As the 2025 session of the Minnesota Legislature heads into its final two weeks — barring a special session —  proposals related to several Land Stewardship Project priorities remain alive. Both the House and Senate have passed their respective Agriculture Bills, and now the proposals head into the conference committee process — the system within which lawmakers hammer out compromise bills before they are sent on to be signed by the Governor. One issue hanging over everything is how much money will be available via the state budget to support various initiatives; we hope to have an answer to that by the end of this week. The House has allocated $17 million in addition to base funding for the agriculture budget, whereas the Senate was given a negative budget target and must cut $313,000 from its budget.

Here’s where we are at as of this writing:

Getting Food from Farms to Kids 

The AGRI Farm to School and Early Care Programs have been critical for expanding market access opportunities across the state, especially for beginning farmers and smaller operators, as well as for getting healthy, local food to our kids in both schools and childcare settings. Year-after-year there is greater demand for these resources than funding available; in 2023, for example, there were $5.3 million in requests for the program, and currently the state funds it at $1.29 million.

LSP is heartened to see that both the House and Senate versions of their Agriculture Bills have included an increase in funding for this initiative — $1 million in the House, $150,000 in the Senate. In mid-April, LSP invited legislators to see this program in action at a school in Hutchinson, Minn. Joining us were House Agriculture Committee vice co-chair Bobbie Harder (R) and Senate Educaton Finance Committee chair Mary Kunesh (DFL). To see a recap of this event check out our video here:

By the way, you can get a message to lawmakers that they need to support this farm to kids funding by signing our petition.

Land Access

An initiative developed to assist beginning farmers with purchasing farmland — the Minnesota Down Payment Assistance Program — has been overwhelmed with applications since it was established in 2022. A bill being proposed during the 2025 legislative session would improve the program by allowing farmers up to a year (the stipulation is currently six months) to purchase land with awarded funds. And as a result of skyrocketing land prices, LSP and its allies are pushing for legislation that would increase the grant award from $15,000 to $25,000 per successful applicant. Additionally, the bill would direct the Department of Agriculture to conduct a study of farmland ownership and suggest an action plan and policy recommendations to increase ownership opportunities.

Currently, the House bill includes provisions to increase the award amount to $20,000; the Senate version does not include increased funding. On April 9, LSP Farm Beginnings graduate Derek Ellis testified before the Minnesota House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee about the need to extend the timeline for purchasing farmland. After that testimony, Representatives Paul Anderson (R) and Rick Hansen (DFL), who are co-chairs of that committee, said going forward they could support extending up to a year the timeline of utilizing funding.

Soil Health & Water Quality

During this session, LSP has been backing legislation that would provide continued funding for the popular Soil Health Financial Assistance Program, which provides farmers financial resources for purchasing the kind of equipment they need to build healthy soil in an economically viable manner. Given that the program recently received requests worth $5 million, it’s clear there’s more than enough demand for this initiative’s resource. Currently, the House is funding it at $319,000 and the Senate’s share is $589,000. Rep. Anderson highlighted during the presentation of the bill that the modest legislative funding was due to money Minnesota received from the Environmental Protection Agency for Climate Smart Food Systems Grants; that EPA money brings $200 million to Minnesota for various grant programs, including the Soil Health Financial Assistance Program.

In addition, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s AGRI Livestock Investment Grant Program has long provided funding for farmers looking to add or update their livestock infrastructure and equipment. Climate Land Leaders, an LSP ally, is pushing for legislation to help especially beginning farmers purchase equipment that could support practices such as managed rotational grazing. In an attempt to make more resources available to small and medium-sized farmers, the legislation would provide a cost-share level of 50% for the first $20,000 in infrastructure costs; the cost-share level would be 20% for projects that cost between $20,000 and $200,000.

This proposal was not included in the House Bill and the tiered structure of cost-sharing was removed in the Senate version to instead provide a blanket cost share for all projects of 25%. We are working with our allies to get the tiered structure reinserted during the conference committee process.

In response to extensive nitrate pollution of groundwater in southeastern Minnesota, the Legislature in 2024 provided funding for landowners who are seeking ways to access clean drinking water via reverse osmosis systems or the digging of new wells, for example. Legislation LSP backed in 2025 would continue this program. Unfortunately, neither the House nor the Senate included funding for this initiative in their proposals. The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy has been leading this effort and is continuing to seek support from other committees. You can take action to support these proposals here.

The House version does provide $100,000 to study the impacts of the Olmsted County Groundwater Protection and Soil Health Program, which is seen as a model for taking a proactive, farmer-centered approach to keeping nitrates and other pollutants out of groundwater. Such a study could serve as the basis for expanding this program throughout southeastern Minnesota.

A longstanding priority for LSP is continued funding for research and development of perennial grains and winter annuals through the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative. Crops like Kernza and winter camelina show promise for diversifying and adding winter cover to Minnesota’s agricultural lands while building soil profitably. Both the House and Senate bills provide $802,000 of funding for Forever Green.

Make your voice heard on soil health and water quality: sign LSP’s petition to lawmakers telling them we need to support farmers who are adopting regenerative practices.

What’s Next

As I mentioned before, we are hopeful that this week will reveal what kind of budget parameters final legislation will be created under. On May 6, Governor Tim Walz met with legislative leadership to continue working on creating “global budget targets.” There are eight bills that have passed onto the conference committee process, with notably the Education, Finance and Health and Human Services bills stalling as legislators debate continuing summer unemployment benefits for hourly workers and healthcare for undocumented immigrants — policies that were passed during the 2023 session. As the May 19 session adjournment approaches, check LSP’s blog page and action alerts page for further updates.

LSP government relations director Laura Schreiber can be reached via e-mail.