Dear Neighbor,
Greetings from St. Paul and some quick notes regarding National Ag Week, which is March 13-19 this year. Today is designated as National Ag Day and it serves as a good time to think about how important ag is to our state and nation.
The 2012 Census of Agriculture indicates a total of 2.1 million farms in the United States, totaling 915 million acres. There are nearly 75,000 farms in Minnesota and a total of 27 million acres in production. Around 88 percent of that land is owned by families or individuals.
Those of us in the ag industry know how tight margins are these days. Nationally, the average ag sales per farm in the U.S. in 2012 was more than $187,000. But 1.6 million of our farms (75 percent) had total sales of less than $50,000 annually.
That tight economy with low commodity prices is one reason I am authoring a bill this session to extend the farmer-lender mediation program in our state. The bill is scheduled to receive a hearing in this session's first Agriculture Policy Committee meeting on Thursday. I chair that panel and look forward to presenting my bill.
Another bill we expect to hear in Thursday's Ag committee meeting would allow property owners to retain homestead tax status on land they rent to beginning farmers.
We also had the first meeting of the Republican Rural Caucus this week. One of the subjects we touched on is legislation to help iron out some of the wrinkles as new buffer-strip law is implemented in our state. I will pass along more as our plans develop.
On another note, the governor is unveiling his budget proposals for the current session this morning. This is not a budget year in name because a two-year state budget was set in 2015, but some adjustments often come in even-numbered years. That is especially true this year as we consider options for appropriating a projected $900 million surplus. The House and the Senate will come forward with their own proposals so look for more on this as details emerge.
Sincerely,
Paul