There is broad support for drought assistance in the Minnesota Legislature, but this relief is not without criticism. “There are a lot of businesses that fail that have to have insurance or they have to go into bankruptcy,” said State Representative Rick Hansen. “I’m very cautious about using general taxpayer dollars to bail out bad management or corruption.” Hansen also questioned if the state assistance duplicates what is being done at the federal level. Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen defended the use of these dollars. “What farmers lost this last year and what USDA is offering in the livestock and specialty crop program is not going to make our farmers whole. The federal money takes time to trickle out where with the state we can get money in their hands right now.”
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