The new chair of the Minnesota House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee is Mike Sundin from Esko, Minnesota. This is Sundin’s fifth legislative session and he’s previously served on the agriculture and environment committees. There is a contrast between the smaller farms in northeast Minnesota compared to farms in western Minnesota. “We’ve seen a lot of dairy farms in my district, located in the northeast part of the state, disappear as the years go by and now, there are only a few. On the flip side, there is an emergence of organic farmers in the area growing berries or vegetables.” Sundin plans to get more familiar with key ag issues going into the session. When it comes to the state budget, Sundin said the revised estimate out last week is good news in the short-term, but how it will impact agriculture’s budget is unclear at this time.
