Driving through 20B, it is obvious that we are a farming district. This fact cannot be ignored. Once in the Minnesota Legislature, I would support legislation that would support farmer’s quality of life and provide economic assistance to continue production on the farm.
Budgeting for farmers
Minnesota farmers cannot face another farming crisis like that of the 1980’s. As your representative, I will oppose any cuts to agriculture programs in the Minnesota budget. I will also support increased funding for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA).
Healthcare
You may be thinking to yourself, “Healthcare? Don’t you have a dedicated healthcare section on your website already?” And you’d be correct. But I also want to make it very clear that I support initiatives that would lower the cost of health care for farmers and/or give family farmers the opportunity to continue working on their family farms without having to break up the family to seek employment elsewhere simply to provide their families healthcare. Farmers should have to option to opt-in to a MinnesotaCare-type program especially for them.
Mental Health
As mentioned in the ‘Healthcare’ section above, I care about the well-being of farmers in my district. Farming is an extremely stressful career and lifestyle. It is not for the faint of heart. Farmers and farming families are self-sufficient, and often don’t seek help when it is needed. In my efforts to end to stigmas around mental health, I would like to bring farmers and farming communities along with me. We cannot ignore the struggles of farm families within our communities. Talking about mental health in Rural Minnesota is talking about farming too.
For further resources on Mental Health and Farming see below:
Minnesota Farmer’s Union: Rural mental health resources
https://www.mfu.org/rural-mental-health-resources/Minnesota Department of Agriculture: Coping With Farm & Rural Stress
http://mda.state.mn.us/about/mnfarmerstress