MN Grain Group Priorities

The Minnesota Agri-Growth Council summarized the following priorities of the key grain groups in Minnesota, outlined at the most recent MAGC annual conference in Bloomington.  For the second year in a row, Gov. Tim Pawlenty addressed the group, and spoke of Minnesota’s greatest challenge – viable livestock production – and the state’s greatest opportunity, renewable energy, including wind energy and biodiesel.

Pawlenty noted Minnesota is the only state that currently has a biodiesel mandate, with the highest ethanol mandate in the country and the third largest production of wind energy in the nation.

 

Association	Top Federal Priority	Top State Priority	Greatest Threat	Greatest Opportunity
MN Corn Growers	Next farm bill	Uncertain regulatory environment, rising input costs, declining revenue	Regulatory uncertainty, developing new leaders	Strong domestic demand, renewable energy, new industrial uses
MN Soybean Growers	Conservation (was biodiesel tax credit)	Healthy livestock industry, biodiesel mandate, protein yields, conservation, transportation	Asian rust, loss of market share because of protein and oil yields, keeping livestock industry healthy	Increased demand from China and India, greater demand for biodiesel and food grade beans
MN Wheat Growers	Implementation of disaster package, long-term funding of farm programs and crop insurance	Research funding at U of M, ag chemical regulations	Acreage declines, scab disease	Biotech wheat, scab tolerant/resistant varieties
RRV Sugarbeet Growers	Defeating CAFTA and moving trade negotiations to the WTO	Ag chemical regulations, transportation	Free vs fair trade, opposes bilateral and regional trade agreements	Lowering production costs through biotechnology, producing ethanol from sugar