We've been distracted by the liveliness of the Minnesota House, and so missed the Senate Committee on Jobs, Agriculture & Rural Development hearing on S.F. 618 on Wednesday.
Via the West Central Tribune, Don Davis reports in Minnesota farmers look to Legislature for expansion paths:
Minnesota farmers want state leaders to help them expand to new markets.They are ready to enter a new era of producing crops that can be made into products ranging from rope to ink, but rural legislators say some laws must change first. . . .
Lawmakers also advanced a bill that would allow industrial hemp research in Minnesota.
“It would be a very limited basis,” Sen. Kent Eken, D-Twin Valley, said.
A new federal farm law allows such limited hemp growing, but still outlaws using it as a crop.
In committees, Eken and Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, passed around products made from hemp, which is legal to grow in Canada.
Eken said their bill “positions us well” if growing hemp as a farm crop is legalized. Once farmers begin growing it as a crop, he said, manufacturing facilities would be built nearby.
Hemp is used in food, ropes, cement, clothing, soap, paper and other products.
Thom Petersen of Minnesota Farmers Union said there is a “tremendous interest in hemp” among the state’s farmers. Its growing season is similar to corn, but needs little fertilizer and insecticide.
The biofuel and hemp bills have numerous committee stops before reaching votes by the full House and Senate. . . .
Via The Uptake, here's the testimony before the state senate committee:
In the hearing (senate video here) the committee also took testimony about SF482, a bill to modify the state's laws governing nuisance lawsuits related to agriculture. The current state law restricts the ability of citizens to sue producers for ordinary agricultural practices (see the senate staff note here).
As we began to prepare a brief post about the bill, we noticed some interesting facets about what was being said and who was saying it that suggested more research is needed for us to report accurately about the bill and the testimony.
We'll have more on that story when our investigations discover more.
Photo: Hemp farmers in the WWII era.
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