Land Stewardship Project

Land Stewardship Project
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Long Range Plan
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Contact Us
    • Past LSP Projects
    • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
    • LSP Publications
    • Financial Statements
  • The Latest
    • 40th Anniversary Events
    • Songs for the Soil
    • CSA Farm Directory
    • Upcoming Events
    • News
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts
      • LSP in the News
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • Land Stewardship Letter
    • LIVE-WIRE Sign-up
    • Myth Busters
    • Fact Sheets
    • Farm Crisis Resources
  • For Farmers & Landowners
    • New Farmers
      • Farm Beginnings Class
      • Journeyperson Course
      • Farm Dreams
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Accessing Farmland
      • Farmland Access Events: Sept. 2023
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Beginning Farmer Profiles
    • Retiring Farmers & Landowners
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Conservation Leases
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Land Transition Tools
      • Transition Stories
    • Soil Health
      • Cover Crops
      • Grazing
      • No-till
      • Microbiology
      • Soil Builders’ Network
      • Soil Builders’ E-Letters
    • Cropping Systems Calculator
    • Conservation Leases
  • Creating Change
    • Community-Based Food Systems
      • Community Food Webs Learning Circles
    • Policy Campaigns
      • Soil Health & Climate Change
      • Healthcare
      • Factory Farms
        • Anti-Competitiveness & Price Gouging
      • Federal Policy
        • A Farm Bill For Us
      • State Policy
        • MN Farm, Food & Climate Funding
      • Developing Leadership
      • Caucus for Land Stewardship
    • Justice & Stewardship
    • Organizational Stewardship
    • Building People Power
  • Get Involved
    • Take Action!
    • Upcoming Events
    • Land Stewardship Action Fund
    • Connect with LSP
      • Stay Connected
      • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
      • Shop
      • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
      • Legacy Giving
    • Network with LSP Members
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Soil Health
  • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
  • Stay Connected
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
Search
More...

Legislative Session Heads into its Final Days

Wide Gap Between House & Senate Budget Proposals for Soil Health, Processing Support, Drought Relief

By Laura Schreiber
May 4, 2022

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • email

There are less than 20 days left in the 2022 session of the Minnesota Legislature, and with a $9.3 billion surplus, legislators have an historic opportunity to invest in our communities. Throughout the session, Land Stewardship Project members have been advocating for funding to increase access to local meat processing facilities and for helping farmers implement soil healthy farming practices, as well as bolstering our regional food systems through increased farm-to-school funding and providing support for emerging and beginning farmers. Finally, we are continuing to push for relief for farmers negatively impacted by last summer’s drought.

Take Action Here

 

Both the House and Senate have passed their versions of the agriculture funding bill off their respective chamber floors and now a conference committee of both Representatives and Senators will come together to hammer out a final Omnibus Agriculture, Broadband, and Housing Package that can be sent off to Governor Tim Walz. The key differences between the two bills are the amount of funding available: $60 million in the House proposal and $5 million in the Senate. LSP members from across the state are coming together to advocate for taking advantage of this critical opportunity to invest in our farmers and our communities at the scale we need to make an impact.

As of this writing, members of the House-Senate conference committee have not been named. Right now, we need to focus on reaching out to Torrey Westrom, chair of the Senate Ag Committee, and Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller. To learn more about how to get involved in this end-of-session push, contact me at lschreiber@landstewardshipproject.org.

What’s on the line? Below is the breakdown of what is included in both the House and Senate proposals and the funding attached:

Soil Health & Climate Change

·       $6.725 million for a healthy soils grant program through the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (House provided that amount; Senate only offered $50,000)
·       $5 million for a healthy soils grant program through the Board of Water and Soil Resources (House only)*
·       Voluntary statewide soil-health farming goals of reaching 5.75 million acres by 2030, 11.5 million acres by 2035, and 23 million acres by 2040 (House provided this funding; Senate offered a pathway to develop statewide goals)*
·       Creation of a statewide soil health action plan (House and Senate both provided this)
·       $9 million to develop continuous living cover supply chains (House provided this; Senate only offered $50,000)
·       $6.5 million for the Forever Green Initiative (House provided this; Senate only offered $200,000)
·       $22 million for Soil and Water Conservation Districts (only the House provided this)*
·       $1 million for the University of Minnesota to evaluate, propagate, and maintain the genetic diversity of oilseeds, grains, grasses, legumes, and other plants — including outreach to small and Black, brown, and Indigenous farmers (House only)
·       Various pollinator protections (House only)
·       $10 million for incentives for the federal Conservation Reserve Program (House only)*
·       To be determined: Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (bonding bill has yet to be released) *

* These items are outside the Omnibus Agriculture, Broadband, and Housing Package; Senator Jeremy Miller would be the best legislator to contact on these issues.

Meat & Poultry Processing

·       $100,000 to reimburse small meat processors for food safety and business planning trainings (House provided this; Senate only offered $30,000)
·       Additional $3 million for AGRI Meat, Poultry, Egg, and Dairy Processing Grants (House provided this; Senate only offered $700,000)
·       $500,000 for livestock processing technical education at Central Lakes College and Ridgewater College (House only)
·       $1 million for grants to secondary career and technical education programs for meat cutting and butchery instruction (Senate provided this; House only offered $500,000)

Emerging Farmers & Land Access

·       $1 million for urban and youth education or urban ag community development, including up to $10,000 to the emerging farmer account (House only)
·       $2.6 million for grants for organizations to provide technical and culturally appropriate services to emerging farmers and related businesses (House provided this; Senate offered only $300,000)
·       $300,000 for farm business management tuition assistance with priority to specialty crop farmers, urban farmers, and farmers facing mediation; support for new urban and specialty crop instructor positions, including translation and outreach (House only)
·       $3 million for and the establishment of a down payment assistance grant program (House only)
·       Establishing a cooperative grant program (House and Senate)
·       $141,000 to administer the beginning farmer tax credit (House only)

Local & Regional Markets/Hunger Relief

·       Additional $1.6 million for the farm-to-school grant program (House only)
·       $250,000 to develop a program to support direct marketing producers (House only)
·       $1 million for farmers’ markets (House only)
·       $2.5 million for Second Harvest Heartland (House only)
·       $500,000 for the Good Acre’s Local Emergency Assistance Farmer Fund (LEAFF) program (House only)
·       $10,000 to study and produce a report on the state of regional and local food systems in Minnesota (House and Senate)
·       $1 million for the Good Food Access Program (House only)

Proposal LSP Opposes

·       Limit the ability to petition for environmental review to the residents of the county or an adjacent county to the proposed project (Senate only)**

** This is part of the Senate environmental bill. Contact Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen, chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee, on this issue. See LSP’s action alert on this issue here.

Action Needed on Drought Relief

Although farmers are now preparing to plant for the 2022 growing season, relief for last summer’s drought has still not passed the Legislature. The House proposal includes $5.1 million in rapid response grants for farmers (up to $10,000 per farmer), ensuring $1 million for livestock farmers, $1 million for specialty producers, and $500,000 for livestock and specialty producers who sell at farmers’ markets. There is also $5 million for Disaster Recovery Loans through the Rural Finance Authority. On the Senate side, there is $7 million in rapid response grants (up to $5,000 per farmer) with most of this allocated to go to livestock producers, funding for the “Ag Emergency” account and laboratory testing equipment for highly pathogenic avian influenza.

A huge hurdle delaying the passing of this drought relief package is that while the House proposal includes $13.3 million for a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) drought relief package ($5.6 million to replace drought-killed seedlings on DNR lands, $4.5 million to remove and plant shade trees and provide watering equipment, $3 million to increase public water efficiency, and $300,000 for costs associated with resolving well interferences), the Senate did not include any of this language.

What does this mean for drought relief?

On April 19, Representative Mike Sundin chaired the conference committee on the drought relief package and went through the differences between the House and Senate proposals. It is now up to Senator Torrey Westrom to “take the gavel” and continue to work to pass a final relief package. We need these legislators to come back to the table and get these critical funds over the finish line. Take action by contacting Senator Westrom, Representative Sundin, Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, and Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller. To make your voice heard, check out LSP’s action alert on drought relief.

LSP policy organizer Laura Schreiber can be contacted at lschreiber@landstewardshipproject.org.

 

Category: Blog
Tags: 100% Soil Healthy Campaign • beginning farmers • climate • drought relief • environmental review • Forever Green • local food systems • local meat processing • Minnesota Legislature • soil health

Upcoming Events

×

September 2023

Friday September 29 – Sunday October 1

Upper Minnesota River Meander Art Crawl
Friday September 29 – Sunday October 1
Upper Minnesota River Meander Art Crawl

The award-winningMeander Art Crawlis a free self-guided tour of artist studios featuring 40 local artists from the Upper Minnesota River Valley. We encourage visitors to visit artists in their own environment who celebrate a lifestyle that represents the small, handmade, personal, and local culture of the area.This event has more than 30 individual studios in and near the western Minnesota communities of Ortonville, Appleton, Madison, Milan, Dawson, Montevideo, and Granite Falls.

Friday September 29

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Monte Meet-Up During the Meander Art Crawl
Friday September 29
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Monte Meet-Up During the Meander Art Crawl

The award-winningMeander Art Crawlis a free self-guided tour of artist studios featuring 40 local artists from the Upper Minnesota River Valley. We encourage visitors to visit artists in their own environment who celebrate a lifestyle that represents the small, handmade, personal and local culture of the area.This event has more than 30 individual studios in and near the Western Minnesota Communities of Ortonville, Appleton, Madison, Milan, Dawson, Montevideo, and Granite Falls.

While doing the Meander, plan on participating in the Monte Meet-Up Friday, Sept. 29, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Montevideo Community Center and Millennium Theater Event Room. There will be music, short films, and a local foods meal that LSP is helping put on.

Saturday September 30

9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Elko New Market Free Well Water Testing Clinic & Environmental Health Fair
Saturday September 30
9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Elko New Market Free Well Water Testing Clinic & Environmental Health Fair

At this event, local well owners are invited to bring water samples from their home for nitrate, chloride, arsenic, and manganese testing. The testing will be held at the Elko New Market Library from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. While they wait for their testing results, LSP, along with other partner organizations, will be there to chat with well owners about our clean water work and our other work in the state. Details are available here.

October 2023

Tuesday October 3

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Optimizing No-Till Methods for a Direct-to-Market Organic Vegetable Farm
Tuesday October 3
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Optimizing No-Till Methods for a Direct-to-Market Organic Vegetable Farm

No-till farming methods are increasingly part of the dialogue in conventional crop farming, but the techniques employed at large scales are not practical or accessible for small vegetable growers. Join Land Stewardship Project members Whitewater Gardens Farm as they explore three of the more common vegetable no-till methods to identify the most sustainable approach in terms of soil health, labor investment, and crop health and yield on our farm.

The field day will be at 17485 Calico Hill Road, Altura, MN. For more information, call 507-993-5504 or e-mail londietz@aol.com.

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Organic Dairy Pasture Walk
Tuesday October 3
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Organic Dairy Pasture Walk

The NW Wisconsin Graziers Network, River Country RC&D, and UW-Madison Extension invite you to an organic dairy pasture walk hosted by Turnip Rock Farm and Cosmic Wheel Creamery four miles south of Amery in Polk County on Tuesday, October 3, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This educational event will emphasize seasonal calving organic dairying with on-farm cheese making and direct marketing with an on-farm store, and vegetable production.

The host farm is home to Land Stewardship Project members Josh Bryceson and Rama Hoffpauir and family. They raise grass fed mixed breed high component dairy cows, (10), pastured pork production (20), and extensive vegetable garden production. Their locally processed cheese is marketed directly to customers and the whey is fed to their pigs. The operation consists of about 80 acres (60 acres rotated pastures and 3 acres in vegetable production) on gently rolling loamy soils.

A soil health discussion lead by Extension staff will highlight the challenges of forage production in this year’s dry conditions. A farmstead creamery with seasonal spring calving and once a day milking, a home built milking parlor facility, grass fed beef, and pastured pork will be included on the farm tour. We will discuss stockpiling pasture, marketing techniques, and many othertopics along with answering any and all questions from pasture walk participants.

Josh and Rama have developed a diversified direct marketing program. Everything is direct-marketed through 150 member veggie CSA, online stores, restaurants, farmer’s markets, and a new on-farm store and other strategies to support direct sales to customers. Ask questions and learn all about this diversified approach.

The farm is located at 260 95th Street, Clear Lake, WI, and south of Amery in central Polk County. From Hwy 46 south of Amery 3 miles, take a left turn (east) onto 35thavenue , go east 1½ miles, then turn right onto 95thStreet and go south about a mile to farm. From the south, take Hwy 46 north to 20thAvenue, turn right (east) and go about 1½miles and then turn north onto 95thstreet then go north about half mile to farm on the right. Watch for the signs.

For more information, contact Josh at 715-239-5127,http://www.turniprock.com/, Chris Johnson, with River Country RC&D at 715-579-0793, Becky Brathal, UW-Madison Extension Regional Crops Educator, at 651-302-6520, or Lynn Johnson at 715-225-9882 with NW Graziers.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • Don’t Let Congress Gut Local Control September 22, 2023
  • Protect & Expand Funding for Working Lands Conservation Programs in the 2023 Farm Bill August 31, 2023
  • Call on Senator Amy Klobuchar to Co-Sponsor Critical Land Access Legislation August 24, 2023
  • One Year after Major Winona County Fish Kill, Citizen Action Has Made an Impact July 26, 2023
  • Tell Congress We Need A Farm Bill that Supports Land Access July 25, 2023

Montevideo

117 South First Street
Montevideo, MN 56265

(320) 269-2105

Lewiston

180 E. Main Street
Lewiston, MN 55952

(507) 523-3366

Minneapolis

821 E. 35th Street #200
Minneapolis, MN 55407

(612) 722-6377

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Land Stewardship Project. All rights reserved.

https://landstewardshipproject.org/legislative-session-heads-into-its-final-days