A bill expanding the disaster recovery loan program for farmers impacted by heavy snow is headed to the desk of Governor Tim Walz, after the Senate and House unanimously passed the measure Thursday. Representative Paul Torkelson from Hanska says, “It’s not just about building collapses right now. It’s also about the fact that milk prices are low and have been low for a long time, at the same time as we’ve seen a sharp increase in hay prices.”
Representative Steve Drazkowski from Mazeppa says producers have been “beaten down with four years of negative prices, and for these types of catastrophic, uncontrollable situations to come on top of… [that] is just more than they can bear at this point.”
House lawmakers are also urging the Senate to quickly pass a bill providing 100 thousand additional dollars for mental health counseling support to farm families and business operators.