We wanted to reach out to fill you in on what is going on at the Minnesota Legislature when it comes to the prioritization of emerging farmers in Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and Rural Finance Authority (RFA) programs.

While we laid out the full context in this blog, here are the top five things you need to know:

1. Last year, we celebrated the historic investments in emerging farmers that we won at the Minnesota Capitol. One of these wins included doubling the funding for and prioritizing emerging farmer applicants within the Minnesota Farmland Down Payment Assistance Program, which the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) worked on with the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective (MFCC) and the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC).
2. Earlier this year, a right-wing California-based law firm began waging a “discrimination” lawsuit over the prioritization of emerging farmers. They recruited one of the 106 applicants in August of 2023 who did not receive a Down Payment Assistance Grant to be their plaintiff — a white, male farmer from Northern Minnesota who does not fit the “emerging” definition.
3. Because of the current state of our court system, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court, the state Legislature has no choice but to change prioritization of Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Rural Finance Authority Programs to be “race neutral.” It is likely that, if this lawsuit goes forward, the plaintiffs will be successful. The existence of the Down Payment Assistance Program and programs like it across sectors (i.e. education, housing) and states are at risk.
4. Because LSP has the capacity, legislative experience, and relationships with lawmakers to dedicate to this issue, we have helped coordinate a group of emerging farmer-led and emerging farmer-serving organizations to ensure the new statute is strong and to raise our voices in hearings about the pervasiveness of racism in our farm and food system. LSP’s Land Access & Emerging Farmers Policy Working Group has also been engaged in this work.
5. The farmers and organizations involved have works-hopped bill language with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture that folks are comfortable moving forward with, considering the circumstances.If you are an emerging farmer, we want to hear from you. Would you be prioritized in these programs under the new proposed language? Please take our 2-minute survey here!
   

   Emerging Farmers: Take the Survey Here

As you may have seen, a group of LSP members, organizers, and partners published a commentary in the Star Tribune earlier this week. We wrote:

“Lawsuits like this are a distraction from what we should really be asking: Why are we allowing industrial agriculture to swallow up a massive majority of public funding in our farm and food system while the rest of us are left fighting over the crumbs? … When lawsuits like this are filed, it’s important to ask: Who benefits by maintaining the status quo? In this case, corporate interests. By keeping us fighting over the scraps of public resources, corporate interests pit emerging farmers and small and mid-sized non-emerging farmers against each other. This helps distract the public’s attention away from how much public support is shoveled into corporate welfare. Rather than scapegoating emerging farmers, we have an opportunity to build solidarity and change how the system is failing all of us, no matter our backgrounds.”

Rather than fighting over a tiny sliver of the pie, we can make the Upper Midwest the best place to start a farm by providing all the resources, capital, training, and technical assistance aspiring, beginning, and emerging farmers need to start and sustain successful farms. Rather than be distracted by a culture war, emerging and non-emerging small and mid-sized farmers need to band together and fight for more.

Please read and share this commentary! Circulating our narrative is part of how we can change the public conversation about racism in our farm and food system.

Read & Share the Commentary

Lastly, I want to invite you to join us next week. The legislation to replace the prioritization of emerging farmers in statute is being heard on Monday, April 8, at 3 p.m., in the Minnesota Senate Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development Committee. If you are able, please join us in the audience to stand in solidarity with BIPOC farmers. The hearing is being held at the Minnesota Senate Building, Hearing Room 1150.