Dear Neighbor,
Attended a productive meeting Tuesday to discuss a variety of issues in the dairy industry. The event was sponsored by the Minnesota Farmers Union and held at the Osendorf farm near Paynesville. Around 40 people attended and there was some good feedback provided regarding a whole list of challenges.
Comments from folks addressed everything from a two-tiered pricing system that may help small producers, to high input costs, low milk prices, competition from mega-dairies, milk-supply management and more. There are no easy solutions to the obstacles facing dairy workers, but this dialogue will be helpful as we look to identify improvements that could be made.
I touched on the status of the dairy industry in a column I submitted to area newspapers this week. If you missed it, click here for that text.
In other ag news, I am among members of House agriculture committees who are asking that a new June 20 deadline for the application of dicamba herbicides in farm fields be extended.
The request, filed with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on Tuesday, follows unusual weather-related events this year. Heavy April snowfalls caused delays in Minnesota’s planting season and then persistent June rains further slowed progress. That has left little to no opportunity for applicators to spray their dicamba-tolerant soybeans this year, the first in which the state’s new June 20 deadline is in place.
This is new technology we’re dealing with and this is the first year the state has gone beyond federal regulations as far as this application deadline. The wet conditions just didn’t allow us to get in the fields as early as we would have liked and now farmers are in a jam. An extension from the state would be very helpful in providing some relief from the deadline so we can get our work done.
Several House members collaborated on a letter to the Department of Agriculture, formally requesting leeway with the new deadline. The letter we sent states, in part:
“We, as members of the House agriculture committees, ask you to extend the date to allow for the application of dicamba at least through the month of June, to match our neighbor North Dakota, which has a June 30th cut-off date. We would also make it clear that we expect applicators to continue following all requirements on the Federal label, as well as MDA’s prohibition of dicamba application when temperatures exceed 85 degrees Fahrenheit.”
The full letter can be viewed at this link.
Let’s hope for more conducive weather patterns the rest of this growing season.
Sincerely,
Paul