Issue Position: Agriculture and Food Policy

Issue Position

During the farm crisis of the 1980s, I worked with urban constituencies to promote policies to keep farmland in the possession of small family producers. I remain committed to protecting family farms and encouraging state policies to conserve our land, water, and soil while producing an abundant, and healthy food supply. I support urban agriculture initiatives, and farm to table direct marketing to encourage local, sustainable food production.

We must ensure that healthy food is available to all, and I will continue to oppose cuts to the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) which provides food assistance to low income Minnesotans. I support policies to encourage young, beginning and immigrant farmers to work, and stay on the land. I strongly oppose weakening local control and loosening regulation of the large-scale feedlot and frack sand mining operations that impact rural communities and threaten farmland with pollution and run-off.

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