Minnesota agriculture has had considerable power over the past two years with Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Angie Craig serving as ranking members of their respective agriculture committees. Midwest Council on Agriculture Executive Director Allison Stock expects Ohio to be the new center of power in the new Congress. “It’s pretty likely that Shontel Brown from Ohio will be the new House leader for the Democrats and she’s been on the committee for several cycles and she has really taken an interest in learning about production agriculture, even though she’s from an urban area,” said Stock. House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson is seeking a waiver to remain in that role. If that doesn’t happen, Georgia Congressman Austin Scott would likely be the Republican lead. In the Upper Chamber, former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown or Colorado Senator Michael Bennett would be in line to succeed Klobuchar if she doesn’t return to Capitol Hill. “If Democrats win big, I don’t know that there’s a lot of incentive for them to get things done in the lame duck because they can put their their stamp on things in the next Congress, but I do know that a lot of our our Agriculture Committee Democrats are interested in getting the farm bill done and and I feel like they’re really close.”
