I was pleased to participate in this week’s March for Life event outside the Capitol. I am a strong pro-life supporter and it was good to see so many people come to St. Paul to support the cause. Above is a group of local citizens that was in attendance.
Dear Neighbor,
Greetings as we near the end of Week 3 for the 2019 legislative session. In a recent email I noted that certain Farm Services Agency offices were open for a brief time to conduct limited services as the partial federal government shutdown continues. Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that all FSA offices nationwide are open for expanded business as of today.
According to a news release issued by the USDA., all FSA offices will be open Mondays through Fridays through Feb. 8. They plan to return to an abbreviated schedule if necessary at that point, opening offices Tuesdays through Thursdays. Click here for more details from the USDA.
As for state-level news, I want to pass along some interesting notes regarding the dairy industry that were discussed during a House ag. committee meeting this week.
Lucas Sjostrom of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association made a presentation to the committee and noted that Minnesota ranks eighth nationally in milk production, with 10 billion pounds of annual output. Also, Stearns ranks 23rd among counties nationwide in production and Stevens ranks 70th. One out of 30 jobs in Minnesota is related to dairy and the $27 billion in annual revenue the industry drives is close to 3 percent of the state’s GDP. Dairy exports have increased a good amount in recent years and now account for 19 percent of our production.
But not all is rosy in the dairy industry as we learned that last year alone we lost 10 percent of our dairy farms in Minnesota. But, as Minnesota is losing dairy farms at a rapid pace, we are maintaining roughly the same number of cows. So herds are getting bigger and smaller farms continue to fall by the wayside. Low prices and razor-thin margins have tightened the cash flow for a number of years, eroding equity and ultimately taking a number of farms out of business.
I am working on a couple of avenues we can pursue at the state level to help strengthen our small- and medium-sized dairies to help so-called family farms remain part of our future. Also, the recently enacted federal farm bill includes improved dairy margin coverage to provide a better safety net for farms with 230 or fewer cows.
Overall, our proximity to water and accessibility of land makes the outlook for Minnesota and neighboring states somewhat positive. Dairy is a vital factor to our state’s economy and I will continue looking for ways of helping our farms adapt to challenges old and new.
On a related note, Dairy Day at the Capitol is March 13 this year. It’s always good to see local people come to St. Paul for that day to discuss issues related to the industry.
Sincerely,
Paul