By Tim Walker
If you’re the type to keep score, take note that the omnibus agriculture and broadband finance bill is the first omnibus budget bill to pass off the House Floor this session.
By a vote of 130-3 Thursday, the House passed the $172 million budget bill for fiscal years 2026-27, sending HF2446 to the Senate.
And if you’re a betting person, bet on a conference committee being appointed to resolve differences between HF2446 and the Senate’s omnibus agriculture bill, SF2458, which proposes appropriating $17.3 million less than the House bill in fiscal years 2026-27.
Rep. Paul Anderson (R-Starbuck), sponsor of HF2446 and co-chair of the House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee, focused on how the bill was truly a compromise between both parties.
“We came together, we worked, and we compromised – and we came up with a good solid bill,” he said.
Committee Co-chair Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) called HF2446 a “people-focused” bill, highlighting the $2 million going to the farm-to-school program.
“We are able to help out people by buying food from farmers for schools and for people who need it,” he said. “So, money into farmers’ pockets to help people eat.”
The bottom line
The omnibus finance bill calls for a $172.29 million General Fund appropriation to fund the Agriculture Department and several other associated state agencies under the agriculture committee’s purview. Of the total, $168.79 million would be new funding and $3.5 million would be revenue adjustments/carry forward funds.
The total amount represents a $17 million increase in General Fund appropriations over the department’s current budget, which meets the fiscal years 2026-27 budget target given to the committee by House leadership.
Anderson said the $17 million given to the committee was not a lot of money, but he said the bill uses that money wisely by “prioritizing farmers both large and small.”
“This bill is going to do a lot of good for the ag industry here in the state of Minnesota,” he said.
The breakdown of the $172.29 million General Fund appropriations in the bill is:
- $147.93 million to the Department of Agriculture;
- $13.53 million to the Board of Animal Health;
- $8.82 million to the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute; and
- $2 million to the Office of Broadband Development to increase high-speed internet access across the state.
Hansen called out the importance of having boosted the funding for the Board of Animal Health in the face of the ongoing threat of avian influenza.
“We put money in so that there is protection for workers, whether it’s the farmer, the farm worker, or the person who’s processing the food that comes to us,” he said. “Those protections will be important if we have to deal with the emergency of avian influenza.”
The bill also calls for a $4 million transfer from the General Fund in fiscal year 2026 to the agricultural emergency account to prevent the spread of avian influenza.
There would also be two cancellations of previously appropriated amounts: A $3 million cancellation of a fiscal year 2024 appropriation to the green fertilizer program; and a $500,000 cancellation of a fiscal year 2025 appropriation to the Dairy Assistance, Investment, Relief Initiative.
Two new programs established and funded
The bill would create a $1.5 million grant program to counties who employ county agriculture inspectors, who would serve as the primary technical support to local weed inspectors in the areas of enforcement and public relations.
The inspectors would conduct an annual meeting with training for local weed inspectors, and coordinate with the Agriculture Department on enforcement practices.
The DNR and state soil and water conservation districts would be required to develop a biofertilizer innovation and efficiency program to address water quality by incentivizing Minnesota farmers to improve nitrogen management and incorporate innovative technologies into crop nutrient management plans.
Part of the $1.22 million appropriated to this program would pay farmers at least $5 per acre for meeting nitrogen-reduction goals.
Some other notable appropriations proposed in the bill include:
- $6 million for grants that would enable retailers to upgrade equipment to dispense biofuels;
- $3.1 million for a wastewater treatment plant in Litchfield;
- $2.7 million to establish AGRI support and AGRI works programs;
- $2 million to fund the good food access program;
- $450,000 to help poultry farmers purchase lasers or other devices to keep avian flu from infecting their flocks; and
- $200,000 for mental health outreach to farmers and other agricultural workers.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where its omnibus agriculture budget and policy bill SF2458 is awaiting Floor action in that body.
Source : mn.gov