Minnesota’s state agencies are in the midst of gathering information and setting their priorities for the 2025 legislative session. They are deciding how they should spend their dollars, what programs to continue, what policy changes are needed, and more. What do you need? Could you take five minutes to share your ideas with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) about what you would like to see them advocate for during the 2025 legislative session? The deadline for submitting ideas is Friday, Aug. 16.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Fully fund the Farm to School and Early Care grant program at $10 million per year.
- Establish regional local foods coordinators to help farmers, schools, institutions, food banks, and more connect with local growers to ensure all Minnesotans have access to fresh, healthy food at $375,000.
- Double the funding for the Farmland Down Payment Assistance program and increase the maximum grant award to $25,000.
- Create a fellowship program for aspiring farmers to get hands-on farming skills and farm business management skills while being paid a living wage and subsidizing the cost of labor for small and mid-sized farms.
- Increase funding for the soil health financial assistance program that helps farmers, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, farmer groups, etc., purchase or retrofit soil health equipment to expand the number of acres managed using soil health practices.
- Adapt and scale the Olmsted County Soil Health Program, which takes a holistic approach and incentives grazing, cover crops, and small grains such as oats, while paying for results on the land.
These ideas have come from LSP steering committee members, supporters, and through conversations with allies across the state. Sharing similar priorities with MDA makes it clear to the agency what Minnesotans want and need. What ideas do you have? Take five minutes to submit your ideas to MDA’s portal.
MDA Public Input Listening Sessions
If you’d like to share your feedback verbally with MDA staff, agency staff are hosting two different virtual public input listening sessions on Zoom. Click on the links below to register:
Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas; this portal has been instrumental in helping MDA create new, innovative programs and your feedback truly matters! Please let Land Stewardship Project organizer Laura Schreiber know if you have any questions or would like to get more involved in LSP’s state policy work. She can be contacted at Laura lschreiber@landstewardshipproject.org.