When the Minnesota Legislature convenes on January 14, the House will likely be split evenly between Republicans and Democrats. There’s litigation in one race and that is the one question mark for the balance of power. All committees will have equal representation by both parties with co-chairs. Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen said two veteran lawmakers will lead the agriculture committee. “Representative (Rick) Hanson, who’s well known in the ag committee, has a lot of different ideas,” said Petersen. A lot of people don’t know, but he worked for the (Minnesota Agriculture) Department for almost 17 years and so he has quite a knowledge about our pesticide division.” Republican Paul Anderson, who is a farmer from Starbuck, is the other co-chair. The MDA is preparing its budget for the 2026-2027 biennium. Attention is also on a structural deficit for the out years of 2028 and 2029.
