In Iowa, voters have their eye on the second congressional district. The seat is up for grabs next month, with a long-term congressman vacating the seat.
Democrat Dave Loebsack has served the district for seven terms; it covers the southeast portion of the state. Many say with his absence, this is now a swing district. The race pits Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a state lawmaker, against Democrat Rita Hart.
Rita Hart, a teacher and farmer, is hoping to earn a seat representing the second congressional district of Iowa. She says that farmers should lead policy discussions in the next Farm Bill.
“I think that there’s definitely room in that Farm Bill to do a lot of exciting things that will that us into some great solutions to clean up our water, to conserve our soil, and to make a difference on what we need to do to mitigate what’s going to challenge us as farmers when it comes to climate change,” she states.
Hart believes stronger antitrust enforcement would improve the supply chain.
According to Hart, “I think there’s too much consolidation in the industry, obviously. So, it would make more sense to have more farmers producing locally and having that connection with the consumer than it is to have a few of these multinational corporations that then cause us problems with the supply chain.”
She wants to see more trade alliances with other countries, to help hold China accountable.
“We have to recognize that China is a huge trade partner for us and the only way I believe we can do that successfully is by creating alliances with other countries who have similar interests as the United States does, in order to come away with some trade policy that’s actually going to hold China accountable and create the king of trade situation that’s going to be advantageous for the American farmer,” she notes.
Hart says that she understands the need for broadband access in rural communities.
“We’ve particularly seen how important it is in this time of pandemic when not everyone has access to rural broadband or either inaccessibility or unaffordability,” she adds. “It’s so important to us that we have the ability to work from home, that farmers have the ability to access to the technology they need, no matter what farm they are working on.”
On the campaign trail, she visited biofuels refiners outside Newton, Iowa. She says that she wants to create a strategic plan to help the country transition to more clean energy.
For the full interview, click HERE.
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