FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — The nation's top agriculture official made several stops at the Minnesota State Fair Monday with several members of the state's congressional delegation in tow.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack even got to sample pork schnitzel and fried green tomato sandwiches at the Minnesota Farmers Union booth.
"That schnitzel the MFU guys were producing is pretty good. I’m sorry that, for whatever reason, my staff didn’t get me to the Minnesota pie venue. I noticed we went right by that!"
Vilsack, a former Iowa governor serving his second stint as the head of the USDA, used the occasion to announce $230 million in federal aid to Minnesota farm country. Some of the money will go to increase the state's meat process supply chain, including a mobile unit to help train aspiring butchers.
"I think it creates an opportunity for us to move away from the model of agriculture that’s been in place for the last 50 to 60 years, which has driven to larger and larger scale farming operations," Vilsack explained.
"There’s absolutely nothing wrong with largescale production agriculture. We need it. But there needs to be an equal opportunity for small and mid-sized producers. We want to be able to do is create new ways for those farmers to have multiple ways, multiple paychecks, if you will, coming into their farms."
One of the projects to get a boost is a new pork processing plant in Waubun, Minnesota. Benson & Turner Foods will receive money from the USDA's Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program.
There's also an infusion of new cash available for rural electric cooperatives, which often have lacked the resources to modernize their equipment.
"We want farmers to have opportunities to become not just crop producers but energy producers, opportunities for them to make sure they can directly communicate and negotiate with their customers," Vilsack remarked.
"So, there’s no middleman who takes a nickel here and a nickel there, so the farmer gets paid more, and the customer gets something that’s locally produced, and the wealth stays in the community."
His other stops included the Minnesota Farm Bureau shed and the Dairy Building to see the butter sculptures of the finalist in the Princess Kay of the Milky Way competition. His tour guide for that part of his itinerary was Princess Kay herself, Emma Kuball of Waterville.
"I let him know how I always talk about how Minnesota dairy farmers care for our animals and the land, how I grew up on a farm next to a lake and we planted cover crops and did contour plantings."
Vilsack's final tour stop was the Miracle of Birth Center, where he met with Future Farmers of America and 4-H Club students for a question-and-answer session. He urged the young people to pursue careers in agriculture and animal health, noting the critical shortage of large animal veterinarians in the United States.
The clock ran out on the visit before Vilsack good go watch a live animal birth, so he'll have save that for the next visit. Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen said it's always good to have his federal counterpart pay a visit.
"We're a leading agriculture state. And there's no better way to show him Minnesota agriculture than here at the State Fair," Petersen explained.
"And you know he's not just a secretary. He's a member of the President's cabinet and has his ear and that's important."