Minnesota farm groups are working on policy and meeting with lawmakers ahead of the state legislative session which kicks off on February 20. Minnesota Farmers Union’s Government Relations Director Thom Petersen says their focus is on finding additional funding for the Rural Finance Authority to help farmers in the state that are struggling financially.
He says they’re also talking to lawmakers about possible fixes to the buffer law.
The ditch mowing issue did not get resolved in the last session, so Peterson says they’ll be asking legislators to allow farmers and ranchers to mow ditches prior to August first.
Petersen says there also needs to be uniformity between federal and state tax laws regarding Section 179 expensing. He says Minnesota’s producers are at a disadvantage as they can only expense up to $25,000, while the federal law was just changed from $500,000 to $2 million.
