ST. PAUL – The House Agriculture and Finance Committee on Wednesday approved an omnibus finance bill which provides a $17 million increase for its section of the state budget.
The $169 million package for the next two-year cycle is 10 percent more than the current 2024-25 budget. It also is an increase over the $151 million Gov. Tim Walz proposes for 2026-27.
“This bill funds some important, time-sensitive issues,” committee Chair Rep. Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, said. “We’re moving this bill through the committee to help quickly address livestock situations and emergency preparedness – things that can’t wait. I also am pleased with how this bill supports all kinds of farms, large and small, organic and conventional, rural and urban.”
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture receives the bill’s largest portion of the total General Fund appropriation, totaling $145.7 million. The Board of Animal Health ($13.5 million), the Agriculture Utilization Research Institute ($8.8 million) and the Office of Broadband Development ($2 million) also are funded in the bill.
The committee moved the bill to the House Ways and Means Committee, the last stop before it is available for a vote of the full House.
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