Feenstra

It has now been a little over a year since more than 77 million Americans voted for President Trump in a landslide victory. From stopping the largest tax hike in U.S. history to completely shutting down our border, President Trump and Republicans in Congress have worked hard to deliver on this mandate and usher in an era of American greatness and prosperity. One of President Trump’s main focuses since his election has been supporting our farmers and producers. He knows that agriculture is the backbone of states like Iowa, and I’m working with him, as the only member of Congress serving on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, to support our farming community.

In a huge win for agriculture, President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum officially added both phosphate and potash to the final Critical Minerals List, which is a compilation of 60 minerals critical to our economy and national security yet face potential supply disruptions. This is a request that I helped lead to ensure that our farmers have access to the affordable inputs they need to feed and fuel our country and the world. The inclusion of phosphate and potash to the final Critical Minerals List will help us lower input costs, increase domestic production, and protect Iowa farmers from outsized dependence on foreign countries for phosphate and potash. I will continue to work to bring down fertilizer costs and ensure that our farmers and rural communities are successful.

President Trump has also delivered a slate of trade deals for Iowa agriculture. He recently struck a strong agreement with China, ensuring that Iowa soybeans could be sold to this enormous and consequential market. As part of this deal, China will immediately purchase 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans and another 25 million metric tons annually. Bangladesh also agreed to buy $1 billion worth of U.S. soybeans, ensuring that our high-quality farm products have markets across the globe. Furthermore, President Trump has also made trade deals with Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom. Japan will buy $8 billion worth of U.S. agricultural goods and Taiwan will buy $10 billion worth of our farm products, both of which include Iowa corn and soybeans, while the U.K. will purchase $750 million of U.S. ethanol and $250 million of U.S. beef. Vietnam will specifically buy $800 million of Iowa agricultural products, including corn and soybeans. President Trump will continue to open export markets and deliver for agriculture.

As part of President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts, we secured many important provisions beneficial to Iowa farmers and producers. We increased the death tax exemption to $15 million, doubled 179 expensing to help farmers finance equipment purchases, and made permanent the 20% deduction on qualified business income for family farms and small businesses. We also made crop insurance more affordable at higher levels of coverage, increased reference prices for corn from $3.70 to $4.10 and for soybeans from $8.40 to $10, and invested in foreign animal disease prevention and response. Now, I am focused on getting a new, five-year Farm Bill passed and signed into law to deliver relief and certainty for our producers. I’m truly grateful to President Trump for supporting Iowa farmers and the American heartland, and I am eager to see all that we can continue to achieve for our farming and rural communities.

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Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, represents Iowa’s Fourth District in the U.S. House.