Funding law seeks to help pandemic-plagued farmers, producers, processors

Supporters of a new funding package acknowledge it does not fully address the needs of the state’s agricultural community, yet they anticipate the new law will provide some assistance to farmers and producers.

The law aims to use federal pandemic relief dollars (unless otherwise noted) to help farmers, producers, processors and grocers grappling with fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and tries to reduce farm accidents involving grain bins and tractors.

Sponsored by Rep. Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin) and Sen. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake), the omnibus supplemental agriculture finance law calls for $600 million in assistance. It is expected to largely be reimbursed by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act because it invests in farmer mental health needs, the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Advocate program, and other eligible activities.

Among its provisions, the law specifies that $675,000 of the General Fund allocation in fiscal year 2021 to the Agricultural Research, Education, Extension and Technology Transfer program at the University of Minnesota is for Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory testing equipment and supplies necessary to respond to avian influenza, salmonella and other turkey-related diseases.

It also reduces General Fund funding for the transfer program by $100,000 (from $9.3 million to $9.2 million) in fiscal year 2021. These provisions take effect July 1, 2020.

Among its provisions, the law, effective May 28, 2020, unless otherwise noted, will:

• appropriate $175,000 in fiscal year 2020 for grants to farmers who have been approved for farm debt restructuring loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency or Rural Finance Authority loan programs to cover the loan origination fees;

• provide a one-time $125,000 appropriation in fiscal year 2020 for grants to retail food handlers “to execute requirements, guidance, and recommendations related to the infectious disease known as COVID-19 provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Minnesota Department of Health, and to develop safety procedures, update and retrofit retail locations, purchase personal protective equipment for employees, and educate the public on the need to follow safety procedures”;

• provide a one-time $100,000 appropriation in fiscal year 2020 “for grants to independently owned or employee-owned meat and poultry processors that may also operate as a retail seller, to expand their processing operations to help make up the loss of processing animals as a result of the temporary closing or operation reductions of other processing facilities due to the COVID-19 crisis”;

• effective July 1, 2020, provide a $100,000 one-time General Fund expenditure in fiscal year 2021 for farm safety grant and outreach programs, with $50,000 for grain storage facility safety equipment grants and $50,000 for outreach, which can include “creating and presenting a grain storage facility safety curriculum”;

• designate $100,000 in fiscal year 2020 for farmers and value-added agricultural businesses whose markets and operations were negatively impacted by the pandemic;

• provide $60,000 in fiscal year 2020 for farm advocate services to help respond to the pandemic; and

• make available $40,000 in fiscal year 2020 for additional community outreach on farms and to rural mental health services, including suicide prevention training, mental health awareness training for farm and rural adolescents and mental health forums.

The law reestablishes a tractor rollover prevention grant program that expired in 2019. It permits the Agriculture Department to award grants to farmers and schools that retrofit tractors built before 1987 with eligible rollover protective structures. This takes effect July 1, 2020.

Also effective that day is a provision to give the Agriculture Department discretion to issue a food handler license to a person or company with a water supply or disposal system that does not satisfy relevant state standards. This can only happen if the department has performed an investigation and “has determined the requirements of this section are not relevant and the applicant is considered fit to engage in business as described in the license application.”

HF4490*/SF4395/CH101

HF4490* / SF4395 / CH101