In this Edition
MCPR Day on The Hill
Capitol Corner- State
- Fertilizer Tax Proposal Advances Despite Opposition from Agriculture Groups
- Minnesota Management and Budget | Latest: February Budget and Economic Forecast
- Minnesota Releases Report on Clean Water Performance: Report on Water Activities Funded through Clean Water Fund Shows Positive Trends and Local Progress, yet Statewide Challenges Remain
Capitol Corner - Federal
- Senate Clears Stopgap Bill, Setting up Final Spending Talks
- McConnell Will Step Down as the Senate Republican Leader in November after a Record Run in the Job
Industry Related News
- Abandoned at Sea, Houthi-damaged Ship Awaits Towing to Saudi Arabia Amid Oil Slick Concerns
- Bayer Announces 2024 Carbon Program, Expanding Opportunities
- 5 Trends To Watch In The Input Market
- Glyphosate Not Silver Bullet
- PFAS in Biosolids Prompt Lawsuits: Texas Farmers Sue Fertilizer Company, and Environmental Group Plans to Sue
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The MCPR Board and Legislative Committee Day on the Hill was a success! We had several key policymakers and leaders join the group to provide updates and discuss key bills, including the proposed fertilizer fee increases and AFREC renewal. It was great to hear from legislators on their priorities for the session and what they thought about what might pass this year. Those joining the group included:
- Rep. Rick Hansen – Chair, House Environment & Natural Resources Finance and Policy
- Rep. Rep. Bjorn Olson– Assistant Minority Leader
- MDA Commissioner Thom Petersen
- Sen. Aric Putnam – Chair, Senate Agriculture, Broadband, & Rural Development
- Brandon Kasprick – Governor’s Office
After the morning meeting, several individuals attended a House Environment Committee hearing and the Senate Agriculture, Broadband, & Rural Development Committee hearing, where the AFREC renewal bill was heard.
Sen. Putnam the chief bill author, AFREC Council Chair Grant Anderson, and AFREC Coordinator Bruce Montgomery did a fantastic job.
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MCPR leadership attends the House Environment & Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee.
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MCPR Legislative Committee Chair Ashley Runholt, MCPR Board Chair Rick Walker, and Board Member Roderick Hedner are waiting for the Senate hearing to begin.
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Commissioner Thom Petersen and AFREC Coordinator Bruce Montgomery are preparing for the AFREC renewal bill presentation.
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Minnesota Senate Agriculture, Broadband, & Rural Development Committee Chair Senator Putnam is about to convene the committee hearing.
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Fertilizer Tax Proposal Advances Despite Opposition from Agriculture Groups
A Minnesota House committee advanced a plan Thursday to tax fertilizer and use the proceeds to deliver clean drinking water to areas affected by farm pollution.
The House agriculture committee voted* to advance the fertilizer tax bill (HF4135) authored by Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul. It will now move to the House environment committee, which Hansen chairs. The bill still needs to overcome significant opposition — especially from the influential farm lobby — if it’s to become law.
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Minnesota Management and Budget | Latest: February Budget and Economic Forecast
Minnesota’s budget and economic outlook has improved since November. The 2024-25 biennium is now projected to end with a surplus of $3.715 billion, an increase of $1.324 billion compared to November projections. The near-term economic outlook has improved, with growth expected to persist through 2027. Higher collections so far this fiscal year raise the current biennium forecast for all major tax types. Corporate tax revenue shows the largest change, driven by higher-than-expected corporate profits through the forecast horizon. Spending estimates are largely unchanged from November. The higher revenue forecast throughout the FY 2024-27 planning horizon results in improvement to the structural budgetary balance, but spending is still projected to exceed revenue through FY 2027.
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Minnesota Releases Report on Clean Water Performance: Report on Water Activities Funded through Clean Water Fund Shows Positive Trends and Local Progress, yet Statewide Challenges Remain
Minnesota has released a report on statewide Clean Water Fund initiatives that protect and restore drinking water sources, lakes, streams, and groundwater. The report, released every two years, is a joint effort between seven Minnesota water agencies that collaborate and coordinate their Clean Water Fund activities. Minnesota voters established the Clean Water Fund in 2008 through passage of the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment.
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Senate Clears Stopgap Bill, Setting up Final Spending Talks
Lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown after the Senate on Thursday cleared a two-step continuing resolution to allow final appropriations work to wrap up in the coming weeks.
The Senate voted 77-13 to send the short-term spending measure to President Joe Biden’s desk. The House earlier Thursday passed the bill on a 320-99 vote under the suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority of lawmakers present and voting.
If Congress hadn’t acted, spending authority for agencies covered by a subset of the 12 annual appropriations bills would have lapsed Saturday.
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McConnell Will Step Down as the Senate Republican Leader in November after a Record Run in the Job
WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November.
McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, the chamber where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.
''One of life's most underappreciated talents is to know when it's time to move on to life's next chapter,'' he said. ''So I stand before you today ... to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.''
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Abandoned at Sea, Houthi-damaged Ship Awaits Towing to Saudi Arabia Amid Oil Slick Concerns
“The M/V Rubymar was transporting over 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it was attacked, which could spill into the Red Sea and worsen this environmental disaster,”
- A vessel impaired in a mid-February Houthi attack offshore Yemen remains abandoned at sea awaiting towing to safe harbor amid growing concerns of an oil spill.
- The Iran-backed militant group claimed it dealt “catastrophic damage” during a Feb. 18 offensive against the Belize-flagged general cargo vessel Rubymar, which the Houthis said was “at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden.”
- The tanker’s crew abandoned ship.
- The attack caused “an 18-mile oil slick,” the U.S. Central Command said in a social media update on Feb. 24, adding that the tanker is anchored, but taking on water.
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Bayer Announces 2024 Carbon Program, Expanding Opportunities
The Bayer Carbon Program highlights six expanded opportunities for farmers to enroll in the program and earn incentives for regenerative practices.
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5 Trends To Watch In The Input Market
Experts are watching global dynamics to understand the input market’s longer-term outlook in the U.S. Among their top concerns are geopolitics, weather and low supply.
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Glyphosate Not Silver Bullet
t has been a quarter-century since corn and soybeans were engineered to withstand the withering mists of the herbicide glyphosate. Initially heralded as a “silver bullet” for weed control, the modified crops and their herbicide companion were quickly and widely adopted across corn- and soybean-growing regions of North America. In the years that followed, though, weeds targeted for eradication quietly fomented a rebellion.
A new PNAS Nexus study led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and the University of Illinois takes a retrospective look at glyphosate efficacy after the engineered crops were commercialized. Amassing data from annual herbicide-evaluation trials at land-grant universities across the United States and Canada, the researchers show a significant and rapid decline in glyphosate control for all seven major weed species they examined.
“Our analysis represents one of the largest cumulative measures of how weed communities have adapted to the simplified weed-management tactics adopted at an unprecedented scale throughout North America,” said Chris Landau, postdoctoral researcher for the USDA- Agricultural Research Service and first author on the paper.
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PFAS in Biosolids Prompt Lawsuits: Texas Farmers Sue Fertilizer Company, and Environmental Group Plans to Sue
Five farmers in Johnson County, Texas, are suing Synagro Technologies, a Baltimore-based biosolid management company, and its Texas affiliate over high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fertilizers produced by Synagro. The firm makes fertilizers from sewage sludge, also known as biosolids.
The farmers claim that PFAS in fertilizer made by Synagro and spread on a neighboring farm contaminated their water, killed their livestock, and decreased their property values. According to their lawsuit, a liver sample from a stillborn calf on one of the farms contained 610,000 parts per trillion of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), one of the most toxic PFAS. Last year, the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed a limit of 4 parts per trillion for PFOS in drinking water.
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www.mcpr-cca.org
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