Minnesota
Minnesota farmers meet for annual convention
Members of the Minnesota Farmers Union came together in Minneapolis on Sunday for the 83rd-annual state convention.
The annual convention aims to bring the community together and focus on the future.
Union President Gary Wertish says one of the biggest challenges for farmers is high input prices for fertilizer and fuel. A sheet titled “Farmer’s Share” showed that farmers and ranchers only make 14.3 cents per every dollar spent by consumers.
“We see prices going up in the grocery store we often blame farmers. But the farmers aren’t getting a large part of the increase,” said Janet Kubat, the union’s communications director.
Wertish says that on a national level, there’s a push for Congress to expand the current farm bill as a safety net for farmers.
As he looks to the future, he is concerned about President-Elect Trump’s proposed tariffs of 60-80% on Chinese goods, saying it could hurt farms and consumers.
The union also passed a policy in the school lunch program to have 20% of food or ingredients to come from local farmers.