(MFB President Dan Glessing)
The president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau urges lawmakers and citizens alike to remember that concerns in agriculture here and throughout the country are a broader issue than the current talk on proposed tariffs.
MFB President and local farmer, Dan Glessing of Waverly, was part of a four-member panel recently at an agriculture forum in Howard Lake. He tells KRWC Radio News that discussions that include questions and concerns about tariffs need the appropriate context…
“Obviously tariffs were brought up, but I think that there’s so much more to be told than tariffs. When we’re looking at commodity prices being low the past couple of years, and then we’ve been in a trade deficit the last couple of years for the first time in quite a while. You know, just to talk through the issues that are affecting whatever organization or farmers, ranchers. When you look at labor, that’s something that we’re not giving any more of it seems like. So, automation is key, but you have to be at a certain size to be able to get that return on investment. There are challenges out there, no doubt.”
Glessing says all discussions about the future on the farm, no matter the size, should also include the importance of a new Farm Bill…
“I would say the majority of our members are concerned or disappointed that the Farm Bill hasn’t gotten done. We’ve kicked it down the road a couple of times with extensions, which is appreciated, but if we’re going to be honest, you look at the inflationary pressures, you look at what we’ve been through, from a global pandemic standpoint, our interest rates are higher, there’s just so many pressures on the input side of things that the cost of production has gone up. As such, the reference prices in the safety net prices in the Farm Bill just are so obsolete at this point that we do need to get something freshened up and really get a safety net that works.”
(photo: Kendell Kubasch / KRWC Radio)
Some 60 area residents and farm leaders packed a conference room at Munson Lakes Nutrition in Howard Lake in recent days for a discussion, and question and answer session with Senator Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish, Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Peterson, and MN Farm Bureau President Dan Glessing.
