(Gov. Tim Walz, farm leaders at bill signing – Apple Jack Orchards / Delano) (Audio in story courtesy Fox 9 – Twin Cities)
Governor Tim Walz, and ag policy leaders from the state were on hand Monday at Apple Jack Orchards near Delano for a ceremonial signing of the Agriculture Finance and Policy Omnibus Bill.
The governor, along with MDA Commissioner Thom Peterson, MN Farmers Union President Gary Wertish, MN Farm Bureau President Dan Glessing, and various lawmakers from state ag committees were on hand for comments.
Governor Walz said the bill is an example of a cooperative effort in St. Paul…
“…a good, bi-partisan farm bill here in Minnesota. I will note, they got it done. It’s critical that we get these farm bills done. I know nationally that we still have some work to do on it. But the farm bill is so important for so many reasons, especially for greater Minnesota where it’s things like connections to broadband, making sure we’re there to support the next generation of farmers. We’re there to do the work on the bio-security on these things. You’ll hear Commissioner Peterson talk about a little bit about avian influenza, and Minnesota is the model on how you tackle some of these things when they come in and threaten the livelihoods, and threaten the food supply in many cases that the world depends on us to get right. And that’s why, in the farm bill, I’m really proud. Things like the disaster accounts, things we do on milk pricing to assure the volitility in this, this is a very volitile business to be in, producing anything. And it’s certainly markets, it’s workforce issues, it’s commodity prices, and as we were just discussing here, it’s weather.”
Minnesota Farm Bureau President Dan Glessing of Waverly said that the hard work produced a solid platform to build on for the state’s ag industry…
“This bill did a lot to help create some certainty there, and really keep that food that’s being produced for consumers that really trust farmers to make it. A lot of good work went into it, a lot of good conversations, whether it’s the Department of Ag, the governor’s office, the Senate, the House…a lot of good conversations that our members have had with these folks to get to a good solution. There’s always more that can be done, and we’ll work on that next session, but this bill that was passed and is being signed today is a good bill, and we appreciate all the work that these folks put into it.”
While the bill’s signing indicates progress for Minnesota agriculture, ag groups and farmers here in Minnesota and across the country continue to wait for federal lawmakers to agree on contents of a new U-S Farm Bill.
