Minnesota Farmers Union

St. Paul (May 20, 2010) - Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) saw positive progress on many of its key policy issue areas during the recently completed 2010 legislative session in St. Paul.  Despite the issue of having to work with a large budget deficit, MFU worked to ensure cuts to agriculture were limited.

"MFU made sure that agriculture and rural policy got the attention it needed from the legislature, especially from members of the Agriculture Committees," said Doug Peterson, MFU President.  "In dark budget times, MFU protected the rights of farmers and rural communities."

Some of the key items that are now law due to MFU's work include:

• strengthening of eminent domain laws pertaining to 100 kilovolt power lines and pipelines takings;
• providing that budget impacts to agriculture programs, including the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Board of Animal Health and the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), were limited;
• extension of two years to the current seven year limit on wind easements that are signed by land owners;
• updating of bovine tuberculosis(TB) statutes to allow Minnesota to keep moving toward a TB-free status;
• positive changes to the Green Acres Property Tax Program that include extending the "opt-out" date, reducing the ten-year covenant for the Rural Preserve program to eight years, better guidance for the state on determining Green Acres values, and clarification of the process for writing a "conservation plan" for the Rural Preserve program;
• counties being allowed to place bounties on coyotes if they choose; and
• more entities will be allowed to investigate wolf-kill claims, including local sheriffs and veterinarians.

MFU testified more than thirty times this session before various committees and conducted a very successful "day on the hill" for MFU members to lobby legislators.