February 3, 2004 -- NEWS RELEASE -- State Representative Al Juhnke rep.al.juhnke@house.mn
Lead DFLer, House Agriculture & Rural Development Finance Committee
281 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-6206
3951 Horizon Hills Circle, Willmar, MN 56201
320/235-4442
JUHNKE CO-AUTHORS DAIRY REVIVAL PACKAGE
Rep. Al Juhnke and a bipartisan group of rural legislators introduced a package of bills aimed at reviving Minnesota's faltering family dairy industry as the 2004 legislative session got under way
Monday.
"Minnesota's dairy farm families deserve a fair shake and a fair price," Juhnke, of Willmar, said. "Our state once rivaled Wisconsin as America's source of quality dairy products. But misguided federal policies - which unfortunately Congress has proven unwilling to change - has wiped out nearly 8 in 10 of the family dairy farms that were operating just 25 years ago."
The bills propose:
* 
$1 million to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to expand the dairy development and profitability enhancement and the dairy business planning grant programs established in
1997.
* A tax credit of up to $75,000 to dairy farmers who invest in new facilities or equipment.
* A new "quality milk credit" against personal or corporate income taxes, equal to 5 cents per hundredweight of milk produced. Dairy herds whose milk achieves a somatic cell count of
less than 150,000 would qualify. This bill is similar to one Juhnke introduced late in the 2003
session.
* A bill extending the interest-free status of state-backed loans for on-farm manure digesters.
The interest exemption expired last July, but the bill would apply retroactively.
Juhnke said he also intends to push a bill he introduced last year that creates a Dairy Stabilization Loan program, providing dairy farmers with no-interest loans to purchase additional mature dairy cows.
"Family dairy farms are the backbone of agriculture in many parts of Minnesota," Juhnke said. "I believe this package will support and promote family dairy production, and avoid us heading down
the road toward giant corporate-scale dairies that don't contribute to the well-being of rural communities."
