Northern Plains Resource Council members gather for area water well monitoring

Rural Policy Scorecard

January 2021 – October 2025

Rural people are ready for solutions that support workers and exercise the power to shape decisions about the towns and rural areas we call home. In 2021, rural groups from across the country identified the most pressing and popular policies, which we published in previous versions of the Rural Policy Action Report. In the years following, we successfully advocated for many of these policies.

The biggest policy progress was in 2021 and 2022 with significant investments in farm conservation, rural renewable energy, economic development, and relief for farm families discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Policy gains stalled with the 2023-2024 Congress, and progress was almost exclusively from the Executive Branch and at the state level. Examples from those two years include the new Packers and Stockyards rules that begin to rein in corporate meatpackers. We also saw progress at the state level with ballot initiatives to pass minimum wage and paid sick leave in states like Missouri, and numerous states are making progress on people’s right to repair their own property. Some of the most significant achievements are multi-year projects with the full results yet to be realized. One challenge is that many of the changes were technical and lacked trusted champions to demonstrate their impact on people’s lives. Even with these gains, corporations and the ultrawealthy still have too much power over our lives, with working people struggling to make ends meet.

Now in 2025, many of our recent policy gains are being rolled back. Unfortunately, working people face new barriers and harsher obstacles. Early in 2025, several federal programs were frozen and contracts necessary to rural communities were canceled, frozen, or rescinded. These included funding to purchase food directly from farmers to provide healthy meals for school kids in their communities, support for rural infrastructure improvements, and so much more. Additionally, rules that hold corporations accountable and keep people safe were ignored or reversed, such as rules for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Labor. In the summer of 2025, Congress cut health care, diverted federal funds away from public schools, and disrupted other critical programs so the wealthy can have tax breaks. The law will kick millions off their health care, take food off the table of those with the least, and increase the cost of everything from health insurance to electric bills for working people.

Yet rural people remain committed to practical solutions that deliver for everyday people. Read below for a look back on recent policy progress and rollbacks. See the rest of the report for a look ahead at the biggest policy priorities right now for rural America.

Scorecards by Policy Pillar

Rein in corporate greed and support workers, small businesses, and farmers

Photo: Nevada state legislators on an agriculture tour hosted by State Innovation Exchange and local farmers

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  • Biden’s order on Competition in the American Economy directed agencies across the federal government to rein in giant corporations that have unfairly monopolized markets, hurting small businesses and driving up costs for America’s families. While this was an important and unprecedented order, agencies often moved slowly. Examples of progress include the USDA finalizing three rules that will improve fairness for producers, particularly those who grow livestock under contract. It supported poultry farmers to get better pay by effectively ending a deeply anti-competitive payment scheme from one of the world’s largest poultry processors. It also established a Chief Competition Officer and opened the Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program. The USDA proposed a fourth rule to establish criteria for fair and competitive markets in the livestock, meat, and poultry industries, yet the rule wasn’t completed. During the Biden Administration, we did not accomplish nearly as much as many had hoped in revising the Packers and Stockyards Act. We made significant progress, but only a small step towards combating corporate power.
  • Trump revoked the 2021 order on Competition in the American Economy.
  • Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened a wide range of investigations. The DOJ’s lawsuit and proposed consent decree to prohibit Koch Foods from imposing termination penalties for its chicken grower contracts removes an anticompetitive tool used by abusive meatpacking corporations. It also launched a new enforcement effort with state attorneys general to address anticompetitive and anti-consumer practices in food and agricultural markets.
  • After the Trump Administration removed two FTC members, the FTC voted to drop the suit.
  • DOJ and FTC’s new merger guidelines help restore competition in the economy to the benefit of farmers, consumers, and small businesses. The 2021-2022 Congress increased funding for antitrust enforcement by passing the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, which increases the fees companies pay when they propose mergers. This act gives antitrust enforcers the resources they need to ensure that corporations don’t hurt working people and small businesses and play by the rules.
  • Right-to-repair laws have seen significant progress, including the FTC’s 2024 investigation and subsequent collaboration with several states in a lawsuit against John Deere’s anticompetitive practices. Colorado also became the first state to enact laws guaranteeing the right to repair farm equipment, with many more states considering similar enactments.
  • Rural workers won big at the ballot box in 2024, with minimum wage and paid sick leave initiatives winning in Alaska, Nebraska, and Missouri.
  • But workers’ rights remain under attack by the Trump Administration with threats to dismantle essential agencies like the National Labor Relations Board, efforts to eliminate dozens of worker safety rules, rescinding an important overtime rule, and unprecedented federal immigration raids at work sites across the country.
  • The Biden Administration cracked down on misleading ‘antibiotic-free’ meat and poultry labeling that stunts the growth of our local and regional food systems. It updated the requirement that the agency’s red meat purchases must come from animals born, raised, and slaughtered in the U.S. The FTC adopted transparency rules governing “Made in the USA” labeling, and the USDA finalized a rule closing the loophole so that only meat, poultry, and eggs that are born, raised, and processed in the U.S. can be labeled “Product of USA.”
  • The 2021-2022 Congress invested $20 billion in voluntary conservation programs to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change. In a rare victory, these funds did not include the typical 50% requirement for livestock operations — an important step in reducing taxpayers’ funding of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.
  • The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act increases subsidies for the largest commodity crop farms without funding dozens of programs that support smaller farmers and those selling food to their neighbors through local and regional markets.

Invest in foundational infrastructure for thriving communities

Photo: Skenandore Farm, Wisconsin

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  • After calls to better support rural communities, President Biden directed his administration to prioritize rural communities in funding decisions, issuing a Rural Playbook and piloting rural-focused programs at rural.gov.
  • The Biden administration made significant investments in rural communities. The 2021 American Rescue Plan directly supported millions of Americans, including working people in rural communities, in the form of payments, tax credits, and small business support. The 2022 RECOMPETE Pilot Program authorized $1 billion in new investments to distressed communities, nine out of ten of which are rural. Tribal governments were included as eligible entities for this funding.
  • Fixing the unfair two-tier tax system is a consistent priority for rural communities. The 2021- 2022 Congress required large corporations that make over $1 billion annually to pay a corporate minimum tax and finally required wealthy households making over $400,000 annually to pay what they owe in taxes after years of tax-dodging. But these gains were overshadowed by the massive tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy in 2025.
  • The 2021-2022 Congress improved health care access and empowered Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and save taxpayers money. The number of uninsured dropped in 2021 – 2023, while enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces reached record highs in early 2025.
  • The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act cuts $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending over the next decade, which is projected to disproportionately affect rural areas. This health care cut poses an existential threat to the viability of hundreds of rural hospitals already operating on precarious financial margins. The law also cuts billions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which will lead to rural people going hungry and produce adverse ripple effects throughout local rural economies, including reducing revenue for local grocers.
  • The 2022 Postal Service Reform Act guaranteed the United States Postal Service can remain an essential point of connection for families across the country, no matter where they live. Unfortunately, the United States Postal Service is currently prioritizing distribution consolidation following a corporate model that is leading to slower and less reliable service for all Americans, but particularly rural communities, often far from distribution operations.
  • 2021-2022 Congress funded $65 billion to ensure that every household in America is connected to high-speed internet. In addition, it funded unprecedented state and local government resources to support connectivity for school children, health care, and other institutions. But the pace of the infrastructure build-out has been slow and relied heavily on private telecommunications businesses, resulting in criticism that the industry is choosing to expand projects with higher population density and leaving most rural communities behind.
  • The Biden Administration took action to strengthen local food systems and get healthy, locally grown food to communities by creating new programs like the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Program (LFS).
  • The Trump Administration cancelled the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.
  • The 2021-2022 Congress expanded work-based learning and apprenticeships that will help prepare more rural students for today’s in-demand jobs.
  • The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act diverts billions from public schools to private schools. The voucher tax credit could cost taxpayers up to $51 billion a year, more than the federal government spends on all public K–12 education.
  • The Trump administration disrupted or canceled thousands of federal contracts, leaving rural communities that had outlayed critical resources in a financial jam.

Protect People’s Freedom to Live and Work Safely and Without Discrimination

Photo: Black Appalachian Coalition’s Storytelling and Policy Summit

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  • The 2021-2022 Congress recognized the long history of discrimination in USDA lending. Nearly $5 billion was appropriated to forgive loans for Black, Indigenous, and people of color farmers and launch an equity commission. When conservative organizations and judges blocked this policy, Congressional champions went back to work and amended the law to ensure distressed borrowers didn’t lose their farms.
  • But the Trump administration is dismantling programs that further equity and diversity, firing personnel and ending programs that use words like discrimination, Black, or minority.
  • The 2021-2022 Congress invested over $31 billion to ensure Tribal communities have the tools to thrive, including land and water protections as well as high-speed internet. The Biden Administration expanded the Small Business Lending Company (SBLC) program — the first time in more than 40 years. Each of the three new SBLC license holders will focus on historically underserved markets, including small businesses in Native, rural, and low-income communities. The USDA took significant steps to make farm lending more flexible and accessible in late 2024.
  • Yet the improvements to access to credit are unlikely to have a serious impact due to the Trump Administration’s restructuring and reduction in force at federal agencies like the Small Business Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the USDA.
  • The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, opening the door for state governments to infringe on personal freedom and the ability to make health care decisions. Voters in several states responded by passing ballot measures to protect reproductive health care decisions.
  • While cutting vital health care programs, the Trump Administration is spending billions on detaining hardworking immigrants, separating families, and sending people to places where they are likely to be tortured.

Stewarding our Land and Natural Resources for a Prosperous and Sustainable Future

Photo: Bull Mountain Land Alliance

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  • The Biden Administration made the largest direct investments in rural electrification in history, strengthening rural electric cooperatives to accelerate the clean energy transition that will save rural people money, create rural jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The 2021-2022 Congress made renewable energy development on public lands and waters contingent upon continued oil and gas development.
  • The Biden Administration made significant progress in expanding renewable energy production on federal lands and requiring oil and gas companies to take responsibility for their cleanup.
  • The 2025-2026 Congress chose to roll back incentives for renewable energy projects and make it much more expensive to develop a renewable energy project on public lands, likely resulting in higher energy bills for most rural Americans. In addition, the Trump administration changed rules to prevent small businesses and farmers from accessing federal programs to build cost-cutting solar and wind projects. These funds will instead benefit big business and giant agricultural operations.
  • While we protected much of the conservation funding established in previous years, in 2025 we lost important climate-smart agriculture guidelines.
  • The Trump Administration and the 2025-2026 Congress have weakened environmental review and public comment for federal projects, including exempting certain projects from environmental review, limiting the timeline for public participation, and reducing the timelines and scale of review for all projects. Companies who “pay to play” get special treatment to rush through public review and exemption from judicial review.