Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch

The average cost for a 10-person Fourth of July will cost $70.92, which is 30 cents less than last summer, but the second highest cookout cost since 2013 when American Farm Bureau Federation began its annual survey on the topic.

Beef, canned goods and hand-picked crops have the highest price increases from last year, due likely to low domestic cattle inventory, aluminum tariffs and the cost of labor.

The American Farm Bureau survey assumes a gathering of 10 people who will consume: cheeseburgers, chicken breasts, pork chops, potato chips, canned pork and beans, fresh strawberries, homemade potato salad, fresh-squeezed lemonade, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.

Cans of pork and beans had the steepest increase, 8.2% or 20 cents, from last year. The bureau said labor costs along the supply chain and steep tariffs on aluminum are likely to blame.

Homemade lemonade will also cost 20 cents more per pitcher this year, and strawberries 8 cents more per pound, due to a continued trend of high labor costs in the specialty crop sector.

The cost of ground beef also increased to $13.33 for two pounds, which is nearly 60 cents more than the $12.77 cost in 2024. While normally a crowd favorite, it will cost families nearly $20 to make 10 cheeseburgers this weekend, according to the survey prices.

U.S. cattle herd size has been declining since 2019, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the 2025 herd size was 8% lower than 2019 herd. The amount of beef imported to the U.S. has also gone up in the time frame.

Pork chops, on the other hand, had the largest decrease in price from last year. Three pounds of pork chops this weekend should run consumers about $14.13, which is nearly 9% less than the cut cost last year. The survey concludes this is due to high domestic pork supplies.

The cost of chicken breasts declined slightly from last year’s cookout prices but the cost of eggs increased, which made potato salad about 20 cents more expensive this year. Poultry have been affected by the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza, which has caused fluctuating prices as the supply chains are impacted.

Since January, U.S. has imported about 10 times the amount of shell eggs it imported in the same period in 2024 as part of the administration’s plan to combat the bird flu. Wholesale egg prices have declined by more than 60% since January, but the American Farm Bureau report shows the cost for consumers for just four eggs is up 54% from last summer.

The bureau survey also breaks prices down by region and found cookouts on the East Coast are the cheapest this year at $63.79, followed by the south who can feed a party of 10 for $68.93. Gatherings in the West average at $73.50 and Midwestern gatherings come in as the second most expensive at $69.87.

Farmers not pocketing fair share, advocates say

Consumer increases don’t necessarily mean higher prices for farmers, however. On average, farmers and ranchers receive about $0.16 per consumer dollar spent on food, according to the latest “Farmer’s Share” report from National Farmers Union.

Rob Larew, the organization’s president said it’s important to highlight the “growing imbalance” in the food system.

“Family farmers and ranchers are working harder than ever, yet taking home less, while corporate monopolies in processing, distribution, and retail rake in record profits,” Larew said. “Farmers deserve a fair share of the food dollar, and consumers deserve a food system that works for everyone, not just a handful of powerful corporations.”

According to the report, a rancher takes home $2.08 on a one pound package of ground beef sold for $5.99. A lettuce farmer gets an even lower cut, receiving about 8.2% of the consumer dollar.

Consumers also feel like their dollars don’t stretch as far. According to the latest food and farm index from Iowa Farm Bureau, price is the number one factor for Iowa shoppers as they fill their grocery carts, even as more consumers say they want to buy locally raised products.

Christopher Pudenz, an Iowa Farm Bureau economist, said price changes in Iowa-grown commodities “mostly reflect” supply and demand cycles.

“The Fourth of July is, of course, a celebration of our freedom but also a celebration of the American spirit, one embodied by our nation’s farmers,” Pudenz said in a press release. “Despite challenges like rising costs and weather impacts, Iowa farmers continue to do what they’ve always done—work hard, adapt and provide for American families.”

The issue of eminent domain as it pertains to a carbon sequestration pipeline project in Iowa has put Republicans at odds with one another, but Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Wednesday decision to veto a bill on the issue has amplified the tensions.

On a call with landowners opposed to the pipeline project and upset by the veto, Rep. Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison and one of the lawmakers leading eminent domain and pipeline-related legislation, said there will be “consequences for the governor’s agenda” moving forward.

“The governor’s lack of leadership is why we are where we are today, and it will affect her agenda going forward until the end of her term,” Holt said.

Landowners on the call were similarly upset by Reynolds’ decision, following years of silence on the issue. Peg Rasmussen, who owns land in Montgomery County, said “a true leader steps in when a problem arises” but “Reynolds did nothing.”

“The legacy you leave behind is one of bowing down to big business at the expense of Iowans,” Rasmussen said.

Landowners also directed their animosity toward Republican lawmakers who opposed the bill, namely at senators who failed to take up the issue for four years, then argued House File 639 was a bad bill.

“The fight for private property rights will continue,” Rasmussen, who was part of a group of landowners regularly lobbying at the State Capitol, said. “Iowa legislators and Gov. Reynolds, we’ll see you at the Capitol in 2026, and we can’t wait to tell our legislators how we feel about their votes in the 2026 election.”

Holt said the “leadership void” from the governor and “civil war” among Senate Republicans has exposed the difference between “country club Republicans” and “grassroots Republicans.”

Rep. Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City who wrote the now-vetoed HF 639, and who, with Holt, has led much of the legislation on the issue, said the opposing Republicans are part of the “anything-for-a-buck ‘wing’ of the party” and don’t represent the “vast majority” of Iowa Republicans.

“In the governor’s view, constitutional rights, such as eminent domain protections, should not be allowed to interfere with schemes to make money, especially if those schemes are being promoted by her friends, supporters, and contributors,” Thomson wrote in a statement.

Bruce Rastetter, founder of Summit Agricultural Group, which started Summit Carbon Solutions, has been a top campaign contributor to Reynolds’ campaigns, sparking some of the criticism leveled at the governor.

In her explanation of the veto decision, Reynolds wrote the bill had “vague legal standards” and would impact projects beyond just the use of eminent domain. Reynolds cited the permit limits clause in the bill and increased requirements for insurance as setting a precedent that “threatens” the state’s business reputation.

Senate President Amy Sinclair expressed the same beliefs on the bill. In a recent appearance on Iowa Press, Sinclair said HF 639 “was not a property owners rights bill” but rather a bill “that’s just going to facilitate activists.”

“To say I was a person who opposed property rights, that’s 100% false,” Sinclair said on the show.

Sinclair and other Republicans who were opposed to HF 639 voted for a re-write amendment to the bill, sponsored by Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, that would have allowed companies to avoid eminent domain and instead pursue voluntary easements outside of the project corridor. It also would have held operators responsible for damage to the land for the project’s lifetime.

Thomson said Reynolds’ stated concerns were a “polite window-dressing” for the governor’s “real message” that she will “veto any bill that Summit Carbon Solutions dislikes.”

In reaction to the veto, Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, vowed during a Radio Iowa interview to “work to kill every single piece of legislation that has (Reynolds’) name on it.”

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the attacks from lawmakers.

Summit Carbon Solutions, in a statement following the veto, said it looks forward to “continued discussions with state leaders” as the project advances.

Thomson and Holt said they are supportive of House Speaker Pat Grassley’s call to petition for a special session in order to override the veto of the bill.

The motion for a special session, and to override the veto, would require support from both chambers, which Senate majority leadership indicated Wednesday would be unlikely.

Corey Cerwinske, a Bremer County supervisor attending the virtual press conference, said lawmakers should introduce articles of impeachment on the governor for her “malfeasance.”

Holt said while the veto “may violate” the constitutional rights of Iowans, the governor’s action “probably doesn’t rise to the level of impeachment.”

IUC announces plans for ‘increased commissioner engagement’

In her veto explanation, Reynolds asked the Iowa Utilities Commission to implement a section of the bill that required attendance at informational meetings and during live testimony.

This was a problem brought up by landowners and lawmakers during the proceedings for the Summit Carbon Solutions permit. They alleged IUC would send representatives to meetings rather than commissioners, and that all three commissioners were not present during live testimony.

The IUC in a Thursday press release said it “fully supports” the “transparency goals” the governor requested and “will begin implementing” the practices. The release said the commission will also reinstate its public, monthly commission meetings beginning in August.

“The IUC remains dedicated to fair, transparent, and accountable governance of Iowa’s energy and utility infrastructure,” the statement read.

Farmers with Modern Ag Alliance, a coalition that has been pushing for the adoption of pesticide labeling policies that would make it more difficult to build cancer-related lawsuits against pesticides, fear the impact of an upcoming “Make America Healthy Again” report they believe will target pesticides.

The farmers said on a press call Wednesday an attack on pesticide chemicals, specifically mentioning glyphosate in the widely used Roundup herbicide, would be “a terrible development for American agriculture” and lead to higher food costs for the American consumer.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified Tuesday to U.S. senators and said there is not a “single word” in his agency’s upcoming report that “should worry the American farmer.”

Scott Henry, a farmer from central Iowa, was not persuaded by the secretary’s remarks. He noted Kennedy’s past as an environmental law attorney who said, several years ago, he believed hog farmers were worse than Osama bin Laden.

“I think it’s hard to have been compared to al Qaeda in the past and then be told that I’m a partner now,” Henry said.

Henry said if the report, which is anticipated to be released Thursday, contains anti-glyphosate guidance, and policymakers follow suit, it will cause commodity yields to drop, prices to increase and food inflation to “more than double.”

A report on the impact of a farm bill that doesn’t allow the use of glyphosate found that consumer food inflation would increase 2.4 times.

“The biggest thing that I want to make clear today is that if the MAHA commission’s report drives future policy decisions, food prices will go up, and instead of making America healthy again, we’ll be making America hungry again,” Henry said.

Modern Ag Alliance reports input prices for farmers could more than double without access to glyphosate. Henry said these costs would be passed up the supply chain and to consumers.

“The American farmer still has the best interest of the consumer in mind,” Henry said. “We want them to buy food, we want it to be cheap, we want it to be safe, because don’t forget, we feed our children these same products. So for somebody to tell us that we don’t care about them is a true slap in the face.”

An executive order from President Donald Trump in February created the Make America Healthy Again commission and tasked it with developing a “Make our Children Healthy Again Assessment” to evaluate the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food ingredients and other factors that contribute to childhood chronic disease in the country.

Kennedy has spoken publicly in the past about glyphosate and alleged the common weed-killing chemical causes cancer and other health concerns.

Roundup’s manufacturer, Bayer, holds that the product is safe to use, as does the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which reviews and certifies pesticides in the country.

The company, however, has spent billions defending lawsuits in which plaintiffs allege the product gave them cancer. This led the company to partner with ag groups through Modern Ag Alliance and push for state legislation across the country, including in Iowa this year and last, to block lawsuits built on failure to warn claims.

The bill did not advance through the House in Iowa, but has been signed into law in both North Dakota and Georgia.

Modern Ag Alliance promoted the legislation, largely through ad campaigns. Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, the executive director of the alliance, said the attention to the MAHA report is much like the push for state policy on the issue.

“No different than how we have been trying to work proactively in many of the state legislative chambers on providing clarity and consistency so that farmers have these tools available today, and in the future, we see similar themes here and why we’re working towards it at the federal level,” Burns-Thompson said.

Henry said the report itself might not have a direct effect, but could lead to “shifts in policy” that would send farming back to the practices of his grandfather.

“Today, hundreds of people can eat because of one individual farmer’s efforts, and it’s all due to tools like glyphosate and Roundup that allow us to do more with less and make safe, clean, affordable food available,” Henry said.