Voting delegates at the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation’s (IFBF) 2021 Summer Policy Conference in Des Moines last week adopted policy supporting incentives to expand capacity and workforce training for small-scale meat processors.

“We have an opportunity in this state right now to expand local meat processing,” said Joe Heinrich, IFBF vice president and a Jackson County farmer. “People want to buy local. They want to see their neighbor and buy from them, but the challenge is our processing facilities can’t handle the influx of demand.” 

Delegates also supported policies aimed at protecting landowner property rights for rural zoning, non-agricultural development and renewable energy projects.

The two-day policy conference marked the culmination of IFBF’s yearlong policy development process, which solicits ...