The production of food is without doubt the biggest industry in our district. As a good friend always tells me, “If the farmers do well, so does the rest of the community”. Everything is impacted by a healthy agricultural economy. In the next twenty years the need for quality and accessible food in the world is going to double. Include increased demand for fuels such as biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel and it is easy to see that West-central Minnesota is positioned perfectly for a robust economy.

That is if we give our farmers a fair chance. Overregulation, politically motivated environmental controls, animal rights activist groups, and an unlevel playing field make agribusiness more and more difficult every year. As well as focusing on how to meet the world’s growing needs, producers are now using that time to fill out paper work while figuring out how to make ends meet year after year.

As your State Representative I promise to partner with agriculture in achieving their needs and priorities first. Our food producers need less paperwork and more freedom to make decisions that increase productivity.

Our state needs more jobs and business growth. In district 20A, as I said, this begins with agriculture. I promise to work toward less regulation and government control in order to free up Minnesota’s greatest entrepreneurs, the farmer.