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Johnson, Walz see eye-to-eye on Buffer Credit, biofuels

Minnesota’s top two candidates for governor see eye-to-eye on a couple issues important to agriculture.

During a debate in Willmar Tuesday hosted in part by the Minnesota Corn Growers, Republican Jeff Johnson and DFL candidate Tim Walz both expressed support for a Buffer Property Tax Credit.

Walz says the premise of taking productive land out of production without compensation is wrong.

“You do a tax credit for those lands, you make it work.  And we reset this relationship because all of us are striving for the same goals here.”

Johnson went a step further, calling the Buffer Law an unconstitutional government land grab.

On renewable energy, Johnson says he’s not necessarily in favor of government mandates like the B20 rule in Minnesota.

“Government enticed the private sector to create an industry that has been wildly successful, and now it is completely wrong for government to say now we’re going to pull the rug out from under that.”

Walz described himself as the biggest supporter of biofuels in Congress. And as governor, he says he would be a champion for ethanol and biodiesel.

The two candidates did differ on other topics like healthcare and how to pay for infrastructure improvements.