ST. PAUL – A package of agricultural policy provisions Rep. Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, shaped as chairman of the House Agriculture Policy Committee passed the House 109-25 on Wednesday.
Anderson himself authored a number of key components in the agriculture omnibus policy bill (H.F. 1717). Those measures include updating the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act, extending the fledgling dairy initiative at the U of M, and preventing an agriculture leadership council from sunsetting.
“It’s a strong bill, a good bill for agriculture,” Anderson said. “We have a nice mix of measures that will benefit ag in a number of ways and it was nice to see such broad, bipartisan support in the House.”
Anderson said the state’s Farmer-Lender Mediation Act has remained the same since the program was established in 1986. His bill would bring the program up to date with today’s dollar.
The U of M dairy initiative provision centers on an educational research facility that is in the developmental stages. Anderson’s current language extends the Dairy Research, Teaching, and Consumer Education Authority by three years to allow for work to continue on bringing this public-private effort to fruition. This project is the product of a bill Anderson previously led to enactment.
“The process is going a little more slowly than I had hoped when we passed the first bill five years ago,” Anderson said. “But there is progress and they’ve settled on a location for the facility on the U of M’s St. Paul campus. Now we want to see it to fruition.”
Anderson’s other prominent provision permanently establishes the Minnesota Agriculture Education and Leadership Council. Among other things, the MAELC develops agriculture education programs and facilitates grants to support agriculture education.
Other measures in the bill extend the Minnesota Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council and provide modifications to the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI).
-30-