The 2025 Agri-Business Energy Assessment
Agriculture and rural America are foundational to the U.S. economy - particularly in food production, where rising challenges related to energy reliability and affordability are creating mounting pressures on producers, landowners, and rural communities. emPower Rural America (ePRA) was formed in response to these challenges as a coalition of food producers, landowners, and agri-business stakeholders committed to learning about and actively participating in the national energy and electricity policy debates that directly affect rural America.
ePRA came together around several shared concerns facing the rural and agricultural sectors:
Electricity Reliability for Modern Agriculture and Food Processing Facilities: A recognition of the vulnerability to brownouts and blackouts that these facilities face.
Addressing Aging Electric Infrastructure in Rural Areas: The existing electric infrastructure across rural America needs to be upgraded and modernized to meet current and future demand.
Energy Pricing and Affordability for the Agriculture Sector: Current electricity prices, and the price volatility, is not sustainable for the agriculture sector.
Updating and Improving Leasing Agreements: Property rights should be protected by updating and improving leasing agreements between developers and landowners.
Rural/Urban Electricity Demand Differences: There should be an acknowledgement and effort to address the differences in electricity demand between rural and urban areas.
Rural Access to Broadband: Our farming and food processing practices have innovated and improved alongside technological advances. One of the keys to unlocking these opportunities for all farmers is recognizing the importance of connectivity and improving broadband access in rural areas.
The nation’s aging energy grid - strained by rising electricity demand and the retirement of energy generation facilities - creates significant vulnerabilities for food manufacturers, processors, and the broader agricultural economy. At a time when the United States became a net food importer for the first time in its history (2023), the need to strengthen and support domestic growers and food processors has never been more urgent.
This report captures stakeholder perspectives and outlines the key concerns associated with delaying necessary investments in grid modernization.
