Cornhole Champions #15: Dancing on the graves of bad bills (w/ Giselle Bruskewitz)

By Amie Rivers

March 12, 2025

Iowa’s farmers and food producers are facing a crisis that’s been brewing behind the scenes at the US Department of Agriculture. Since President Donald Trump took office and his number two billionaire Elon Musk has been taking a club to federal programs, the consequences have been mounting.

And now Iowa food growers are left with the bill.

The USDA has frozen nearly $7 million in promised funding, leaving hundreds of local farms and food businesses in limbo during the critical spring planting season.

On this episode of Cornhole Champions, hosts Zachary Oren Smith speaks with Giselle Bruskewitz of Iowa Valley RC&D a group that administers the entire program that was to help build more resilient foodways, but now is leaving a lot of Iowans in the cold.

“It’s a slap in the face. It’s really devastating. It’s the 11th hour. It’s past the 11th hour for some. The produce farmers already have seeds coming up in the greenhouses. The meat farmers have already booked locker dates,” Burskewitz said. “And so the sales projections and what these farmers have been planning all winter for this growing season is now putting them in a really precarious situation where they have to either find other markets.”

Join the conversation with Starting Line’s community editor Amie Rivers and Zach as they break down the what bills are dead and which bills shouldn’t be.

Links:
1. Iowa lawmakers introduced 1,500+ bills this session. Which survived the ‘funnel’ deadline? (Des Moines Register): https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/09/iowa-legislature-2025-funnel-week-dei-ban-medicaid-work-requirements-vaccines-abortion/78026470007/

2. Here are the bills that advanced during the Iowa Legislature’s first deadline of 2025 (Iowa Public Radio): https://www.iowapublicradio.org/state-government-news/2025-03-07/here-are-the-bills-that-advanced-during-the-iowa-legislatures-first-deadline-of-2025

3. What bills are still moving at the Iowa Capitol this year? (The Gazette): https://www.thegazette.com/state-government/what-bills-still-are-moving-at-the-iowa-capitol-this-year/

Guest:
Giselle Bruskewitz is the program director at Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development.

Cornhole Champions is a weekly podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line with music by Avery Mossman. We are a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative.

Amie Rivers

Amie Rivers is Iowa Starting Line's newsletter editor. She writes the weekly Worker’s Almanac edition of Iowa Starting Line, featuring a roundup of the worker news you need to know. Previously, she was an award-winning journalist at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier; now, she very much enjoys making TikToks and memes and getting pet photos in her inbox.

Have a story tip? Reach Amie at [email protected]. For local reporting in Iowa that connects the dots, from policy to people, sign up for Amie's newsletter.

View all posts

CATEGORIES: LOCAL VIDEO

Support Our Cause

Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Iowans and our future.

Since day one, our goal here at Iowa Starting Line has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Iowan families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.