SLEEPY EYE — Farmers with state and national agricultural concerns were urged to contact their political representatives at a Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) legislative recap meeting at Sleepy Eye Brewing Tuesday.

“Call or email politicians with your concerns,” said MFU Government Relations Director Stu Lourey.

“Leave a message if you have to, but contact them,” said Lourey. “I worked in the U.S. Senate for more than two years. Every morning we would talk about all the calls we got and what they were about. Calls get more attention if a number of people call about the same thing.”

Concerns included large dairies benefiting from economies of scale, allowing them to produce milk at lower costs and selling at competitive prices.

“It makes it difficult to keep or bring people back into the dairy business. There’s more cows now in fewer dairies. This has to be looked at before big dairies take over,” said Joe M. Neaton of Watertown.

“It’s becoming a monopoly,” said Franklin farmer and Land Stewardship Policy Organizer Jim Kanne.

Lourey said forcing producers out of markets are an antitrust violation.

He was concerned about federal funding cuts to SNAP, Medicaid and Medicare.

“The average SNAP (supplemental nutritional assistance program) pay is $6 a day. If we blow a massive hole in these programs for low-income folks, states will push costs to counties,” said Lourey.

Theresa M. Keaveny of New Ulm said wealth is being concentrated in fewer hands.

“There’s a horribly big shift in wealth now. Biden’s antitrust gains are gone. We need the Minnesota attorney general to save us. Farmers, call your legislators,” she said.

The final budget bill cuts undocumented adults from MinnesotaCare coverage starting in 2026.

“We were close to a shutdown. I credit our legislative leaders like Lisa Demuth and Melissa Hortman for helping us avoid that. I’ve been through those. It’s no fun,” said Dist. 15B Rep. Paul Torkelson.

Good news items include a state agriculture bill increased Minnesota Department of Agriculture farm program spending by $9 million over the next two years and $3 million for the Board of Animal Health and Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.

The next two-year budget includes $2 million in new funding for Farm to School and Local Food Purchasing Assistance, $200,000 for farm safety and rural mental health, and $400,000 in Livestock Protect Grants to help poultry farmers install prevention measures.

Health care measures included reforming administration of Medicaid pharmacy benefits to cut drug costs, provide direct, one-time support for at-risk community pharmacies and require reporting hospital facility fees.

Wabasso farmer Paul Sobocinski said Minnesota invested more funding in agriculture despite budget tightening.

“Another plus at the state level is we had good bipartisanship — people voting together. It was tribute to Melissa Hortman, Lisa Demuth and Paul Torkelson who worked to put farmers in a better position. Our goal is to put more funding in agriculture resources,” he said.

Help is available for farmers with mental health challenges.

The Minnesota Farmer’s Union is sponsoring a COMET (Changing our Mental & Emotional Trajectory) presentation offering simple tools to help those struggling to shift their mental health back to a place of wellness 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Kerkhoven Civic Center, northwest of Willmar. A light supper will be served at 5 p.m. To register, visit z.umn.edu/mfuCOMET.