Most new Minnesota laws took effect on Friday, Aug. 1. This year I have been thinking that there are a lot of common sense laws for rural Minnesota that should be on the books, but aren’t. Here are a few examples. – The seed saver law. For thousands of years, farmers saved seed from one year’s crop to plant the next. Currently farmers pay a seamless tech fee and are not allowed to save their seed. Farmers are not against technology for future advancement that serves farmers, but what they strongly disagree with is the competitive disadvantage created globally when foreign farmers – in direct competition with U.S. farmers – don’t pay a tech fee. State lawmakers discussed a seed saver law informally last spring, but did not act on it. Saving seed is a production practice that many farmers may choose and their choice should be allowed by law. – Choice in checkoffs. In addition to tech fees, farmers have to pay checkoff fees – such as $1 per head on beef – even if they don’t agree with how the money is spent. Courts have started to strike down mandatory checkoffs, a court action many farmers support because they believe checkoffs should be voluntary with the dollars going to organizations they support. A checkoff choice bill should be introduced in 2004, and it ought to become a law. – The school milk machine law. The percentages of milk and pop in kids’ diets have reversed in recent years, contributing to increased obesity and dental problems. Last session, lawmakers killed a bill in committee that would have put school milk/water/juice machines on an equal footing with pop machines. Soft drink companies and school administrators lobbied against it because pop contracts mean profits for one and program funds for the other. That leaves us with the absurd situation that one of the state’s most important and healthy farm products – milk – is fighting for space in schools because money is getting more attention than our kids’ health. – More milk in schools – it’s the right thing to do, it’s frankly a no-brainer, and it ought to be a law. – Local food in schools. Why are schools in our great farming heartland getting so much of their food from faraway places? Just as it makes no sense for schools in a great dairy state like Minnesota to be restricting access to milk, why don’t we encourage more Minnesota-grown food in our schools? We know that the food is fresh, and a better product because it comes from Minnesota. School leaders will tell us it’s too costly, but are we really going to say we can’t figure out a way to give our kids better food and support Minnesota farmers at the same time? Minnesota ought to pass a Minnesota-grown school food law in 2004. Most people say that we have too many laws on the books. I say we don’t have enough common sense laws for rural Minnesota. What makes sense is providing farm-fresh healthy food that is Minnesota-grown, for Minnesota kids, by financially healthy Minnesota farms. There ought to be a common sense choice for people who want healthy alternatives. Lawmakers should embrace a discussion about these ideas because they make sense for farmers, consumers, and kids. In other words, there ought to be a law.
Doug Peterson is president of the Minneosota Farmers Union.
