According to Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation Public Policy Specialist Kaytlin Bemis, the omnibus agriculture finance bill is a good compromise. “The House and Senate versions were pretty different from each other so there was a lot of negotiations throughout the week, but I feel like both urban ag and rural ag made out pretty well with the agreements they did have,” said Bemis. “Everybody had to take a beating and everybody also got a slice of the pie so I think they came out with a pretty good agreement.” There was an initial proposal to change the makeup of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, expanding it from six-to-11 members with each congressional district represented. The final bill took the Board of Animal Health from six-to-seven members with three producers, three veterinarians and one federally recognized tribal member. “The previous legislation had the governor also appointing the (Minnesota Board of Animal Health) executive director or state veterinarian which is generally appointed by the board itselfand we had concerns surrounding that. I would say on the Board of Animal Health we fared pretty well.” Language dealing with the use of treated seed was not included in the omnibus agriculture bill, but it still being discussed in the environment bill.
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