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Advocacy |
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MFU's legislative activity, in collaboration with National Farmers Union's
government relations office, serves as the members' direct link to Congress, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and other key agencies of the administration. |
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Minnesota Cooks! |
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The Minnesota Cooks program is an annual event held at the State Fair.
The program brings together local farmers with some of Minnesota ’s premier
chefs as they demonstrate how they use farm fresh, Minnesota grown ingredients
to create award-winning fare for their restaurants.
The Minnesota Cooks program consists of seven 45-minute shows with
outstanding chefs from throughout Minnesota demonstrating their talents and
interacting with various emcees who interview the Minnesota farmers who produced
the food, as well as local celebrity tasters.
“Buying local and making the connection between where your food comes and
what you put on the table is becoming more important to people these days,” said
Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “Minnesota Cooks is the
perfect way to celebrate the great food produced in Minnesota.”
For more information on the Minnesota Cooks program, including the chefs and
farmers who participated in the past, as well as some recipes, please visit the
website at www.minnesotacooks.com. |
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MFU & State News |
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Information on bovine TB in
Minnesota
For bovine tuberculosis information, go to: www.mntbfree.com, or call 1-877-MN TB FREE
(877-668-2373).
For information for producers,
including information on requirements for various states, please
visit: http://www.bah.state.mn.us/tb/producers.html
Want to know how much of your grocery dollar
goes to the farmer? Please click
below.
http://nfu.org/issues/agriculture-programs/resources/farmers-share
Minnesota Farmers Union offers summer leadership
camps
ST. PAUL
(May 5, 2008) – Minnesota Farmers Union offers a
summer leadership camp for kids from 3rd to 12th
grade. These camps help young
people become good citizens by planting the seeds of responsibility, leadership
and cooperation in an environment where those qualities can grow and
flourish.
“Farmers Union
camp is a great opportunity for kids to get together and be just that - kids,”
said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “Plus they get to do so in a comfortable
setting, for an affordable rate, while learning leadership skills in the
process.”
Camp
schedule:
Grades
3-5:
Southern Elementary
Sibley State Park in New London
June 16-20
Northern Elementary
Lake Sarah Park in Erskine
June 23-27
Grades
6-8:
Northern Junior High
Lake Sarah Park in Erskine July
7-11
Southern Junior High
Sibley State Park in New London
July 21-25
Grades
9-12:
Statewide Senior High
Sibley State Park in New London July
27-August 1
During camp,
the children perform simple activities which provide a common foundation for all
campers to share the responsibility of making camp a fun, safe place to be. Camp also provides a great arena to
learn and develop skills that can last a lifetime.
Lessons may
focus on everything from agriculture to the arts and campers get to sing around
the campfire, and dress up in costumes for theme-night dances. They can swim,
play games, go on nature hikes and more.
Summer camps
are $60 for the elementary; and $85 for the junior and senior students. If you would like more information on
these camps, contact Jim Tunheim at 651-288-4066 or education.director@mfu.org.
Minnesota Farmers Union schedules “coffee talks” throughout
Minnesota
ST.
PAUL (April 21, 2008) –
Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) President Doug Peterson will be having “coffee
talks” throughout Minnesota in the next couple
weeks. These meetings are for
members and non-members concerned about rural issues. MFU insurance agents will also be in
attendance.
“This is an excellent chance for people in rural
Minnesota to get out and discuss their concerns regarding healthcare, bovine
tuberculosis, property taxes, transportation costs, ethanol and biofuels, and
gives Minnesota Farmers Union an opportunity to keep a pulse on what is going on
in rural Minnesota,” said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “It also gives Farmers Union a chance to provide an update on what has
been happening on the federal and state level, as well as other items Farmers
Union has been working on.”
The
meetings are as scheduled:
Wednesday,
April 30
2 p.m.
Menahga
Cottage House Café
7 p.m.
Bemidji
Hampton Inn & Suites
Thursday,
May 1
10 a.m.
Fosston
Maple Ridge Cafe
1 p.m.
Thief
River
Falls
Black Cat Café
2:30 p.m.
Crookston
Irishman’s Shanty
7:30 p.m.
Fergus
Falls
AmericInn
Friday, May
2
10 a.m.
Alexandria
Perkins Restaurant
1:30 p.m.
Little Falls
Royal Cafe
Tuesday,
May 6
10 a.m.
Owatonna
Happy Chef
1 p.m.
Goodhue
Doc Sawyer’s Restaurant
3:30 p.m.
Farmington
Eagles Club
Thursday,
May 8
10 a.m.
St. Peter
Waldo’s Café
1 p.m.
St. James
Home
Town Café
3:30 p.m.
Windom
Happy Chef
7:30 p.m.
Luverne
Pizza Ranch
Friday, May
9
10 a.m.
Marshall
Perkins Restaurant
1:30 p.m.
Benson
Sandy
’s
Cafe
Minnesota’s
bovine tuberculosis status
downgraded
ST.
PAUL (April 9,
2008) – The United State’s Department of
Agriculture (USDA) has downgraded
Minnesota’s bovine tuberculosis (TB) status
from Modified Accredited Advanced
(MAA) to Modified Accredited (MA).
“Although it is unfortunate that
Minnesota has dropped in status, it is the first step toward attaining
split-state status, which Minnesota Farmers Union policy calls for, and which
would allow for the non-affected region to go back to Modified Accredited
Advanced status,” said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “Plus the split-state status allows for
money allocated to the state to fight and eradicate bovine TB to be used in a
more targeted region.”
According to the Minnesota Board of
Animal Health (BAH), the downgrade in status means that for interstate shipment
of feeder cattle or bison, there must be a negative TB test within 60 days of
shipment, and sexually intact animals can only move to an approved feedlot. For interstate shipment of breeding
cattle or bison there must be a negative whole herd TB test within 12 months of
shipment and negative individual animal TB test within 60 days. For slaughter cattle or bison there is
no test required if animals move directly to slaughter at an approved
facility. A TB accredited herd can
move animals without an individual test if a negative TB test was completed in
the past 12 months. General
requirement for milk herds is that there must be an annual negative TB herd
test.
The Minnesota BAH continues to work
to get Minnesota to a split-state status. The BAH is hoping to have the
split-state status recognized by the USDA this fall, which would allow for the
non-affected regions of the state to be upgraded.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) allocated $2.7 million in emergency funding to fight TB in
Minnesota. The emergency funding will be used
to depopulate infected cattle herds, which is crucial to prevent the spread of
the disease and to indemnify producers. The funding also will be used for
enhanced surveillance; not only to identify affected herds but also to determine
the source of infection.
For updated information, you can
call 1-877- MN TB FREE (877-668-2373), or go to
www.mntbfree.com .
Minnesota Farmers Union Carver County
President featured in KSTP
story
Minnesota Farmers
Union Carver County President Scott Hoese's farm was featured on a KSTP Channel
5 story on how recent rains have impacted planting. To view the video
file, please click here:
http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S423818.shtml?cat=206
Minnesota
Farmers Union Vice President Dennis Sjodin featured in KSTP
story
Minnesota Farmers
Union Vice President Dennis Sjodin's farm was featured on a KSTP Channel 5 story
on farmer input costs. To view the video file, please click
here:
Minnesota
Farmers Union featured in CNN story
Minnesota Farmers
Union was featured in CNN's "Hard Hit in the Heartland" story. To view the
video file, please click here:
http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/03/07/news.harlow.minnesota.final.cnnmoney
What issues matter to
you?
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is looking for people that are
engaged in, or concerned about politics, public policy and the election to fill out an online query. From the responses, MPR
will select underreported and unaddressed issues, ideas,
perspectives and experiences to feature in their election news
coverage and national programming. MFU encourages you to go to the
following link,
www.mpr.org/issues2008, fill out the form, and let
your concerns be heard.
National Farmers Union has announced a Carbon
Credit Program! For enrollment and benefit information, click
here!
Minnesota
Cooks! Editorial - Star Tribune
To read an an editorial
in the August 31, 2007 Minneapolis Star Tribune about the Minnesota Cooks!
program, please click here
_______________________________________________________________________________
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National Farmers Union News |
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For the latest developments in farm policy,
visit National Farmers Union at www.nfu.org
Carbon Credit
Program
National Farmers
Union has announced a Carbon Credit Program! For enrollment and
benefit information, click here!
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For
more information on Farmers Union events or programs, please call
651-639-1223.
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