Advocacy in action

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In February, 45 farmers from across Minnesota made the trip to St. Paul to advocate and share their story with state legislators.

“It was a really great day,” said Lucas Sjostrom, executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. “We were well received by both parties and both the House and the Senate. I think this year, because there’s been so much big stuff going on, we found ourselves being welcomed into some offices we hadn’t been in a while or ever been in.”

Dairy farmers met with legislators during the MMPA annual meeting the evening of Feb. 24 and throughout the day Feb. 25, for their annual Dairy Day at the Capitol.

Newly elected MMPA board member Kate Minten was one of the dairy farmer participants.

“I felt this was a good opportunity to get more involved,” Minten said. “It was very encouraging to see so many dairy producers come together and take the time to meet with legislators.”

Minten works on the Spadgenske family farm, which is owned and operated by her dad,
Mark Spadgenske, and his brother, Mike. Together, they milk 300 cows in a double-13 parallel parlor near Menahga.

“Attending these types of events allows us to share our experiences with legislators to help them better understand the challenges producers are facing right now and where support may be needed,” Minten said. “Their decisions are what directly affect our farms and rural communities.”

Fellow dairy farmer and MMPA board member Anthony Anderson has been attending Dairy Day at the Capitol since 2021.

“The optimism was a lot more evident this year than in previous years,” Anderson said. “With (majority power) being so close in the Senate and being tied in the House, I think we have opportunities to get some things done, get some of our priorities addressed.”

Anderson operates a 550-cow herd and farms 1,000 acres near Henning. His farm is currently working on building a new heifer and dry cow barn.

“Talking about feedlot rules and regulations and Department of Natural Resources water permits were important to me,” Anderson said. “It’s important to be there to address the things that are present on your farm and your neighbor’s farm.”

The state budget was finalized in the last couple of weeks with a surplus. This means there should not be any cuts towards programs, resulting in a higher chance of introducing new programs, Sjostrom said.

“We’re looking forward to seeing what we can do for dairy farmers,” he said.

Additional topics that were brought up by farmers who attended the event were the fees associated with Minnesota Paid Leave and Earned Sick and Safe Time laws that went into effect earlier this year. They also discussed having money set aside as an incentive for signing up for six years with the Dairy Margin Coverage program; the Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Relief Initiative program for new farmers; and DNR permitting and feedlot laws, which will affect medium to small farms more than larger farms.

“We’re collaborating really well with the Minnesota pollution control agency but there’s a big task in front of them to rewrite all the feedlot laws in the next five years,” Sjostrom said. “I would just ask farmers to pay attention and help comment because the department can only make changes based on people’s comments, and if they only hear from people who don’t own cows, those rules will turn out a lot differently than if they hear from all of us. That’s probably the biggest thing that we’re paying attention to.”

Farmers who participated were divided into groups by their legislative district so everyone could meet with their local representatives in addition to others who volunteered to meet with the group.

In addition to Dairy Day at the Capitol, farmers also attended the MMPA banquet the night before. Legislators were also on hand there to visit with farmers.

“There were quite a few legislators (at the banquet) that were not available due to meetings on the day itself, so we got to discuss our needs or priorities for the year,” Anderson said. “This is nice because then we essentially got to see double the amount of people that we would normally see just at dairy day.”

The entire group met with the agriculture committee between meetings with their local representatives. Anderson said their group met with six senators and two representatives in total. Each of the groups met with eight legislators throughout the day. 

“We talked a lot about the impact that dairy has on the state of Minnesota,” Anderson said. “They were happy to meet with and talk to us. It’s a priority (for me) to be down there speaking up for dairy farmers in Minnesota. It was a good day.”