Over the past couple weeks, as part of our mission to achieve public policy outcomes that support corn farmers, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) has hosted candidates vying to represent southern Minnesota’s First Congressional District. The visits were part of our Minnesota Corn Grows MN campaign, which aims to build connections between corn farmers and candidates for elected office.

On July 22, MCGA hosted Brad Finstad at the family farm of our treasurer, Dana Allen-Tully, in Eyota. This past Thursday, we hosted Jeff Ettinger at the family farm of board member Harold Wolle in St. James.

During both visits, grower-leaders highlighted key messages important to corn farmers and their families, such as:

• how biofuels like E15 are a solution to high fuel prices, greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. dependence on foreign energy;
• how crop insurance helps farmers recover from losses, secure loans, better market crops and make needed investments in the farm;
• how farmers can help more in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary, incentives-based programs; and
• how crop-protection products and a decentralized, affordable supply of domestic fertilizer are critical to farmers.

Highlighting legislative priorities

Additionally, grower-leaders highlighted legislative and policy priorities. These included:

• passage of the Next Generation Fuels Act, a bill that would lower fuel prices and reduce transportation-related carbon emissions. The bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate last week by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, including from Minnesota Congresswomen Angie Craig and Michelle Fischbach. MCGA thanks these bipartisan members of Congress for supporting this bill to decarbonize our fuel supply, spur innovations in engine efficiency and increase usage of cleaner-burning fuels;
• strengthening the safety net under the 2023 farm bill by fully protecting crop insurance and increasing reference prices under the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs;
• reversing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed new restrictions on the well-tested herbicide atrazine. Last week, the National Corn Growers Association launched a call to action urging farmers to tell the EPA about the importance of this tool; and
• ensuring that harmful tax policy changes, such as the elimination of the stepped-up basis, are not included in future bills. (A proposal to eliminate stepped-up basis was nixed last year.)

Thanks to the candidates

MCGA thanks Finstad and Ettinger for participating in the candidate visits and taking time to learn about issues important to corn farmers and their families. You can view coverage of the visits in local media here, here and here.

To learn more about MCGA’s work advocating for policy outcomes that benefit corn farmers and their families, visit mncorn.org/advocacy.