Minnesota Legislature finally passes drought relief, other ag spending

ST. PAUL — Within the waning hours of the 2022 session of the Minnesota Legislature, lawmakers mixed two key payments: A drought reduction bundle and an agriculture spending invoice to benefit from the state’s big funds surplus.

The mixed invoice was handed during the last weekend of the legislative session earlier than the Could 23 deadline, addressing each the 2021 drought and the avian flu pandemic.

The mixed invoice consists of:

• $8.1 million in grants for livestock and specialty crop producers.
• $2.5 million for the

  Rural Finance Authority

  ’s

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  catastrophe mortgage

  revolving mortgage account.

• $1.5 million to the Minnesota Division of Agriculture’s Emergency Fund.
• $1 million to the College of Minnesota for its

  Veterinary Diagnostic Lab

  , partly to reply to the avian flu pandemic. 

The mixed invoice is predicted to be signed by Gov. Tim Walz. Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen mentioned particulars on how one can apply for grants will develop into accessible within the subsequent couple of weeks.
Grants might be accessible to farmers or producers in counties designated as a major pure catastrophe space from July 19, 2021, to Jan. 1, 2022, or in a contiguous county.

The 2021 drought was most intense in northern Minnesota however with contiguous counties being included, producers in all however 4 Minnesota counties might be eligible.

Help can be accessible as much as $7,500 per farmer. Petersen encourages producers to have prepared receipts for bills resembling feed prices and properly and water-related bills.

“Issues that had been drought-related is what producers must be desirous about,” Petersen mentioned Tuesday, Could 24.

Along with emergency response, the invoice supplied further funding to the Agriculture Division, tapping into Minnesota’s $9.25 billion funds surplus.

The invoice consists of:

• Meat processing: $1.5 million in complete, together with greater than $750,000 for grants for processors and $350,000 for meat processing grants in excessive colleges.
• Soil well being: $500,000 for voluntary applications.
• New farmers: $3.08 million to assist new and rising farmers, together with $2 million for a brand new down cost help program.
• Perennial crops: $1.26 million for analysis and provide chain growth.
• Ag Innovation Campus: $750,000 for the Crookston Ag Innovation Campus via the state’s Agricultural Utilization Analysis Institute.
• Broadband: $210 million for broadband enlargement, with the majority of  the cash coming from federal funds, to enhance web entry throughout the state. There might be $25 million in state cash going into the Border-to-Border Broadband Fund in 2023 and one other $25 million in 2024.

A degree of rivalry within the drought reduction funding was cash for the Division of Pure Assets for tree planting and different measures to fight drought circumstances long run. 
The invoice in the end supplied $5 million for tree planting and $300,000 for properly remediation to the DNR.

Home and Senate variations of supplemental agriculture funds and drought assist had been far aside on greenback quantities. Drought assist had been proposed final fall however negotiations dragged with Republicans controlling the Senate and Democrats controlling the Home of Representatives.

The Home was in favor of upper spending quantities; the Senate was a lot decrease.

“We’ve received a really sturdy, strong invoice for the state of Minnesota on all of the fronts for farmers, for agriculture, for rural broadband and the connectivity that’s develop into so necessary in our lives,” Sen. Torrey Westrom, a Republican from Elbow Lake, mentioned Saturday, Could 21, because the convention committee authorised the compromise invoice.

“Had we had extra money, it will have been a bit higher invoice,” Rep. Mike Sundin, a Democrat from Esko, mentioned.

Legislators did present extra money to reply to excessive pathogenic avian influenza, with the state having recorded 80 instances up to now in 2022 and doable return within the fall chicken migration. African swine flu additionally stays a priority for the hog business.

“I believe it’s a good suggestion for legislators to spice up that account proper now whereas the state has {dollars},” Petersen mentioned.

The Minnesota Legislature did not compromise on a tax bundle that included a variety of gadgets of curiosity to farmers, resembling eradicating a gross sales tax on fencing supplies and elevating the agricultural homestead valuation restrict. A particular session could also be referred to as to cope with that and different points.