I'll go ahead and make an OP: you want rural votes? Enact a packer ban. Yesterday.
This is an issue where we really are on the side of most rural people and the GOP really is against them. This could be probably be done through GIPSA rules, especially for the big feedlots.
This was on Obama's platform in the primaries; I'm very sad it's been buried because it was one of the reasons I was interested in him more than the other candidates.
Animal husbandry is currently the only form of sharecropping that's still legal in the US. If you want to get ranchers to come out for Democrats in droves (pardon the pun), make sure that they can own the cows they are raising.
Some links, if you aren't familiar with the issue (and I know this is way on the back burner for a lot of people):
http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/packer-ban-amend-ltr-to-senators/
http://www.worc.org/packer-ban/
http://iowafarmersunion.org/uncategorized/packer-ban-would-give-farmers-a-fair-shake/