April 29, 2003 -- NEWS RELEASE -- State Representative Al Juhnke
rep.al.juhnke@house.mn
281 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-6206
3951 Horizon Hills Circle, Willmar, MN 56201
320/235-4442
JUHNKE VOTES AGAINST CUTS IN ETHANOL, 'SHORT SIGHTED' FARM BUDGET
The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a Republican-authored budget bill cutting ethanol support by 35 percent and slashing other useful farm programs, according to Rep. Al Juhnke, who voted against the measure.
"In past years, rural legislators have complained that agriculture got nothing but crumbs," Juhnke, the Lead DFLer on the House Agricultural Finance Committee, said. "In this budget bill,
agriculture isn't even getting crumbs - it hasn't even been invited to the dinner. No rural legislator could go back to their district and defend this."
Juhnke, of Willmar, noted that ethanol producer payments are cut by more than a third, while the Agriculture Department bureaucracy is cut only 10 percent. Overall, state spending on farm programs is slashed by 28 percent - twice as much, in proportion, as the rest of the state
budget. And in the process, a wide ranges of fees on farmers and food processors are boosted.
"This budget protects the bureaucracy, while farm families, agricultural education, sustainable and organic agriculture, and other areas bear the brunt of the cuts," Juhnke said. "Forty percent of
the economy in western Minnesota is related to agriculture. The core is family farmers. I can't imagine the Legislature treating any other major industry - taconite, timber, tourism or what have you - this badly."
Another critical flaw is that the bill makes the successful Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) into a sub-unit of the Agriculture Department itself.
"AURI has supported many successful, home-grown rural businesses that have found innovative ways to turn our farm products into new products," Juhnke said. "Now we'll move it to St. Paul
and let it become just another hive of bureaucrats. This change is worse than pointless."
The measure now goes to the state Senate. A final resolution is not expected until close to the Legislature's constitutional adjournment deadline on Monday, May 19.
