Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Agriculture Commissioner Thom 
Petersen heard the challenges facing farmers during a roundtable event in East Grand Forks. For sugarbeet farmer Paul Rutherford, who farms north of Crookston, it’s been a slow start to the full harvest campaign. “This past Saturday, I got five tons out of the field. Otherwise I hadn’t dug a sugarbeet since August 20.” The question Governor Walz asked to nearly everyone who chimed in on the discussion was, “Have you seen conditions like this before?” Not one yes came from the crowd. During the roundtable, Karlstad farmer Justin Dagen had one main message. “We need some form of assistance to help producers who may have a gap in crop insurance. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the weeks ahead.” Listen to the story.
