By Cami Koons
Iowa Capital Dispatch

Iowa Farmers Union has not endorsed federal candidates for at least 14 years, but is urging farmers to vote for Josh Turek in the race for U.S. Senate, and the rest of the Democrats running to represent Iowa in Congress. 

Aaron Lehman, Iowa Farmers Union president said Friday “the time demands it” as farmers look at record high diesel prices, multiple years with rising input prices, “chaotic” trade deals and overall slim bottom lines. 

“The times demand that we step forward and say we need a loud voice standing up for farmers and for Iowa values,” Lehman said. 

Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs, is running against U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson to fill the Senate seat left open by Sen. Joni Ernst’s decision to not run for reelection. 

Turek’s platform includes calls for right to repair legislation, mandatory country of origin labeling, cracking down on agribusiness consolidation that has driven up input costs and undoing Republican and Trump administration policies related to trade and healthcare cuts. 

Hinson, who has been endorsed by the PACs for Iowa Farm Bureau and Iowa Corn Growers Association, has supported farm policies to allow nationwide, year-round access to E15 fuel, transparency in the fertilizer industry and preventing laws in other states from interfering with livestock production. 

While Iowa Farmers Union regularly endorses candidates, typically Democrats, for the Iowa Legislature, Lehman said this is the first time in the 14 years he has been part of the union’s leadership that the group has endorsed federal candidates.

Lehman spoke from his farm in Polk County ahead of a scheduled visit from President Donald Trump to Iowa in support of Hinson and other Republicans on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. Trump canceled the rally Thursday night but news outlets confirmed Friday the event was back on for Sunday in Dubuque.

The organic row crop farmer said the scheduling back and forth reminded farmers of Trump’s tariff policy, which he said has been “chaotic.” A trade war with China caused a period in 2025 where the country purchased no soybeans from the U.S., though Trump later negotiated a trade deal that included soybean purchases. 

“Farmers all know that we need to get a fair trade – that makes a real difference on our farm, and a real difference for our workers,” Lehman said. “But tariff after tariff after tariff has gotten us no closer to fair trade for what we grow and for what we purchase for inputs.” 

Lehman said the administration’s decision to go to war with Iran was another example of policy that “dug a deep hole and threw farmers into that hole.” The war has disrupted global trade on oil and fertilizer. Recently diesel fuel prices across the country rose to more than $6 a gallon. 

The spike in fuel prices is also hitting during harvest season. Lehman motioned to the combine behind him and said fueling that one piece of machinery cost $300 more, per day, this year than it did the year prior.

In addition to suspending restrictions on dyed diesel fuel to support farmers, USDA announced it had made $8 billion available to farmers in one-time relief payments. This was on top of a $12 billion aid package to farmers announced at the end of 2025. 

“This follows a disturbing trend of crisis caused by policy blunders, followed by an enormous monetary bailout that is needed to try to cover up the damage,” Lehman said. “But the damage underneath is still there, and the cause still hasn’t been fixed.” 

In 2025 Congress did not extend enhanced tax credits to the Affordable Care Act, which Lehman said caused healthcare costs for himself and many farm families to significantly increase. 

He argued that changes to Medicaid programs made in the Republican-led One Big Beautiful Bill Act, have “accelerated the decline of our rural health system.” The health policy organization KFF estimated the bill’s provisions would reduce federal Medicaid spending in rural areas by $137 billion. The bill also created a Rural Health Transformation Program to award $50 billion in state grants from 2026 to 2030. 

“When we’re thinking about how we can bring the next generation onto the farm, how can we expect that to happen if we can’t even provide basic health services in our rural areas?” Lehman said. 

Farm bill

While the One Big Beautiful Bill  Act extended several farm programs and increased reference prices — an element used to calculate farm program benefits — Lehman said the prices “still don’t meet current conditions.”

Farm benefits are authorized through the farm bill, which is typically reevaluated every five years, but hasn’t been updated since 2018. 

Lawmakers have struggled to reach agreement on a draft of the bill in the Senate as Democrats voted against the typically bipartisan legislation due to a provision related to the federal nutrition program. Turek has criticized Senate Democrats on the move and said he would have voted on the measure to advance a farm bill.

Hinson voted in favor of the farm bill that passed the House and had routinely criticized Turek for being absent from the Iowa State House when lawmakers passed an Iowa farm bill. Congress will have the opportunity to finalize a farm bill when they return to the Capitol after the election. 

“We need more Iowa Democrats in Congress right now to rein in the excesses of the Trump administration,” Lehman said. “Josh Turek is right for Iowa farmers, for our rural communities, and for our nation.”

This story was originally published October 30 on the Iowa Capital Dispatch website. Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.