Serious problem, says Governor Tim Walz about a report showing in 2018 Minnesota farms had the lowest median income since probably the 1980s. “In normal times a barn collapses [and it] is a catastrophe,” Walz says, “But you handle it. Now it is ending farms.” The governor says everyone knows what happened in the 1980s and “we can’t have a repeat.”
Walz says he’ll do what he can at the state level, but farm policy is heavily dictated by the federal government. “I’m trying to continue to open up lines of communication with Mexico, Japan, the premier of Ontario, to make sure our trade deals are open and able to be accessed,” says Walz, adding that as governor he’ll “absolutely” take the fight to Washington D-C.