By Rep. Paul Anderson
Two national bond rating agencies last week upgraded and re-affirmed Minnesota’s credit rating. Fitch Rating, along with Standard and Poors, gave the state their highest “AAA” bond rating. The immediate result of this rating will allow the state to receive the lowest interest rates possible when selling bonds for projects contained in the Capital Investment bill. The rating also signals that Minnesota, overall, is in sound financial condition.
One of the main factors the agencies used in making their determination was the pension bill passed by the Legislature during the last session and signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton. It was truly a bi-partisan effort and puts the state’s pension plans on a path to become fully funded in the future. The pension bill, passed unanimously by both chambers of the Legislature, affects over 500,000 Minnesotans and eliminates over $3 billion of the state’s unfunded pension liabilities.
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I traveled down to Fairmont last week to take part in the Modern Ag Tour of Martin County. Situated along the Iowa border, it’s one of the ag powerhouse counties in the nation. Martin County is among the national leaders in pork production and state leaders in corn and soybean production.
After several years of great crops in Martin County, that’s not the case in 2018 as heavy rains this spring and summer have left large areas of land drowned-out. As our bus traveled to the various places we visited, the result of too much rain was evident as some areas were still under water, in addition to driving past a county road blocked off because of standing water.
We toured a CHS soybean processing plant in Fairmont, where 55 million bushels of beans are processed every year. The plant operates 24/7 and can handle up to 1,200 trucks a day during the height of harvest. The beans are crushed to yield soy meal for animal feed and also oil. The oil is then sent to Mankato for further processing. About 72 percent of a soybean becomes meal, while 20 percent of the bean becomes oil.
There are also two ethanol plants in Martin County, where corn is converted into fuel used to help power our cars. We were told that because of the large livestock industry in the area, in addition to the ethanol plants, Martin County is a net importer of corn. The result is a basis for corn that made me envious. Basis is the difference between the futures price of a commodity and the actual cash price received by the farmer. Because of that high demand, the smaller basis there results in a price that’s usually 15 to 20 cents a bushel more than we receive around here.
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Another busy week end coming up with parades in Forada, Albany, and Greenwald. Weather conditions last week with moderate temps and low humidities were ideal for outdoor activities. Another warm-up is forecast for later this week as we get back to more traditional July and August weather conditions. I have wheat that looks ready to harvest, so we’ll find out how that yields. The hot and humid conditions experienced earlier this summer may have had a negative impact on this year’s crop. The price of wheat has jumped up recently as concern mounts about both the quantity and quality of the crop.
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