Notes from the Minnesota Farmers Union Tuesday October 25, 2005

10/25/2005

Frederickson to retire

In a letter to the Farmers Union State Presidents National Farmers Union President Dave Frederickson has announced that he will retire form his position when his term expires next year.  Frederickson cited that the organization is in sound financial shape and has been a strong leader in the legislative arena.  Frederickson also said that his departure has a lot to do with a desire to spend more time with his family.  Look for more information in the next issue of Minnesota Agriculture.  Frederickson is scheduled to attend the MFU state convention.

State Convention Nearing

The annual MFU state convention will be held November 19-20th at the Four Points Hotel in Minneapolis.  Plans for the convention are going well. County units are encouraged to return their delegate and resolution forms as soon as possible.  MFU is planning a forum of US Senate Candidates for the Saturday evening banquet where the candidates will discuss Ag and rural issues. If you have questions about the state convention, please call me at 651-288-4067.

MFU Applauds Decision to Postpone Closing of Farm Service Agency Offices

President Doug Peterson applauded the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to postpone the “FSA Tomorrow” Plan. The plan called for the closure of hundreds of Farm Service Agency offices nationwide, and more than 20 in Minnesota.

When the “FSA Tomorrow” plan was announced, Peterson said the plan would not serve farmers well. He also said the timing of the plan was terrible because farmers are facing low crop prices, high fuel prices, and are now in the middle of their busiest time of year—harvest. Peterson also said that farmers were concerned about the additional time and travel expense that would be required to obtain services from the remaining FSA offices.

MFU, NFU opposes Senate Ag cuts

National Farmers Union said last week’s Senate Agriculture Committee approval of a budget plan containing more than $3 billion in cuts to vital agriculture programs is a step in the wrong direction for rural America.“Farmers and ranchers are facing low commodity prices, skyrocketing energy costs, and devastating weather conditions,” NFU President Dave Frederickson said. “If the cuts that passed the committee today are adopted, they will place a further burden on rural America.”

The Agriculture Committee’s plan includes provisions to cut farm $1.296 billion from the farm safety net annually for 2006 through 2010. It also makes $1.054 billion in reductions in conservation spending. NFU maintains that farmers and ranchers are being asked to bear a disproportionate burden of the cuts in federal spending, as farm spending makes up less than 1 percent of the federal budget, yet are required to take more than 9 percent of all federal spending reductions.“It does not make sense for Congress to cut programs that are helping to keep rural America afloat at the same time they are making major tax cuts for the nations wealthy,” Frederickson said. 

The reconciliation package did include an extension of the MILC program. However, the MILC payment is reduced by 27.5 percent from the previous program that expired on Sept 30.  The House is likely to pick up their plan in the next week or so.

Organic Task Force

Yesterday I attended the first meeting of the State Organic Task Force that works to advise the Commissioner on issues pertinent to organics in the state of Minnesota. Commissioner Hugoson appointed me the Chair of this group.  Interesting among the many topics was the need to find more dairy producers to transition to organics, to identify marketing help for farmers and to provide education to the public and producers about organics in Minnesota.  If people have organic questions please feel free to contact me and I will be sure to address them with the committee.  Checkout MDA’s organic webpage at: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/esap/organic/default.htm

Diesel Prices

MFU has received many calls in the past few days from farmers who are very concerned about the sudden spike in diesel prices, and the almost one dollar disparity between gas and diesel.  Many farmers have told me that they are not filling their tanks, but purchasing a set dollar amount.  MFU has also heard from cattle haulers and feed and grain mills.  MFU is expressing this concern to the Congressional delegation and increasing the awareness that these prices are especially difficult coming at harvest time.

Ag in the Classroom

This week I also attended the annual meeting of the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom program in St. Peter. MFU has been along time financial supporter of this very popular program that provides agricultural classroom information to Minnesota children for more information checkout their website at: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/maitc/

Land rents

An interesting website to checkout is the University of Minnesota Extension site that shows the annual crop land rent rates by county for Minnesota for 2005. The report also says that over 50% of Minnesota farmland is rented out.  Checkout the site at: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/maitc

New FLAG Director

Farmers Legal Action Group (FLAG) has named Susan Stokes as its new Executive Director.  Stokes has served as the Legal Director for FLAG since 2002 overseeing FLAG’s legal and litigation matters.  FLAG was formed in 1986 and works on issues of concern to family farmers and ranchers.  MFU recently met with FLAG to discuss issues around wind energy and 1031 exchanges.  Checkout the FLAG website at: http://www.flaginc.org/

Ben and Jerry’s

The Ice Cream Company Ben and Jerry’s has launched a new website that takes a look at their support for family farms and includes links to the National Farmers Union, you can see their comments on issues and some of their commercials.  Check it out at: http://www.benjerry.com/familyfarms/

Renewable Energy Conference

AURI and the USDA are hosting a Renewable Energy in Southern Minnesota Conference on November 16th from 9:00 to 3:30 at the Holiday Inn in Owatonna.  Among the speakers will be Don Davis from Farmers Union Marketing and processing (FUMPA). MFU President Doug Peterson is planning on attending and MFU will have a display at the event. For more information checkout: http://www.mncpoe.org/Upcoming_events/upcoming_event_hometact.htm

County Convention update:

Marshall County:  MFU President Doug Peterson was a guest speaker as well as State Senator LeRoy Stumpf.  Delegates and officers were elected at the meeting convened by County President Norma Hanson.

Becker County: About 40 members attended the annual meeting held in Callaway.  County President Roger Schafer was re-elected and we had a good discussion about issues such as ethanol and dairy.  Steve Haaven, the CEO of the local REA (Wild Rice), was the keynote speaker.  The delegates also voted to pay a stipend to delegates to the State MFU Convention.

Morrison County:  Also had about 40 members attending the annual meeting held in Little Falls with President Mike Kliber presiding.  In fact I was late and I got the last seat available! The delegates passed 9 resolutions dealing with everything from FSA office closings to opposition to irradiated beef.  The County also voted to again offer a $500 scholarship to a high school student.  Guest Speakers included the new MFU Insurance Agent for Little Falls, Dan Prokott, Darrel Larson from the County FSA, A board member from the Little Falls ethanol plant and me.

Todd County:  MFU President Doug Peterson reported over 60 members at the annual meeting presided over by County President Alan Perish!

Kanabec County: MFU VP Dennis Sjodin was joined by Mark Ritchie http://www.markritchie06.net/ a candidate for Secretary of State at the annual meeting held in Oglivie.  Ritchie is very concerned about hearing the thoughts of township officers have with the new voting regulations.  MFU has received quite a few resolutions about some of the new requirements.

Aitkin County:  Jane Jewett-Grimsbo was the guest speaker at the annual meeting held in Palisade.  Jewett-Grimsbo does work with the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture http://www.misa.umn.edu/ and is a MFU member. 

Wadena County:  Annual meeting held in Sebeka was presided over by President Mel Kinnunen and featured a talk by Tom Schulz an MFU member and Farm Business Management Instructor and myself.  Karen Winkels retired as Secretary and was replaced by Karleen Gilster.  They also voted to continue to sponsor an award at the Wadena County Fair for 4-H.

Beltrami County:  MFU VP Dennis Sjodin was the guest speaker at the annual meeting held in Blackduck.  Rep. Brita Sailer was also a guest at the annual meeting.

Norman/Mahnomen:  MFU VP Dennis Sjodin also attended the joint county meeting held in Wauban.  A resolution was passed dealing with eminent domain.  Rep. Kent Eken was also in attendance.

Many more county conventions will be held soon.  I think all that are going to be scheduled are scheduled and are on the website checkout: http://www.mfu.org and then go to events.

Thanks that is all for now as usual questions, comments and complaints to me!

Thom Petersen, Director of Government Relations

Thom Petersen
Director of Government Relations
Minnesota Farmers Union
600 County Road D West #14
St. Paul, MN 55112
(651) 288-4067