Dear Neighbor,
Greetings and happy National FFA Week. I am proud to support this organization which does so much to grow ag. in our state and throughout the country. Click here for more about what National FFA Week means and how it started as a tribute to our first President.
Just a couple of interesting nuggets I want to pass along to highlight how important ag. is to our economy and life in general in parts of the state like ours:
Minnesota is the nation's fifth-highest state in ag. sales, with $21.3 billion in sales during 2012 according to a 2014 USDA report. While we trail California, Iowa, Texas and Nebraska, we out-produced our rival neighbors to the east: Wisconsin.
A Minnesota Department of Ag. report from 2015 shows Minnesota is the fourth-largest ag. exporting state in the nation. Crop and livestock production as a percent share by value is fairly even, with crops at 53 percent, and livestock at 47 percent. On the crop side, we are the nation's top producer of sugarbeets, processed sweet corn and green peas in terms of cash receipts. On the livestock side, we are the No. 1 state for turkey receipts.
Interestingly, the three counties in District 12B are representative of the near split between crop and livestock production in our state. Cash grains lead the way in Pope and Douglas on the western side of the district, while Stearns to the east is heavier on dairy and cattle. A county-by-county map is available at the aforementioned MDA link, showing a full breakdown.
As for news from the Capitol, we will be receiving an updated economic forecast for Minnesota on Friday. We receive these full forecasts twice per year and the last one called for a $1.87 billion surplus for fiscal years 2016-17.
It will be interesting to see what the new report reveals. Our top priorities with any surplus funds should be to provide tax relief and improve our roads and bridges without raising the gas tax. But, regardless of the total, it remains important to proceed with caution since we face uncertainty in some parts of the economy – especially in ag.
Look for more on that subject after we receive the new report.
Sincerely,
Paul