U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack heading to State Fair Monday
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will visit Minnesota Monday. His agenda: to highlight investments for the future of farming in the state.
He was joined by U.S. senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Congresswoman Betty McCollum and Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen, as the group held a roundtable with local producers, small businesses and community leaders. This was at the Good Acre Food Hub in Falcon Heights.
Vilsack highlighted investments by the Biden Administration for more income opportunities for producers, generating rural prosperity and rebuilding the economy while creating jobs across the state. He was also on tap to announce new investments to build and improve infrastructure in rural Minnesota.
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Smith was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy, where she discussed the importance of investing in Minnesota's future in farming.
"In a world right now in Minnesota and around the country the average age of a farmer is somewhere between 58 and 62. So we are on the beginning of a huge transition in terms of ownership of family farms around the country and I want to make sure that those farms stay family farms run by humans and not big corporations," she said.
Smith also highlighted a bill she is pushing with Republican Rep. Brad Finstad to help attract young people to the field of farming.
"What it would do is create a pathway, almost like a pipeline, for young people who want to get involved in agriculture but don't have otherwise an opportunity for sort of the hands-on training," she said. "Think of it almost like apprenticeship for agriculture. They would get paid, the farmer who is providing them with an apprenticeship opportunity would also get some compensation because they are handing on their knowledge."
After the roundtable, Vilsack heads over to day five of the Minnesota State Fair.
Vilsack has made a number of trips to Minnesota in the past to talk about climate change, the drought, biofuels and more.
