As the 2026 Iowa legislative session gets underway Monday at the State Capitol, a local lawmaker says improving access to food in small towns will be one of her top priorities.
State Representative Shannon Latham, a Republican from Sheffield, is pushing to revive legislation aimed at creating a grocery reinvestment program to help rural communities keep local grocery stores and expand local food systems. Latham tells RadioOnTheGo News the effort could play a key role in preventing rural food deserts, as independent grocers across the state continue to face rising costs.
“So we know that those businesses have very low margins. There’s not a lot of profit to be gained. It’s really a great service for the community, however. It’s also capital intensive. So you have a freezer go down and that can be the difference between some of these rural grocery stores staying in business and going out of business.”
Latham says ensuring Iowans can access affordable, healthy food close to home is essential to the long-term health of rural communities. Latham adds that momentum is already there, pointing out the grocery reinvestment bill, House File 1032, passed the House in 2025, even though it did not make it through the Senate.
“Unlike some of the programs that had been offered in the past, the program that I was promoting didn’t have to be used for a point of sale program or scanners or some side of technology. Mine was really for the nuts and bolts day-to-day operations, such as replacing freezers and components like that. So when I’ve been visiting with people, it seems like that is very much what is needed. So now we just have to garner the support for that. Like I said, it passed the Iowa House unanimously. Unfortunately, it was not taken up by the Senate and consequently wasn’t funded.”
Latham represents Iowa House District 55, which includes all of Franklin County and parts of Wright County, and says she plans to continue pushing the proposal as a way to strengthen rural communities and prevent food deserts across north-central Iowa.
