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Aug. 12, 1999
Farming optionsdiscussed at Houseag panel meetingBy GUY PRIEL Journal Staff Writer ST. PETER -- With an eye toward the 2000 legislative session and focusing on value-added agriculture for Minnesota farmers, representatives from 12 state districts gathered on St. Peter High School on Wednesday for the House Agricultural Policy Committee meeting. The agricultural economy is stuck in its worst downturn since the mid 1980s. Lawmakers recently passed several pieces of legislation that will assist farmers by providing immediate and long-term assistance. "I am well aware of the agriculture crisis, because I live in an area that has been damaged by flooding since 1995," said Chairman Tim Fenseth (R-Angus). There is a great need for legislators to do something to turn the agricultural economy around in the next few years, said George Cassel,(R-Alexandria). "Agriculture has a trickle-down effect," said Dan Dorman (R-Albert Lea)."If farming fails, then eventually all sectors of the economy suffer." The first report presented to the committee members revolved around the state's ethanol program. During the 1999 session, legislators assigned $68.5 million for continued ethanol producer payment and included a $500,000 operating loan for a new ethanol plant in Little Falls. A spokesman for the ethanol program reported that 14 Minnesota plants are producing ethanol, an value-added product, and 12 of them are owned by farmers. The plants produce 240 million gallons of ethanol per year, returning $350 million worth of economic value back to the state. "Ethanol has some value as a model and the results prove that there is profit in agribusiness," he said. "Moving grain is profitable if the prices are high enough." Farmers need to develop better efficiency, because just having a large farmed acreage is not the only solution to the problem, he said. During the 1999 session, legislators directed $320,000 to assist farmers' efforts to form cooperatives that process and market farm commodities, thus helping farmers capture a larger share of the consumer dollar. Tied in with that was the Environment and Agriculture Finance Bill that allocated $8.16 million for the Agriculture Utilization Research Institute to help farmers with market development for new value-added products. The legislation also allocated $142,000 for promotional efforts to strengthen consumer recognition for Minnesota Grown products and $175,000 for sustainable and organic market and program development. Richard Hagen, spokesman for the Renville County Co-op, discussed a new product, Telapia fish, that has the potential for marketing in larger cities where there are high concentrations of persons of Asian descent. The co-op is developing a Telapia raising program. "Telapia is a type of ethnic breed of perch," he said. "It is mainly a warm water fish favored for use in Taiwan." The co-op is built near the beet sugar plants in Renville County. The Telapia project makes use of the heat from the wastewater treatment filters at the plant to heat ponds in which the fish are raised. The fish are marketed in New York, Philadelphia and other cities, he said. "Some of it is being used in Minneapolis, but not as much," he said. "There is a demand for these live fish from Minnesota, and there is a good market for locally grown and raised telapia." Dennis Bottom, spokesperson for the Minnesota Cattle Growers Association, feels Minnesota officials are against the production of livestock, despite direct-marketing options available through the State Meat Inspection Program. "I think there is an anti-livestock mentality in this state," he said. "There is also an anti-growth mentality in the industry as a whole. A 1,000-head system is uneconomical, but that is the limit that was set." Minnesota has the potential to be competitive with any other market, as long as people are willing to maintain strong livestock and keep production in the corn belt, he said. Debbie Letoskie provided information about the possibility of planting hybrid poplar trees on marginal agricultural land, or in flood-ravaged areas as a diversification tool. "By doing this, we will help replenish our wood supply and make use of the land while keeping our supply here in the state," she said. "Hybrid poplar is fast growing and has a lot of potential for ag land use." Because of the pseudo-rabies problem, Minnesota pork producers have been unable to market their animals in newer markets, but new laws will help eradicate the problem, Minnesota Pork Producers Spokesman Dave Chrysler said. "We need to develop a new capacity, because production facilities in neighboring states will close in the next few years," he said. Having uniform definitions for agriculture-related issues, speaking with a unified voice and looking at the farm situation as not just rural, but as urban and suburban as well, needs to be the goal of legislators, Nicollet County Extension Educator Gary Hachfeld said. "We need to be able to look at initiatives that will help us move forward, and we need to look at the overall picture of agriculture," he said. "Value-added crops have to be backed up with research, because they have the potential to fail. Minnesota crops tend to be discounted in the market." Farmers receive $120 million in tax cuts and $10 million in marketing initiatives. Included in this is $70 million one-time tax rebate for farmers and $52.6 million in ongoing property tax relief, said Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon). "This is a permanent property tax relief and the goal was that $4 per acre was to be returned back to the producers," he said. During the session, the legislators also appropriated $900,000 for a new marketing fund to help farmers develop and implement marketing strategies and $753,000 to help dairy farmers become more profitable.
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