SECOND MEETING

STATE OF MINNESOTA SECOND MEETING
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTY-EIGHTH SESSION

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE POLICY
Chair, Representative Jeanne Poppe

MINUTES

Representative Poppe, Chair of Committee on Agriculture Policy, called the meeting to order at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, January 30th 2013 in Room 5 of the State Office Building.

The Committee Legislative Assistant noted the roll.

Members present:
Poppe, Chair
Faust, Vice Chair
Hamilton, Lead
Anderson, P.
Dill
Erickson, R.
Falk
FitzSimmons
Fritz
Kiel
Kresha
McNamar
Nornes
Petersburg
Wagenius

A quorum was present.

Testimony regarding the state of the dairy industry in Minnesota was heard from:

Pat Luneman, President of MN Milk Producers Association. Testified to the economic state of the dairy industry and made a recommendation to update rules in the permitting process.

A video presentation on Blue Diamond Dairy in Stearns County was given.

David Ward, Dairy Director of Cooperative Network, testified to the influence of coops on marketing dairy products and talked about the lack of access to adequate health insurance for MN farm families.

Rep. Paul Anderson talked about agriculture in his district noting the high density of dairy farms.

Testimony was heard from Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Dave Fredrickson. It was a general overview of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 a.m..
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Representative Jeanne Poppe, Chair

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Ethan Vogel, Committee Legislative Assistant