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Klobuchar staff in New Ulm to talk Farm Bill

NEW ULM — Staff from U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office came to New Ulm Monday as part of a Farm Bill tour.

Klobuchar staff member Chuck Ackman facilitated the discussion. He said the purpose of this meeting was to learn which parts of the Farm Bill work, which parts need improvement and which parts need to be removed. Ackman said the reason New Ulm was chosen as a stop on the tour was to hear comments from dairy farmers.

Steve Hoffmann said the milk price protection program had strong backbone. But he felt the formula for calculating the feed cost was always a $1 low and suggested it be re-adjusted.

Sarah Schmidt from AMPI agreed with Hoffmann and said a small tweak in this formula would have a huge positive impact on dairy farmers.

“We need a program that secures the margin,” Schmidt said. She also suggested having a consistent pricing. Both regional and national pricing formulas are applied to feed and milk prices, but this causes problems with profit margins if the feed is priced on a national metric but the milk price is based on regional statistics.

“It needs to be all regional or all national,” said Schmidt.

Denny Schmidt raised concerns about the high rental prices the government pays for Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land.

“Right now the government is outbidding local farmers,” Schmidt said. This in effect creates unfair competition and takes good farm land out of production, he said. Farmers are retiring by renting the land out as CRP land, rather than develop it. Schmidt also felt CRP rental fees should be kept lower and be applied to poor farm land prone to erosion.

Harlan Anderson asked about the consequences of no farm bill. Anderson suggested the new administration at the White House would not consider the Farm Bill a high priority.

Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson said if the Farm Bill is not reauthorized in 2018, the laws would revert back to rules established over 70 years ago. This would force the government to buy up agriculture products to drive up prices.

Frederickson acknowledged there were many unknowns in Washington, D.C. with the new administration. These discussions are occurring early to give feedback to Klobuchar going into the new senatorial session.

Legislative Assistant Brian Werner said the nominee for Secretary of Agriculture will likely come before the Agriculture Committee next week and these discussions will help Klobuchar decide which questions to ask during the Senate hearings. Klobuchar is a member of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Agriculture.

The U.S. Congress has passed farm bills since 1933. The latest Farm Bill was last re-authorized in 2014 and will require congressional reauthorization in 2018.

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