It’s crunch time at the Capitol with just over a month left in session and just a day before the deadline to pass budget bills out of committees of jurisdiction. We’ve seen some progress, some gridlock, and through all of it, we’ve been working to ensure that updates to Minnesota policies and budgets are responsive to the priorities MFU members laid out in November.

As a reminder, delegates and county leaders passed five special orders of business at November’s MFU State Convention. As it relates to state work, these call on lawmakers to:

• Address the economic crisis in farm country, reauthorizing Farmer-Lender Mediation, renewing RFA funding and funding farmer supports.
• End the trade war and invest in local and regional markets.
• Address healthcare cuts and redouble state work to lower costs.
• Support the next generation of farmers, including by fully funding the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit.
• Support programs that fight hunger, including the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program.

You can read our legislative priorities one-pager here.

Except for trade, which is a federal concern, we have made progress on all these priorities and many others in St. Paul this session. That said, most proposals still have a lengthy path to final passage. Our shared work in this final month is as important as ever.

An example of progress, Sen. Aric Putnam, DFL-SD14, passed a bipartisan budget bill (SF5073) out of his committee on April 15. While much more limited than last years’ bill, this supplemental budget makes changes and updates to initiatives passed in the 2025 session and includes several MFU priorities.

Farmer-Lender Mediation extended

First—and a top priority for MFU and Putnam—the bill extends Farmer-Lender Mediation, ensuring that this program will be there for farmers should they need it. MFU has long championed this program and convened a coalition of agriculture organizations around its passage this session.

Reflective of Chair Putnam’s work on the issue, this bill has also cleared its committee stops as a standalone (SF3583) and was included in the Higher Education Committee budget bill (SF4638), which passed last week. Chair Omar Fateh’s, DFL-SD62, Higher Education Committee also included a $150,000 increased appropriation for the Farmer-Lender Mediation program to help staff manage increased mediations.

Down Payment Assistance Grant changes approved

Second, in the Senate Agriculture budget bill, committee members approved changes to Minnesota’s Down Payment Assistance Grants, which was championed by then-Agriculture Chair, Rep. Samantha Vang, DFL-HD38B, and offers $20,000 to help farmers purchase farmland.

MFU has been working with legislators, MDA and the Land Stewardship Project to come to a bipartisan agreement around workable requirements for the program. As MFU staff described in testimony, that’s because the program has been incredibly popular and competitive, which resulted in a majority of applicants being turned away from the lottery-style award selection.

Unfortunately, however, many of the people who receive the grants don’t wind up utilizing the award within the allowed time, resulting over $800,000 in unspent awards being returned to the general fund in 2025.

To resolve this, the proposal in the Senate would extend the timeline for purchases, newly prioritize applicants who’ve sold at least $1,000 in gross farm products, and authorize MDA to reserve up to 50 percent of awards for those with purchase agreements. The language would also prioritize applicants who’ve completed a farm business management program, have a four-year agriculture-related degree, or have three years farm management experience.

Finally, the bill would limit grants to 30 percent of the purchase price of a farm, with the same maximum grant of $20,000. The House compromise version—developed by Vang and Co-Chair Paul Anderson, R-HD12A—would limit grants to 40 percent of a purchase price with an increased maximum grant of $30,000.

Meat Processing Train and Retain grants extended

Third—and following an amendment from Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-SD39—the Senate finance omnibus extends an appropriation for MDA’s Meat Processing Train and Retain grants, which MFU worked to establish in 2023. The grants, which are administered by regional economic development organizations, help people transition to new communities and establish careers in meat cutting. The program provides up to $10,000 grants to new meat processing employees for tuition reimbursement at the technical college programs, sign on and retention bonuses, relocation assistance and other expenses.

As MFU pointed out in testimony before the committee, “during the pandemic, we all learned that a consolidated meat processing system doesn’t work well for farmers, consumers or workers.” And as we set out to support small and regional processors, workforce was quickly identified as a top challenge.

The bill would extend the current appropriation allowing between an additional 1 and 2 years to complete projects. This—perhaps surprisingly, given the strong bipartisan support in the House—turned into one of two issues debated in the otherwise cordial hearing. Committee Republicans argued that the grants shouldn’t be so broad as to cover childcare, housing, or relocation costs and brought forward an amendment to limit grants to tuition. That amendment failed and the bill as it advanced would be a simple extension of the program as it is currently designed.

Paraquat use debated

The second issue that received significant debate was a provision to phase out the use of agricultural chemicals containing paraquat dichloride, barring sale starting in 2028 and use in 2029, with an exception for emergencies defined in law and by the Commissioner of Agriculture. This was added by Putnam in response to public testimony from advocates and those living with Parkinson’s, a disease which studies link to its use. It also came following significant effort from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to develop a workable proposal.

Following debate, the proposal was struck from the Senate bill, by a narrow majority of committee-members.

In the House, this issue was identified by Rick Hansen, DFL-HD53B, as his caucus’s top priority and on April 13, he pledged their votes to block a budget bill that didn’t include the ban.

On April 15, and absent a compromise or agreement from Anderson, the House omnibus budget bill failed to advance. This was after bipartisan votes on amendments to add readiness requirements to the farm Down Payment Assistance grants, extend the meat processing Train and Retain grants, increase funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program ($300,000, one time), and add money to pay for wolf depredation claims ($300,000, one time).

This was the House Agriculture Committee’s final hearing before deadline and last scheduled for the year, leaving a procedural challenge for advancing a companion to Putnam’s bill in the Senate.  That said—and as pointed out in committee—should an agreement be reached in the coming weeks, there are other procedural ways to advance a budget bill.

Where there is a will, there is (at least often, it would seem) a way.

There are also bills potentially advancing alone and outside an omnibus. The Senate passed Sen. Rob Kupec, DFL-SD4, and Rep. Nathan Nelson’s, R-11B, fix for the DIAIRI program 66-0 and—after one failed vote to advance—a house panel on the Ways and Means Committee cleared it for action on the House floor, which could come as soon as next week.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel tax credit

Outside of the Agriculture Committee, MFU Vice President Anne Schwagerl delivered testimony in support of Senate Tax Chair Anne Rest’s, DFL-SD43, bill to extend and expand Minnesota’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) tax credit.

“This opportunity to create a new domestic market for our agricultural products will be meaningful to farmers across the state,” she told committee members. “This is true across a variety of crops that could be feedstocks for SAF, including cash crops like corn and soybeans, along with new crops like winter camelina.”

Chair Rest committed to advancing the proposal in her bill. Beyond that—and after hearing testimony from MFU members in an early hearing—she also committed to including a fix for the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit, so that farmers can count on the credit for structuring sales and rental agreements that help the next generation get into agriculture. This has been a priority for MFU in the tax committee since the legislature lowered the cap on the credit in 2023.

Putnam, who’s authored the bill to lift the cap on the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit called Rest the “Queen of Ag Land” for her work to advance agriculture these proposals, and among many other pressing priorities before her committee.

Not specific to a bill, but important of advancing a range of proposals to address the economic harm brought about by ICE action in Minnesota in the early months of the year, MFU’s Mike Seifert of Scott County testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on April 13.

“To begin and to state it plainly, Operation Metro Surge has had impacts far beyond the metro. And those impacts will continue to be felt for a long time,” he said, sharing stories that MFU heard at People’s Town Halls in the early months of this year.

Committee members also heard from Kerkhoven Country Butcher owner Giorgia Gallardo who worked with the MFU Bottleneck Project in starting her meat processing facility.

“Because of ICE, our small meat processing plant had a reduction in sales to our main retail outlets of about $6,500. Additionally, our weekend traffic from immigrant friends and neighbors, who would often stop by our processing plant, significantly declined, costing us about $5,350,” Giorgia said. “Our customers were afraid to come out.”

“We simply love this country,” she told committee members in closing. “Our ability to start this small business would only be a dream in the countries we came from.”

As always, this is just a snapshot of our legislative work. If you have thoughts, questions, concerns, please reach out to Stu at stu@mfu.org or (320) 232-3047.