Farm policy was part of the discussion in Wednesday night’s Minnesota gubernatorial debate hosted by Fox 9. Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth said she wants to increase agriculture’s share of the state budget while expanding markets for Minnesota farm products. In addition, permitting reform must be addressed. “I also want to know that we can approve and make it a little bit easier for the things we can control; property taxes, energy costs, those are things we can address at the state level,” said Demuth. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is the DFL candidate, also emphasized market development, including opportunities for biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel. International market development is also a priority. “Since Donald Trump has started a trade war with practically every country in the world, as governor, I’m going to do subnational agreements, which we can do with provinces, say, in Canada, and open up new markets because it is so necessary right now because of this assault on agriculture,” Klobuchar said. Election Day is November 3.
