Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 2/5/20
The former South Bend, Ind., mayor was in the lead with 27 percent of the vote, while the Vermont senator had 25 percent, with some 62 percent of votes recorded. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was in third with 18 percent, and former Vice President Joe Biden was in fourth with 16 percent.
The candidates have been crisscrossing Iowa for months, and most of them put out detailed plans for rural development and agricultural policy — a big shift from past Democratic primaries as the party tries to make inroads with rural voters who mostly wrote them off in 2016. Here's what the top finishers proposed:
Buttigieg: Mayor Pete's Midwestern roots were a central piece of his pitch to Iowa voters, and he's promising to funnel billions of dollars into rural communities to expand internet access, boost small-scale manufacturing and steer skilled immigrants to small towns with shrinking labor pools.
As for agriculture, he's calling for stronger protections for farmworkers trying to organize; tougher antitrust oversight of agribusinesses; and $50 billion in federal spending to develop farming practices and technology to help mitigate climate change.
Sanders: The "democratic socialist" senator wants to break up big ag companies and restructure a suite of USDA programs to steer more federal funds to small and mid-sized farms. The plan includes "setting price floors and matching supply with demand so farmers are guaranteed the cost of production and family living expenses."
He's also calling for a "right to repair" law to let farmers fix their own equipment (which is prohibited by some manufacturers) and stricter environmental regulations for large ag operations.
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