U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins presented the steer Snoop Dog at the Governor’s Charity Steer Show during the Iowa State Fair Aug. 9, 2025. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins came to the Iowa State Fair Saturday to compete in the Governor’s Charity Steer Show — and to announce $152 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture investments for Iowa rural development projects.
Before heading to the Livestock Pavillion to show the steer Snoop Dog, Rollins announced that 19 projects in Iowa would receive funding through USDA Rural Development grant and loan programs. The announcement was made at a news conference where she was joined by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and state Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.
Approved projects include a $37 million loan for the Guthrie County Hospital in Guthrie Center to expand and renovate its facility, a $5 million grant and $39 million loan for the City of Emmetsburg to replace its wastewater treatment facility, and a $27.7 million loan to the Southern Sioux County Rural Water System for the building of new wells, a treatment plant and transmission lines in Plymouth and Sioux Counties.
“This unprecedented, coordinated rural development project will help boost the rural economies, develop rural infrastructure and encourage private investments,” Rollins said.
Reynolds celebrated the investment and thanked Rollins for working closely with Iowa, saying “during this time of uncertainty in the ag economy, I’m so grateful to have a partner that we can rely on.”
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Gov. Kim Reynolds held a news conference at the Iowa State Fair Aug. 9, 2025 on new investments in Iowa through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
She said the new investments will make a difference in rural Iowa communities. Reynolds said when she visited the Guthrie County Hospital in May, where she signed a law aimed at expanding medical training opportunities and rural health care access, the hospital CEO had told her about how much of a difference the USDA funding would make in helping the facility continue to provide health care in their community.
Rollins said the investment is part of a larger effort from President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress aimed at “putting farmers first again,” which she said is also being done through new international trade agreements, investments in farm safety net programs and agriculture components of the budget reconciliation bill passed.
Though much of the focus on discussing the “big, beautiful bill” has surrounded the cuts and changes to public assistance programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Rollins said the bill “protected two million family farms from the death tax,” increased reference prices and extended clean fuel production tax credits.
“Most of the mainstream media focused on, ‘Oh, these horrible cuts that are going to cause death and destruction across the world’ — which, of course, none of that was true,” Rollins said. “In fact, we were investing more money, Congress was, into our agriculture sector and putting farmers first.”
Some agriculture policy advocates have said the budget reconciliation bill, which cuts SNAP funding while increasing spending on farm subsidies, will further consolidate the agriculture industry and benefit wealthy farmers.
It’s the second event Reynolds and Rollins have held together this week. On Monday, the Iowa governor was in Washington, D.C. for a news conference where Rollins signed six waivers approving restrictions on purchases of certain food items through the SNAP. Rollins approved Iowa’s waiver to limit unhealthy foods available to buy through SNAP in May.
USDA also approved an Iowa waiver to implement an summer eating program for kids, called Healthy Kids Iowa, earlier in the year. The demonstration project, providing a box of food valued at $40 each month for families in need through 264 access points across the state, is an alternative to the SUN Bucks program, also known as Summer EBT, that provides $120 per child each month during the summer to eligible families that can be used at retailers accepting SNAP.
Both of these efforts are aimed at reducing unhealthy eating habits, the governor said, though hunger advocates have argued these steps make it more difficult for Iowans to access food assistance.
Rollins also spoke on her announcement in July for the USDA to restructure and consolidate parts of the agency, in part by relocating some of USDA workforce outside of Washington, D.C. to five regional hubs in North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and Utah.
The list has “no Iowa, but there are more announcements coming,” Rollins said. She said Iowa is well represented at the USDA, with many agency employees in the state and several Iowans in USDA leadership positions.
“The bottom line is moving the power out of Washington, returning the government to the people, and having people that are better able to serve our constituents, who are closer to them,” Rollins said. “So that is the bigger (arch), but more news coming in the days to come.”