Notes from the MN Farmers Union 11-10-09
Notes from the Minnesota Farmers Union Tuesday November 10th, 2009
MFU convention nearing
MFU is having their annual state convention Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22 at the Ramada Plaza in Minneapolis. "Every year since 1942, Farmers Union members have gathered to develop our state policy from ideas they bring to the table," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. Along with policy discussion, there will be elections for both Farmers Union President and Vice President. Doug Peterson, current MFU President, is running for re-election unopposed; and long-time MFU Vice President, Dennis Sjodin, has decided to not run for re-election. There are four candidates for Vice President, and they are: Tim Henning of Adrian, Scott Hoese of Mayer, Tim Velde of Granite Falls, and Gary Wertish of Renville. There will be speakers throughout the convention, including: Gene Hugoson, Minnesota Department of Agriculture Commissioner; Linda Hennen, State Executive Director of Farm Service Agency; Colleen Landkamer, State Director of USDA Rural Development; Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union President; and the candidates for governor have been invited to speaking during our Saturday lunch break. The Minnesota Farmers Union Convention will be held on Saturday, November 22, and Sunday, November 23 at the Ramada Plaza, 1330 Industrial Boulevard, Minneapolis. For more information, check out our website, www.mfu.org.
Congressional members to speak at banquet
The annual MFU banquet is held on Saturday night November 21st and will feature a keynote address from Rep. James Oberstar, and greetings from Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken as well as Rep. Tim Walz. MFU will be honoring several individuals including long-time MFU VP Dennis Sjodin who is retiring this year. The meal will feature local foods from the farms of MFU members. The banquet begins at 6:30 p.m. and the cost is $25.00 contact Tim Schloe in the MFU office for more info at 651-639-1223.
2009 policy committee
The 2009 Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) Policy Committee met November 7-8 at the MFU office to consider 300 resolutions sent in by nearly 50 MFU county units. The Committee includes Nancy Dahlin-Teich, Chisago Co., Trevor Jensen, Steele Co., Harmon Wilts, Swift Co., Margaret Ness, Fillmore Co., John Waller, Washington Co., and Alan Perish Todd Co. Dahlin-Teich will chair the committee this year. The committee is recommending over 70 changes to the MFU policy statement some minor, some major and some deletions of outdates or irrelevant language. The number one resolution this year sent in by counties was support for some kind of universal/public option health care. These are some of the changes delegates will consider at the November 21-22 convention:
-Support for moving enforcement for the Minnesota corporate farm law from the Dept. of Ag to the Attorney General's office.
-Support and increase in the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program.
-Support for developing a long-term stabilizing of the milk pricing system.
-Support making Minnesota a mandatory livestock brand state.
-Support for allowing horse to be classified as livestock.
-Support for exempting livestock guardian dogs from the roaming dog laws of the state as long as they are no further than three miles away.
-Support for restoring cuts made to sustainable and organic agriculture at the legislature last year.
-Support for COOL for fuel.
-Support for their being two USDA crop reports, the first on acres planted and the second on final production reports.
-Support for allowing check writing authority for all commodity farm bill payments is at the local FSA office.
-Support for keeping the minimum threshold for qualification for the Farmer-Lender Mediation program at $5,000.
-Opposition to using animal names for disease outbreaks.
-Support for having the K-12 school year not start before Labor Day.
-Support for government entities working to procure locally grown food for nutrition programs.
-Support for requiring payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) must be equal to the tax rate paid by private land owners.
-Support for allowing horse farms to qualify for ag classification for property tax purposes if they file a schedule F for federal tax purposes.
-Support for expanding the state agricultural sales tax exemptions.
-Opposition to the Southern Rail Corridor Bypass around Rochester.
-Support for high speed rail to use existing rail lines.
-Support for farm truck inspections being every two years or 4,000 miles.
-Support for incentives to install blender pumps.
-Support for increasing the net metering law in Minnesota to 100kw.
-Support for removing the eminent domain exemptions for public service corporations.
-Opposition to the state amending the constitution to create a livestock regulatory entity to regulate livestock rules and regulations in Minnesota.
-Support for removing executive branch unallotment authority.
-Support for farmers being allowed to carry uncased weapons in their vehicles.
-Support for landowners receiving a free deer license if they own more than 80 acres of homesteaded property with ag classification.
Climate, Health Care likely special orders
MFU convention delegates are likely to consider three special orders of business this year. They most likely will be addressing climate change, health care and Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council. The discussion and votes on the special orders will happen Sunday morning November 22nd.
PAC reception to feature legislators and Gov. Straw poll
The Minnesota Farmers Union Political Action Committee (MFUPAC) will host a reception in the Itasca room at the Ramada from 5:00 to 6:30 pm on Saturday November 21st. Many state legislators as well as other officeholders will be in attendance and give brief remarks. The reception will also hold a non-binding straw poll for the 2010 Governor race. The poll will be for MFU members and they will have a chance to vote for one DFLer and one GOPer. MFUPAC is the political arm of MFU and does endorse for Governor, but most likely not do so until spring 2010.
MFU testifies on eminent domain
Last week MFU testified in favor of HF1182 authored by Rep. David Bly which would end exemptions for public service corporations for eminent domain. Interesting, I thought was Xcel Energy testified against the bill or with concerns about it, they list over 30 lobbyists at the state capitol. Checkout: Xcel . MFU will debate the issue at the annual convention next week checkout a good story from Session Daily at: eminent domain story
MFU members pass
Two longtime MFU members passed away recently Russ Ruud, former Atikin County MFU President and Executive Committee member on October 22nd and Meeker County Farmers Union member Harry Swanson on October 28th. I had a great time talking with Harry just a couple of weeks ago at the Meeker County meeting, and despite difficulty getting around, always took time to come down to the capitol to help Farmers Union.
Minnesota Farmers Assistance Network
Minnesota farm families have a new statewide resource network to help them address difficult financial challenges. The Minnesota Farmer Assistance Network (MFAN) provides financial guidance, technical assistance and mentoring to farm families facing economic hardship. By calling the toll-free MFAN helpline, 1-877-898-MFAN, farmers will be connected to appropriate resources such as farm business management instructors, extension educators and other expert financial analysts. MFAN will also help farmers find legal guidance, tax advice and 24-hour crisis counseling. "MFAN is a streamlined network designed to get farm families on the road to recovery," says Minnesota agriculture commissioner Gene Hugoson. MFAN was established to address a downturn in the farm economy due to low prices and declining demand for some commodities. The new resource network is administered by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Rural Finance Authority (RFA). Farmers seeking assistance can call 1-877-898-MFAN (6326) or in the Twin Cities metro area call 651-201-MFAN (6326). For more information, visit the MFAN website at www.mda.state.mn.us/mfan.
Broadband Task Force
Minnesota needs to upgrade its broadband speed and access to stay economically competitive. That was the message from a task force to a joint hearing of the House Telecommunications Regulation and Infrastructure Division and Senate Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications Committee. Created by the Legislature in April 2008, the Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force was directed to create and implement a statewide high-speed Internet access goal by 2015. Its report was released prior to the hearing. The goals include:
- high-speed broadband access to all Minnesotans by 2015; and
• constant minimum Internet speeds of 10-20 megabits per second for downloads, which would be 15 times faster than the current federal broadband definition, and 5-10 Mbps for uploads. Currently, 94 percent of Minnesotans have broadband access. The remaining 6 percent represents about 100,000 households and 300,000 residents. However, an estimated 83 percent of Minnesota does not meet the proposed standards. No counties reach the recommended upload speed. Conversely, just 37 percent of Cook County residents in northeast Minnesota now have broadband access, and 11 Greater Minnesota counties have available download speeds of 1.5 Mbps or less. "There's no excuse to have two Minnesota's when it comes to technology," said Rep. Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar). Among its recommendations, the task force recommends the state "initiate a study to develop a wide-ranging collaborative funding strategy to support the recommendations" and "explore financial options such as tax incentives, including property and sales tax credits and exemptions to further incentivize private capital investment."
Goule is new NFU VP of Gov't Relations
NFU President Roger Johnson has announced the organization has named Chandler Goule it's Vice President of Government Relations. Goule will oversee NFU's Government Relations staff to promote the policies and legislative agenda adopted by the organization's general membership. Goule comes to NFU from the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry where he served as Staff Director. He previously served the House Agriculture Committee as Minority Professional Staff and worked as a Senior Legislative Assistant for Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
CRP land
I thought these were interesting facts about CRP in Minnesota; 1.67 million acres active; 166,519 expire in 2009; 80,259 expire in 2010; 128,018 expire in 2011.
Vote in FSA County Committees elections!
Recently, Linda Hennen, Executive Director of USDA's Farm Service Agency in Minnesota announced that 2009 FSA county committee elections ballots are being mailed to eligible voters. Dec. 7, 2009, is the deadline for eligible voters to return ballots to their local FSA offices. "The FSA county committee system is unique among government agencies, because it allows producers to make important decisions concerning the local administration of federal farm programs," said Hennen. FSA committees operate within official regulations designed to carry out federal laws. For more information about FSA county committees and FSA programs, visit: http://www.fsa.usda.gov.
NFU Backs Health bill
NFU urged members of the House of Representatives to vote in support of health care legislation. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, NFU President Roger Johnson said the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) includes provisions that would control health care costs for the self-employed farmers, ranchers and small businesses that dominate rural economies.
NFU has long called for a comprehensive, meaningful health care reform bill that provides universal, affordable and accessible coverage for all Americans, regardless of health status, employment or financial situation. Rural Americans face unique challenges to receiving quality health care. Distance from medical facilities, cost-prohibitive private insurance premiums and co-pays, lack of an adequate medical workforce and access to generic drugs, and an aging rural population are just some of the obstacles. The bill passed the House by a vote of 220-215 on Saturday November 7th.
NFUSUA announced wind project
OwnEnergy and the National Farmers Union Service Association (NFUSUA), a wholly owned subsidiary of NFU, announced November 4 plans to develop a 20 MW wind energy project in Minnesota called the Rothsay Wind Energy project, which will create local jobs and stimulate economic development in the community. The Rothsay Wind Energy project is located in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, and will provide clean, locally-generated power to approximately 6,000 homes. The project will soon enter the Midwest ISO Definitive Planning Phase (DPP), and will use Tier 1 turbines to ensure financeability of the project. The project footprint includes property from six landowners, and will require minimal permitting in addition to the state required PUC permit. The partnership between OwnEnergy and NFUSA represents a win-win situation for both the wind industry and farmers across the United States. Community Wind projects provide farmers with the opportunity to generate a portion of their own electricity, create additional revenue streams for their family and their community, and expand sources of clean, renewable energy for the country.
Farmers Union Industries announces scholarships
Shawn Eischens, son of Ronald and Jackie Eischens, from Canby; Ethan Sweep, son of Nathan and Farmers Union Insurance Agent Barb Sweep, from Fosston; and Tracy Poncelet, daughter of Dennis and Pamela Poncelet, from Mazeppa, each received a $1,500 scholarship from the Farmers Union Industries Foundation. "Education is one of the founding principles of Minnesota Farmers Union, that is why it is such an honor to be able to give out these scholarships," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. Shawn Eischens is attending Minnesota West-Canby Campus, and his career goals are to work for a machinery company repairing equipment, own a diesel repair shop, and continue operating the family dairy farm. Ethan Sweep is attending North Dakota State University-Fargo and hopes to become a veterinarian and continue the family farm. Tracy Poncelet is beginning her fourth year at the UW-LaCrosse, and is pursuing a career in health services-radiation therapy. Her future goals include working at a children's hospital, teaching radiation therapy at a college, and remaining active in the family farm.
Farmer-Lender Mediation
Not to end on bad news, but....An increasing number of farmers and lenders are using mediation to resolve farm debt issues, according to the University of Minnesota Extension Farmer-Lender Mediation program's annual report. For the 12 months prior to Oct. 1, 2009, there was a 55 percent increase in the number of notices filed by lenders for loans eligible for mediation, totaling 3,107 such notices. These notices resulted in 1,192 requests for mediation, a dramatic 86 percent increase over the previous year. The total amount of debt involved in mediation was $322 million, more than double the amount in 2008. The report showed 422 notices that led farmers and lenders to reach agreement about a debt. For an additional 533 notices, farmers and lenders are currently in mediation in hopes of reaching an agreement. A chart comparing program activity between 2008 and 2009 can be accessed at www.extension.umn.edu/go/1011 (PDF). The Minnesota Farmer-Lender Mediation program is part of USDA's Certified State Agricultural Mediation Program. The 2009 annual report is available at www.extension.umn.edu/go/1012.
That is all for now, as usual, questions, comments and complaints to me!
Thom Petersen, Director of Government Relations, MN Farmers Union