On Thursday, the Minnesota State Senate unanimously passed an $8.5 million drought relief package to help Minnesota farmers hit hard by last summer’s drought.
The President of the Minnesota Farmers Union, Gary Wertish, reported that livestock producers were the hardest hit by the sweltering heat and lack of rain last summer.
“I know of other farmers that had years of genetics in their livestock that were forced to sell because they just didn’t have any feed and didn’t have the ability to feed their animals,” Wertish said.
Among others that were affected harshly last summer were specialty crop producers, according to Wertish.
Along with the drought relief, there is also $1.5 million allocated in response to the avian influenza outbreak that is now in five Minnesota counties.
The bill will be reconciled in a conference committee and then sent to Governor Walz for his signature, offering help to farmers now, where the rain didn’t last year.
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