Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) headlined three rallies in three days in the early voting state of Iowa this week, turning out nearly 5,000 of his supporters in a display of his campaign’s organizational strength and support.

Sanders spent a significant amount of time at all three of his Iowa campaign rallies discussing rural agricultural issues, something he did not do at his kickoff rallies in New York or Illinois last week. In particular, the Vermont senator spoke at length in Iowa about connecting the struggles of the independent family farmer to the struggles of workers and students for economic, environmental and racial justice and access to health care.

“We have seen in recent years schools, churches and community centers shut down,” he said at his rally in Council Bluffs. “All across rural America, we have seen family farmers by the thousands go out of business as the prices that they receive for their products decline rapidly and large agribusiness corporations and factory farming take over agriculture. We have seen rural hospitals and nursing homes shut down and not enough doctors to provide for quality health care that rural America deserves.”