Resiliency is the theme for the Iowa Pork Producers as the Association prepares for the 2026 Iowa Legislative Session.
Director of public policy Harrison Furlow says policy priorities are focused on ensuring producers are capable of being resilient in their operations.
“And that sort of comes through two ways that we’re supporting legislation. That would be the Iowa Farm Act and Iowa State University’s legislative request, which in different ways ensures that there’s long-term resilience in our industry.”
He tells Brownfield the Iowa Farm Act would strengthen rural veterinary services, safeguard producer confidentiality during disease response, and ensure rapid response to major animal disease outbreaks.
“On the Iowa State side, we also see a lot of opportunity to embrace this theme of resiliency by investing in an ag experiment station (and) investing in ag extension, especially when it comes to enhancing production livestock systems and data management.”
Furlow says there’s also $600,000 in ag appropriations towards the Iowa State University Diagnostic Lab, the largest food animal-focused diagnostic lab in the country.
