Earlier this fall, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz proposed drought aid for livestock producers and farmers using COVID relief money. Without having a special session, Minnesota Senator Torrey Westrom is not confident how or if that money will be coming to producers. “In the Senate, we’ve looked at using property tax basis as an aid payment, similar to what we did in a Ventura administration. The current drought relief aid proposed, if we could have gotten it out in October, would have helped farmers get forage.” Getting closer to the regular session, Westrom says aid packages may change. “There could be some drought relief, but with the later rains this fall, that’s the best thing we can get. We’re grateful for the rain to mitigate issues, but there may be some areas we consider to help cover costs of farmers hit the hardest.”
