Speaking during the Minnesota Corn Growers Association Shop Talks in northwest Minnesota, former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said reliance on short-term payments has replaced the stability farmers once had under multi-year legislation. “You can’t plan anything, bankers can’t count on it, and the farmers can’t count on it.” Peterson added the farm safety net is outdated, noting, “we actually need a 10-year bill, based on what’s actually going on because the safety net payments are based on what we did 20 years ago.” Peterson is also concerned that Minnesota could lose influence in Washington, with Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar running for governor, and House Ag Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig running for Senate. “Angie’s got an uphill battle going on because our party has become so far to the left and the delegates are so far to the left and she’s getting hammered because she’s too moderate. I worry about whether she’s going to survive this thing or not. We could go from having almost more influence than any other state in the country to having none.” Click here to listen to Jamie Dickerman’s full interview with Peterson.
