence or water as a practice for grazing itself, which is what this bill funds. Working Lands is a good program, and it should keep growing. Cattle producers in Appanoose, Davis, Monroe and Wapello counties need help on pasture too, and this bill's grazing fund is open to them.

This program has its own condition: a producer who takes the money signs an agreement to graze that pasture under a written grazing plan for ten years. The STREAM Act, our water bill, asks anyone taking state conservation cost-share to manage the land under a nutrient plan, and on pasture a written grazing plan to the same federal standard counts as one. So a cattle producer who keeps this program's grazing plan meets the STREAM Act's condition too. The two bills ask the same thing of a cattle producer, not two different things. Ten years is a real commitment, and it should be. Public money for fence and water ought to build pasture that stays pasture.

Grants don't guarantee a locker stays open. A plant still has to find workers, customers and livestock to process. What the state can do is make it cheaper and quicker to get started. That's why the bill pairs the grants with a sixty-day license deadline and free help with the paperwork.

The draft text

The draft bill language

For legislators, reporters and anyone who wants the legal wording. This is our draft, written the way Iowa bills are written, so you can see exactly what we mean. If I'm elected, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office, the Legislative Services Agency, writes the version that gets filed, and the wording will change. Page one and the costs above are the commitment.

Read the draft bill language

Proposed legislation

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to competition in agricultural markets, including antitrust enforcement, local meat processing, agricultural equipment repair, purchasing of Iowa-grown food, and livestock grazing infrastructure, making appropriations, and including effective date provisions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

Section 1. NEW SECTION. Agricultural competition unit. This section joins chapter 553.

1. For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

a. “Agricultural input” means seed, fertilizer, crop protection products, animal feed, animal health products, or agricultural equipment and repair parts.

b. “Agricultural market” means a market in which agricultural producers buy agricultural inputs, or sell livestock, grain, milk, or other agricultural commodities.

c. “Agricultural producer” means a person who produces crops or livestock in this state.

2. An agricultural competition unit is established in the department of justice. The unit shall investigate conduct in agricultural markets that may be prohibited by this chapter, and the attorney general shall bring actions under this chapter concerning agricultural markets as the attorney general determines appropriate.

3. The unit shall receive complaints from agricultural producers about conduct in agricultural markets, and shall accept complaints by telephone, by mail, and on the internet site of the department of justice.

4. The attorney general may cooperate with the United States department of justice, the federal trade commission, the United States department of agriculture, and the attorneys general of other states in investigating and prosecuting conduct in agricultural markets, and may apply to the court for authorization to disclose material for the purposes of interstate cooperation as provided in section 553.9, subsection 3.

5. By January 15 of each year, the attorney general shall submit a report to the general assembly, and publish it on the internet site of the department of justice, stating for the previous fiscal year, by type of agricultural market, the number of complaints received, investigations opened, actions brought, and actions resolved, and the result of each resolved action. The report shall not disclose material that is confidential under section 553.9.

6. Moneys appropriated for the unit are in addition to moneys appropriated from the antitrust fund under section 553.19, subsection 2.

Sec. 2. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE —— AGRICULTURAL COMPETITION UNIT —— APPROPRIATION. There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of justice for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027, and ending June 30, 2028, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:

For the purpose of implementing and administering the agricultural competition unit, including salaries, support, maintenance, and miscellaneous purposes:

$1,000,000

Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. Small meat processors —— license decisions and assistance. This section joins chapter 189A.

1. For purposes of this section, “small meat processor” means a person that operates, or applies to operate, an establishment that slaughters or processes livestock or poultry, including a custom locker, and that employs fewer than two hundred full-time nonseasonal individuals.

2. The department shall approve or deny a complete application from a small meat processor for a license under section 189A.3 within sixty days after the department receives it. If the department denies the application, the department shall state in writing the reasons for the denial and what the applicant must do to qualify for the license.

3. The department shall designate at least one employee to help small meat processors meet the requirements of this chapter and the rules adopted under it, including sanitation and hazard analysis plans and labels. The department shall not charge a small meat processor for this help.

Sec. 4. NEW SECTION. Butchery innovation and revitalization program —— priorities. This section joins chapter 187.

In awarding financial assistance under the butchery innovation and revitalization program established by 2026 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2465, section 16, the department shall give priority, in addition to the priorities provided in that program, to projects that add slaughter or processing capacity available to independent livestock producers. The department may award financial assistance under that program for the cost of preparing the plans and completing the training required for a license under section 189A.3.

Sec. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND LAND STEWARDSHIP —— BUTCHERY INNOVATION AND REVITALIZATION PROGRAM —— SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION. There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of agriculture and land stewardship for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027, and ending June 30, 2028, in addition to any other funding appropriated for such purpose for the same fiscal year, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:

For the purpose of implementing and administering the butchery innovation and revitalization program established by 2026 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2465, section 16:

$1,500,000

Sec. 6. NEW SECTION. Agricultural equipment —— right to repair. This section joins chapter 322F.

1. For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

a. “Agricultural equipment” means equipment designed primarily for use in farming, including tractors, combines, sprayers, planters, tillage implements, balers, and other equipment used to plant, cultivate, or harvest crops or to raise livestock, and attachments to and repair parts for that equipment. “Agricultural equipment” does not include a vehicle designed primarily to carry persons or property on a street or highway, an all-terrain vehicle, a snowmobile, or an aircraft.

b. “Authorized repair provider” means a person, including an equipment dealer, that a manufacturer has authorized to diagnose, maintain, or repair the manufacturer’s agricultural equipment.

c. “Independent repair provider” means a person in this state that diagnoses, maintains, or repairs agricultural equipment and is not an authorized repair provider for the manufacturer of that equipment.

d. “Manufacturer” means a person that manufactures agricultural equipment and sells, leases, or otherwise supplies it in this state.

e. “Owner” means a person that owns or leases agricultural equipment in this state, or the person’s agent.

f. “Repair resources” means documentation, including manuals, diagrams, and service code descriptions; parts; embedded software and firmware, including updates and patches; diagnostic and repair tools, including software tools; and, with the owner’s authorization, data generated by the owner’s agricultural equipment; that a manufacturer makes available to its authorized repair providers for the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of the manufacturer’s agricultural equipment.

2. A manufacturer shall make the repair resources for its agricultural equipment available to an owner and to an independent repair provider on fair and reasonable terms, and, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, at a cost no greater than the manufacturer charges its authorized repair providers. A manufacturer shall make documentation available at no charge, except that the manufacturer may charge a fee for a printed copy that covers only the manufacturer’s actual cost to print and send it. A manufacturer shall make diagnostic and repair tools that are software programs available to an owner and to an independent repair provider at no charge, without requiring authorization or internet access, and without otherwise imposing impediments to their access or use.

3. A manufacturer shall make available to an owner and to an independent repair provider the repair resources needed to reset an electronic security lock or similar function that is disabled in the course of a diagnosis, maintenance, or repair, and to pair a new part with the agricultural equipment so that the part and the equipment work together.

4. Terms are not fair and reasonable if they require an owner or independent repair provider to become an authorized repair provider, or require a part or tool to be registered with, paired by, or approved by the manufacturer or an authorized repair provider before the part or tool will work, except through the repair resources the manufacturer makes available under subsection 3.

5. This section does not require a manufacturer to do any of the following:

a. Make available a part that is no longer available to the manufacturer.

b. Divulge a trade secret, except that a manufacturer shall not refuse to make available a repair resource that is necessary to diagnose, maintain, or repair agricultural equipment on the ground that the repair resource is itself a trade secret.

c. Make available a repair resource that would allow a person to disable or override emissions controls or safety systems required by federal or state law, or to raise the engine power output of agricultural equipment beyond the manufacturer’s specifications.

6. A manufacturer or an authorized repair provider is not liable for damage to agricultural equipment, or for loss of its use, caused by a diagnosis, maintenance, or repair performed by an owner or an independent repair provider.

7. A provision of a contract, license, or other agreement that waives or limits a right of an owner or an independent repair provider under this section is void and unenforceable.

8. A violation of this section is an unlawful practice under section 714.16. The attorney general may enforce this section as provided in section 714.16.

Sec. 7. NEW SECTION. Feed Iowa First —— state institution purchasing of Iowa-grown food. This section joins chapter 73.

1. For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

a. “Department” means the department of agriculture and land stewardship.

b. “Iowa-grown food” means meat and poultry, dairy products, grains, flour, eggs, honey, and produce that are raised or grown in this state.

c. “State institution” means a department, board, commission, or other agency of state government that buys food to serve to residents, patients, students, inmates, or employees, including the institutions governed by the state board of regents.

2. When a state institution buys food by competitive bid or quotation, the state institution may award the contract to a responsible bidder offering Iowa-grown food whose price is not more than 5 percent higher than the lowest responsible bid for comparable food that is not Iowa-grown.

3. The Feed Iowa First fund is created in the state treasury under the control of the department. The department shall pay each state institution, from the fund, the difference between the price the state institution paid under subsection 2, and the lowest responsible bid. A state institution shall not award a contract under subsection 2, when the department certifies that the fund does not have enough money to pay the difference. The department may use not more than five percent of the moneys in the fund in a fiscal year to administer this section. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys in the fund that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the close of each fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain available for expenditure.

4. By October 1 of each year, each state institution shall report to the department the total amount it spent on food in the previous fiscal year and the amount it spent on Iowa-grown food. By December 31 of each year, the department shall publish a statewide summary of the reports on its internet site.

5. This section is in addition to the preferences provided in section 73.1 and section 8A.311.

6. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to implement and administer this section, including how a bidder shows that food is Iowa-grown food.

Sec. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND LAND STEWARDSHIP —— FEED IOWA FIRST FUND —— APPROPRIATION. There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of agriculture and land stewardship for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027, and ending June 30, 2028, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:

For deposit in the Feed Iowa First fund created by this Act:

$500,000

Sec. 9. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND LAND STEWARDSHIP —— CHOOSE IOWA SCHOOL PURCHASING PROGRAM —— SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION. There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of agriculture and land stewardship for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027, and ending June 30, 2028, in addition to any other funding appropriated for such purpose for the same fiscal year, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:

For the purpose of implementing and administering the choose Iowa school purchasing program established by 2026 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2465, section 7:

$1,000,000

Sec. 10. NEW SECTION. Grazing infrastructure cost-share program. This section joins chapter 161A.

1. For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

a. “Division” means the division of soil conservation and water quality of the department of agriculture and land stewardship.

b. “Grazing infrastructure” means any of the following, installed to manage livestock grazing on pasture in this state:

(1) Permanent perimeter or interior fence, including fence that keeps livestock out of streams, ponds, or timber.

(2) Livestock watering facilities, including tanks, pipelines, wells, spring developments, and pumps that supply water to livestock on pasture.

c. “Grazing plan” means a written plan for grazing the pasture served by the grazing infrastructure that meets the prescribed grazing conservation practice standard of the natural resources conservation service of the United States department of agriculture in effect for this state.

2. The division shall establish a voluntary grazing infrastructure cost-share program, administered through the soil and water conservation districts, to help persons who raise livestock on pasture establish grazing infrastructure.

3. Cost-share moneys under this section shall not exceed 50 percent of the estimated cost of establishing the grazing infrastructure, or 50 percent of the actual cost, whichever is less, and shall not exceed $20,000 for a person in a fiscal year. Replacement of an existing fence is eligible only if the complete fence is replaced.

4. In awarding cost-share moneys, the division shall give priority to pasture on highly erodible land, to beginning farmers, and to persons who have not previously received cost-share moneys for grazing infrastructure.

5. A person receiving cost-share moneys shall sign an agreement with the division to maintain the grazing infrastructure and to graze the pasture it serves under a grazing plan for at least ten years. A person who violates the agreement shall repair or replace the grazing infrastructure or repay the cost-share moneys received.

6. A person shall not receive cost-share moneys under this section and under section 161A.73 for the same grazing infrastructure.

7. A grazing infrastructure cost-share fund is created in the state treasury under the control of the division. Moneys in the fund are appropriated to the division for the purposes of this section. The division may use not more than five percent of the moneys in the fund in a fiscal year to administer this section. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys in the fund that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the close of each fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain available for expenditure.

8. By December 31 of each year, the division shall publish on its internet site, for the previous fiscal year and by county, the number of cost-share agreements, the amount of cost-share moneys paid, and the feet of fence and number of watering facilities established.

9. The division shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to implement and administer this section.

Sec. 11. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND LAND STEWARDSHIP —— GRAZING INFRASTRUCTURE COST-SHARE FUND —— APPROPRIATION. There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of agriculture and land stewardship for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027, and ending June 30, 2028, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:

For deposit in the grazing infrastructure cost-share fund created by this Act:

$2,000,000

Sec. 12. PAY-AS-YOU-GO SCORECARD. This Act is subject to the pay-as-you-go scorecard.

Sec. 13. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect July 1, 2027.

EXPLANATION

The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.

This bill relates to competition in agricultural markets.

The bill creates an agricultural competition unit in the department of justice to investigate and bring actions under the Iowa competition law in the markets where farmers buy seed, fertilizer, feed, and equipment and sell livestock, grain, and milk. The unit takes complaints from farmers. The attorney general may work with federal antitrust agencies and other states, and must report each year what the unit did. The bill appropriates $1,000,000 to the department of justice for the unit, in addition to the antitrust fund money current law already provides.

The bill requires the department of agriculture and land stewardship to decide a small meat processor’s complete license application within sixty days, explain any denial, and give small processors free help meeting inspection requirements. It directs the department’s butchery innovation and revitalization grants, created by Senate File 2465 of the 91st General Assembly, toward projects that add processing capacity for independent livestock producers and lets them pay for the plans and training a license requires. It appropriates $1,500,000 to that program.

The bill requires a manufacturer of agricultural equipment to make the parts, tools, software, firmware, documentation, and, with the owner’s permission, equipment data it provides to its dealers available to equipment owners and independent repair shops on fair and reasonable terms, at no more than it charges its dealers, including what is needed to reset security locks and pair new parts. Repair manuals and other documentation must be free, except for the actual cost of a printed copy. Diagnostic and repair software must be free, and the manufacturer may not require authorization or internet access to use it. A manufacturer need not give up trade secrets or tools that would defeat emissions or safety controls. A manufacturer or dealer is not liable for repairs others make. A contract term that waives these rights is void. A violation is an unlawful practice under the consumer fraud law, enforced by the attorney general.

The bill lets a state institution, including a regents institution, buy Iowa-grown food at up to 5 percent above the lowest bid, with the difference paid from a new Feed Iowa First fund, and requires each state institution to report how much of its food spending goes to Iowa-grown food. It appropriates $500,000 to the fund and $1,000,000 to the choose Iowa school purchasing program.

The bill creates a voluntary grazing infrastructure cost-share program in the division of soil conservation and water quality, run through the soil and water conservation districts, for fence and livestock water systems on pasture. The state pays up to 50 percent of the cost, up to $20,000 for a person in a year, with priority for pasture on highly erodible land, beginning farmers, and first-time applicants. A person who takes the money must maintain the fence or water system and graze under a written grazing plan for ten years, and cannot be paid twice for the same practice under the existing cost-share program. The division publishes results by county each year. The bill appropriates $2,000,000 to the program’s fund.

The bill is subject to the pay-as-you-go scorecard, which a separate bill would create. In any fiscal year, the bill’s cost to the general fund is limited to the savings the scorecard counts against it.

The bill takes effect July 1, 2027.

Sources

Where every number comes from

For anyone checking our work. Each figure with the site it came from and the day we checked it, and each law the bill cites.

Show every source

Figures

  • 82 percentIn 2024, four packers handled 82 percent of the nation's federally inspected steer and heifer slaughter.ams.usda.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 77 percentThe latest USDA report puts the four biggest packers' share of fed cattle slaughter at 82 percent in 2024, and it was 77 percent in 2023.ams.usda.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 85 percentams.usda.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 85 percentIt also isn't new: it was 85 percent in 2012.ams.usda.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 7Iowa family farm bankruptcies rose from 7 in 2024, to 18 in 2025.uscourts.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 18Iowa family farm bankruptcies rose from 7 in 2024, to 18 in 2025.uscourts.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 3But all of the increase came in the Northern District, which went from 3 to 14.uscourts.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 14But all of the increase came in the Northern District, which went from 3 to 14.uscourts.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 4The Southern District, which takes in all four of our counties, had 4 in each year.uscourts.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 23That's about what processors asked for in the last round: 23 requests totaling over $1.5 million, of which the state awarded $355,000.iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • over $1.5 millionIn the state's last grant round, small processors asked for over $1.5 million and got $355,000.iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • $355,000In the state's last grant round, small processors asked for over $1.5 million and got $355,000.iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • $249,695The agriculture budget passed in 2025, Senate File 646, gave the program $249,695 for the year that ended in June.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • $200,000Iowa food in schools: $1,000,000, on top of the $200,000 the Choose Iowa school purchasing program has this school year under House File 2771.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 125This fall Choose Iowa gave 125 schools about $1,600 each.iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • $1,600This fall Choose Iowa gave 125 schools about $1,600 each.iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • $500,000For scale, current law already lets up to $500,000 a year from the state's antitrust fund, which holds money won in antitrust cases, go to all of the state's antitrust work (section 553.19).legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 70 to 18House File 2763 passed the House 70 to 18 and stalled in the Senate.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 29,978,165Iowa has 29,978,165 acres of land in farms, according to the Census of Agriculture taken in 2022.nass.usda.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 20 millionnass.usda.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 14 percentThe only estimate I found is from a report Iowa State University's Leopold Center gave the Legislature in 2012, which said "it is estimated that only 14 percent is grown within the state." It doesn't show how that was estimated, and it's fourteen years old.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • $8,185,000For scale, House File 2771 gives the division's main soil conservation line $8,185,000 this year, from the environment first fund, to cover the existing cost-share program, the conservation districts and administration.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 1,100The department says more than 1,100 producers have taken part, more than 16,000 acres have been converted, and more than $11.7 million has come from the department (March release).iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • 16,000The department says more than 1,100 producers have taken part, more than 16,000 acres have been converted, and more than $11.7 million has come from the department (March release).iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27
  • $11.7 millionThe department says more than 1,100 producers have taken part, more than 16,000 acres have been converted, and more than $11.7 million has come from the department (March release).iowaagriculture.govchecked 2026-09-27

Laws cited

  • chapter 553The Iowa Competition Law. The attorney general enforces it (553.7) and may investigate by written demand (553.9). Section 1 of the bill joins it.legis.iowa.gov
  • 553.9Antitrust investigations by written demand. Subsection 3 keeps what an investigation produces confidential unless a court authorizes disclosure for interstate cooperation in enforcing this chapter and similar state and federal laws. legis.iowa.gov
  • 553.19The antitrust fund, which holds antitrust judgment and settlement money. Subsection 2 appropriates up to $500,000 a year from it for antitrust enforcement and education.legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 189AThe Meat and Poultry Inspection Act, the state inspection program for meat and poultry establishments. Section 3 of the bill joins it.legis.iowa.gov
  • 189A.3A meat or poultry establishment needs a license from the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. It sets the fee but no deadline for the department to act on an application.legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 187The Choose Iowa Act, home of the Choose Iowa programs. Section 4 of the bill joins it.legis.iowa.gov
  • SF 2465The 2026 Iowa Farm Act (enrolled). Sec. 7 (pp. 3-4) creates the choose Iowa school purchasing program, which matches a school's purchases of Iowa food dollar for dollar and lets the department spend up to 5 percent on administration. Sec. 16 (pp. 6-8) creates the butchery innovation and revitalization program for small meat processors, custom lockers and mobile slaughter units; Sec. 17 repeals the older program in section 15E.370. legis.iowa.gov
  • SF 646The 2025 agriculture and natural resources appropriations act. Sec. 4 (p. 2) gave the butchery program $249,695 from the skilled worker and job creation fund for the year beginning July 1, 2025.legis.iowa.gov
  • HF 2771The 2026 agriculture and natural resources appropriations act (enrolled). Sec. 5 (p. 6) appropriates $200,000 for the choose Iowa school purchasing program for the year beginning July 1, 2026; p. 5 funds the Choose Iowa fund and food bank purchasing; Sec. 18(4) (p. 15) funds soil and water conservation from the environment first fund. It has no butchery program line. legis.iowa.gov
  • HF 2763The 2026 agricultural equipment repair and agricultural data bill, as amended and passed by the House April 27, 2026, 70-18. Division I required manufacturers to make repair documentation, parts, software, firmware, tools and data available on fair and reasonable terms, with documentation and software repair tools at no charge and without requiring authorization or internet access, and with no enforcement provision of its own. Division II set agricultural data ownership rights enforced under the consumer fraud law. It was referred to a Senate Ways and Means subcommittee and went no further. legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 322FEquipment dealership agreements, including agricultural equipment dealers and their suppliers. Section 6 of the bill joins it.legis.iowa.gov
  • 714.16The consumer fraud law. The attorney general enforces unlawful practices under it with injunctions, restitution and civil penalties.legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 73Preferences for Iowa products and labor in public purchasing. Section 7 of the bill joins it.legis.iowa.gov
  • 73.1State and local governing bodies must use Iowa-grown products when available in marketable quantities, of suitable quality, and "without additional cost". It does not apply to a school district buying food while in the federal school lunch or breakfast program. legis.iowa.gov
  • 8A.311State competitive bidding. Iowa products and Iowa-based businesses get preference when their bids are comparable in price.legis.iowa.gov
  • 8.33Unspent appropriations revert at the end of the fiscal year unless the law says otherwise. The Feed Iowa First fund is exempted.legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 161ASoil and water conservation, including the soil and water conservation districts and the state's voluntary cost-share programs. Section 10 of the bill joins it.legis.iowa.gov
  • 161A.73The division's voluntary financial incentive (cost-share) programs, generally up to 50 percent of the cost of permanent practices such as terraces and grassed waterways. Subsection 3 separately reimburses part of the cost of fence that keeps livestock off forest land. Rules under it list the eligible practices; the list has no grazing fence or livestock watering practice of its own. legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 17AThe Iowa Administrative Procedure Act, under which the department adopts rules for the Feed Iowa First program.legis.iowa.gov