Gov. Mark Dayton is still on his trade trip to Sweden, Norway and Germany, but his office said he's sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking for federal help for state livestock producers.
Dayton says that much of the state's alfalfa crop was damaged over the winter and the wet spring has kept farmers from planting in many areas. And last summer's drought led to high prices and lack of availability.
He said he's considering opening state conservation lands to emergency haying and grazing and says the USDA could do these things to help:
- Waive the Nov. 1 deadline that prohibits haying or grazing of cover crops on prevented plant acres.
- Allow emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program and Wetland Reserve Program lands.
- Provide additional funding for cover crops in Minnesota.
- Waive Environmental Quality Incentive Program rules to allow emergency harvest of Minnesota cover crops.
Said Dayton in the letter:
Minnesota's livestock industry is critically important to our economy. In 2010, Minnesota ranked fifth in the nation in overall agricultural production with sales of $15.14 billion and sixth in animal agriculture with receipts of $6.18 billion. Needless to say, our livestock industry is the foundation for thousands of Minnesota jobs.