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Minnesota Ag Commissioner expects surprises in ’19 Legislature

The new commissioner of agriculture for Minnesota says there will probably be a few surprises during the 2019 Legislative Session.

Thom Petersen spent the past 16 years covering the state legislature for Minnesota Farmers Union.

“Working for Farmers Union has prepared me for this job in covering such a variety of issues and being familiar. One of the things I always say is we don’t know the top issue at the moment that we’ll be working on, it seems like they always tend to develop.”

He tells Brownfield the budget will certainly be at the forefront.

“This is a budget year, so we’ll be working hard on the budget for the Department of Agriculture and making sure that we’re putting resources in that are helping farms and farm businesses around the state, and keeping an adequate food supply.”

Petersen expects regulations and farm stress to be addressed this legislative session as well.

Legislators convened Tuesday with the DFL taking control of the House and Democrat Tim Walz being sworn in as governor.