Osborn Releases Rural Policy Plan, Farm Union Endorsement

by Lewis Thune

(Picture credit Lewis Thune)

SYRACUSE — Independent Senate challenger Dan Osborn welcomed the press out to Syracuse on Thursday to announce the agricultural planks of his Nebraska Growth and Fairness Plan. Standing in front of a nearly 150-year-old barn, Osborn unveiled the key tenets of his plan to “fight like hell for rural Nebraskans,” consisting of items such as passing right-to-repair laws and increasing support to rural hospitals and clinics.

In addition, he reiterated his vow to fight harder against AI data centers, praising Governor Pillen’s recent executive order to curb tax benefits for data center projects. He also repeated his call to enforce the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act to prosecute the “Big 4” meat packers for misbehavior, applauding the current administration’s investigations.

But the central issue of the day was the need for a farm bill, which Osborn himself stressed and welcomed John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, to emphasize.

“If Ricketts cares about rural Nebraska, why hasn’t a farm bill been passed since 2018? Input costs are through the roof,” Osborn said. “Congress should not be paid until we pass a farm bill.”

Hansen took the podium to stress the increasingly dire situation in American agriculture, including his disappointment with the 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which he held is no substitute for a proper farm bill.

“We got some things they should have done in a farm bill, but didn’t do. And so they have tried to make an excuse for saying ‘well we don’t have a farm bill, and we haven’t done our job, but that’s okay because we gave you part of what you needed.’”

In particular, he observed that the 2018 farm bill relied on 2014 numbers to calculate subsidies.

“We are woefully behind, and we continue to see year after year after year of record high inputs.” And in hopes of getting that farm bill, Hansen announced the group’s endorsement of Osborn.

“If things are going good, you stay the course. And when things are in the tank, you make changers. What’s the Farmers Union’s PAC has decided this time around is that we are going to very aggressively pursue a course of making changes,” Hansen said. “It is our honor to endorse Dan Osborn.”

The Osborn endorsement is an apparent reversal for the Farmers Union. While it has endorsed Democrats and Republicans in the past, it does not list an endorsement of Osborn in 2024, and Nebraska Public Media reported in September and November of that year that they had endorsed Osborn’s opponent, incumbent senator Deb Fischer.

“We are the second oldest, second largest general farm organization in the state,” Hansen said. “We like the Independent nature of his campaign. We like his commitment to talking about rural healthcare.”

Ricketts Deputy Campaign Manager Max Oberg responded to the Osborn announcement. When asked by the The Plains Sentinel, he pointed to Ricketts’ endorsement from the state’s largest general farm organization.

“Senator Ricketts is endorsed by the Nebraska Farm Bureau and has spent his career fighting for Nebraska agriculture,” he said.

And it appears the feud between the two candidates over their respective support networks will only grow. Osborn closed the press conference by unveiling a pocket-sized cardboard cutout of Ricketts he says will travel in his pocket on his impending public event tour throughout the state.

“He’s gonna be going with me to all 93 counties, because Pete Ricketts fits nicely into your pocket, as well as the pockets of corporations that fund his campaign.”

Oberg took reciprocal aim at Osborn’s donors.

“Dan Osborn’s donors include the man who wrote the Paris Climate Agreement and radical activists suing to shut down family farms. They call Nebraska cattle ‘methane emitters.’”

Osborn’s tour will reach Thurston and Boone counties this weekend before returning to Omaha on July 30. As with Wednesday’s policy announcement, his closing message to Nebraska farmers was nothing new to his campaign, as he stressed his independence.

“So many people I talk to, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, say they hate their party, but they hate it a little less than they hate the other party. We’re stuck,” he said. “That’s why we haven’t passed a farm bill... working families like mine keep getting left behind.”

— Lewis Thune is a writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.