Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Hearing begins on omnibus agriculture finance bill

House Agriculture Finance Committee Chairman Paul Anderson and members of the committee follow along as the omnibus agriculture finance bill is presented March 22. Photo by Andrew VonBank
House Agriculture Finance Committee Chairman Paul Anderson and members of the committee follow along as the omnibus agriculture finance bill is presented March 22. Photo by Andrew VonBank

Farmers who want more say in water quality regulations may be pleased by a provision in the omnibus bill the House Agriculture Finance Committee began to consider Wednesday.

Sponsored by Rep. Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake), HF895 would establish and help fund local farmer-led water management councils to develop best management practices and projects to improve water quality. 

That provision is one of dozens in the omnibus agriculture finance bill, which the committee amended Wednesday and is expected to vote on Friday. It would appropriate $118.47 million in net General Fund spending during the upcoming biennium to fund the Department of Agriculture, Board of Animal Health and Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.

The companion, SF780, is sponsored by Sen. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake) and awaits action by the Senate Agriculture, Rural Development and Housing Finance Committee.

Hamilton said the bill has a slight increase in spending, but the total is nearly the same as the base budget Agriculture Department officials presented to the committee after the February Budget and Economic Forecast.

Whitney Place, the department’s government relations director, said her agency believes the bill contains a number of good initiatives, but does have concerns, including a “lack of investment” in areas such as plant pathogens, pests, noxious weeds and pollinator decline. She said the bill would also require the department to absorb increased operating costs, and failure to fund the governor’s full $127.6 million budget proposal could impact delivery of services.

Hamilton said the bill does contain provisions to address each of those issues and that funding for operating costs would remain the same rather than the increase the department had requested.

 

Farmer councils

The revised budget proposal Gov. Mark Dayton released last week includes $1.5 million for grants to new farmer-led councils, which he would like to develop a prioritized list of projects to help improve water quality. The omnibus bill supports that plan.

Minnesota Corn Growers Association Executive Director Adam Birr told the committee Dayton approached industry groups late last summer to come up with ideas to address the state’s water quality challenges. The concept of farmer-led councils was then developed to give farmers more ownership in the process, especially in light of looming buffer regulations.

“We’re trying to provide an opportunity for famers to really have a say, use the innovation and creativity they have to provide some input on on-the-ground practices to address this water quality issue,” Birr said.

However, Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) said a vast amount of money has already been spent on working to improve water quality and is concerned the proposal would duplicate those efforts.

“I don’t want $1.5 million going to coffee and donuts for meetings out there to talk about stuff; we’ve done that,” he said.

Birr said the funding would primarily be used to hire coordinators who would work with the councils to help them leverage all the state resources and private help available. He added the groups would give farmers the “latitude” to come up with whatever solutions work best in their areas.

Hansen agreed the councils could work if they focus on people who currently aren’t doing anything rather than the “altruists” who have already walked through the door.

“There are folks who will just not do this,” Hansen said. “Even if we provide them with the money.”

 

What else would HF895 do?

HF895, as amended, also includes measures that would:

  • appropriate up to $2 million for the University of Minnesota to research the causes of avian influenza and prevention measures that can be taken;
  • establish a new pollinator habitat and research account, and appropriate $500,000, for pollinator research work at the University of Minnesota that includes identifying best practices and establishing habitat beneficial to pollinators;
  • require the Department of Agriculture to notify relevant media and post notice online when a weed on the state’s eradicate list is confirmed for the first time in a county;
  • appropriate more than $2 million to streamline the food safety regulatory and licensing experience for regulated businesses and decrease inspection delinquencies;
  • appropriate up to $1 million to develop and expand urban agriculture;
  • appropriate $630,000 for reimbursement payments for livestock or crop losses due to damage caused by wolves or elk. Of that amount, $350,000 would go for wolf depredation assistance and $250,000 could be used as compensation for elk damage;
  • appropriate $250,000 to fund management of the industrial hemp pilot program; and
  • appropriate $150,000 for the tractor rollover protection pilot program and eliminate the cost-share requirement for schools that want to buy and install a rollover protective structure.

 

What’s in the bill?

The following are selected bills that have been incorporated in part, or in whole, into the omnibus agriculture finance bill:


Related Articles


Priority Dailies

Minnesota’s projected budget surplus balloons to $3.7 billion, but fiscal pressure still looms
(House Photography file photo) Just as Minnesota has experienced a warmer winter than usual, so has the state’s budget outlook warmed over the past few months. On Thursday, Minnesota Management and Budget...
Legislative leaders announce 2024 committee deadlines
(House Photography file photo) Legislators and the public officially know the timeline for getting bills through the House committee process during the upcoming 2024 session. Here are the two deadlines fo...

Minnesota House on Twitter