$80 MILLION: Via Minnesota Corn, VERBATIM: “By a conservative estimate, Minnesota motorists have saved $80 million by using Unleaded 88 (also known as E15), rather than standard 87 octane gasoline. That savings is growing as the 15 percent ethanol blend becomes more widely available and the price difference with conventional gasoline broadens. ‘A growing number of filling stations have added Unleaded 88,’ Devin Hoffarth said. As Market Development & Industry Relations Director for Minnesota Corn, Hoffarth has offered technical assistance and encouragement to station owners who want to take part in this trend.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Erfs5H (SPONSORED: Minnesota Corn Growers Association)
All Fluence Media tip sheets are now available to read and share online at our website, The Daily Agenda:
STATE CAPITOL: From MDA via X, VERBATIM: “Nothing brings people together like good food and the folks who raise it! Thanks to the Minnesota Cattlemen’s Association and the cattle producers who came to the Capitol today to connect over policy, partnerships & steak on a stick!” PHOTOS: https://fluence-media.co/3EE8N8a
AG BILL: From MNHouseInfo via YouTube, VERBATIM: “By a vote of 130-3 Thursday, the House passed the $172 million budget bill for fiscal years 2026-27, sending HF2446 to the Senate.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4joFm97
MORE: Via KNSI-Radio, VERBATIM: “The legislation, co-authored by Agriculture Committee co-chairs Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) and Rep. Paul Anderson (R-Starbuck), allocates $172.3 million for 2026-27 to fund the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Board of Animal Health, the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, and the Office of Broadband Development. The budget this year is $17 million more than the previous biennium. Hansen issued a statement saying the budget has more funding for Local Food Purchasing and Farm to School programs while addressing recent federal cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3YitrBs
MORE: From MDA Commissioner Thom Petersen via X, VERBATIM: “Thx to Chairs Hansen & Anderson, great to see the omnibus agriculture bill pass with a strong bipartisan vote. Strong bill for agriculture.” TWEET: https://fluence-media.co/4iCpiiR
CANNABIS: Via OCM, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced a new program to help Minnesota farmers enter and thrive in the cannabis industry. The $2 million CanGrow program includes grants to eligible organizations that will help farmers navigate the regulatory structure of the legal cannabis industry through CanGrow farmer training grants, and to nonprofit organizations that will fund loans to farmers who want to expand into the legal cannabis industry through CanGrow farmer loan grants.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3GBtDWe
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3VZAwp9
WATER: Via Farm Progress, VERBATIM: “Protecting the state’s water is a group effort, and while some groups feel not enough is being done, a coalition of Minnesota farmer organizations is fighting back. In late January, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Minnesota Trout Unlimited and the Minnesota Well Owners Organization filed a lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court alleging that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture have not adopted sufficient rules to protect ground and surface water in the southeast Minnesota karst and Central Sands region from nitrates. The lawsuit seeks to force the state agencies to rewrite existing regulations on farming practices.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Es1Kj0
ICYMI… lunch take had reaction from former Governor Arne Carlson to Attorney General Keith Ellison’s forming of an advisory task force to look at water issues in Minnesota. READ: https://fluence-media.co/4iuhP5v
MOTH: Via Lakeland PBS, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is placing a location near Grand Rapids and near two other cities in the state under quarantine due to spongy moth infestations in those areas. The area near Grand Rapids is located north of the city, just north of McKinney Lake . . . The other cities with quarantines are Coon Rapids and Winona.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4jrbusR
INSECTICIDES: From MDA via X, VERBATIM: “Two common insecticide seed treatments, clothianidin and imidacloprid, are Surface Water Pesticides of Concern. Always follow the seed tag/label and BMPs to protect yourself and the environment.” INFOGRAPHIC: https://fluence-media.co/4lMy6Wj
SHIFT: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “A regional manager for Beck’s Hybrids says farmers in the Upper Midwest are shifting more acres to corn. Heather Morris is based in North Dakota and covers the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.” MORRIS: “Sales never stop, and (earlier this month) actually a grower had decided to shift even more of his bean acres into corn. So we’re always looking at how we can accommodate that.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/433BnJm
NEXT MONTH: Via Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, VERBATIM: “The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis surveys farm lenders across the Ninth District quarterly to check the pulse of agriculture in this heavily rural region. Join regional economist Joe Mahon for a live webinar to discuss the latest results—gathered as spring planting was underway—on farm incomes, land values, and the impacts of interest rates on farm finances.” AGENDA: https://fluence-media.co/4jKx8bb
FOOD: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “With a mountain of technical and creative talent and the headquarters of some of the biggest and most influential food companies in the country, Minnesota should be spinning out nationally recognized grocery store hits nonstop. Should be. ‘We are so resource-rich,’ said Allison Hohn, executive director of local food-biz group Naturally Minnesota. ‘Yet no one thinks of us as the hub of food and ag innovation.’ That’s not a new problem, Hohn said, but it requires urgent solutions. ‘We have every right and reason to win,’ she said. Hohn has led Naturally Minnesota, formerly known as Grow North, for nearly five years. She has helped launch dozens of startups, only to see many languish in the liminal space between early success and meaningful growth.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/444DZrA
WET: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “Wet conditions have pushed a southern Minnesota farmer out of the field. Jim O’Connor of Blooming Prairie says he’s finished with spring fertilizer applications and has quite a bit of preemergence herbicide applied. ‘We started planting (last week) in one small field just to make sure everything worked. They were forecasting heavy rains for Easter, so we received about 4 1/2 inches of rain.’ He tells Brownfield it will be a while before conditions are fit to resume planting.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3YjeLC9
MORE: Moisture isn’t a problem everywhere. The latest Drought Monitor reflecting data as of Tuesday shows portions of northern and southwestern Minnesota continue to be in drought. MAP: https://fluence-media.co/3zN8TDo
SNAP: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “Today, at the direction of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services John Walk issued guidance to all State agencies directing them to enhance identity and immigration verification practices when determining eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This guidance is one of many steps toward fulfilling President Trump’s Executive Order 14218, which directs USDA and other federal agencies to ‘enhance eligibility verification systems, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that taxpayer funded benefits exclude any ineligible alien.’” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3GsxWTP
PROGRESS: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “A west-central Minnesota farmer wrapped up corn planting this week. Chad Willis of Wilmar says conditions kept improving following an early April snowstorm.” WILLIS: “Right around Easter time it dried out and everybody’s been hitting it pretty hard.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3YOJsz7
FRESH15: The latest season of Fresh15 includes interviews with new Minnesota House members. So far, five new members have shared their goals, background and fun facts before they take office in a historic session this January.
Rep. Kari Rehrauer
Rep. Wayne Johnson
Rep. Julie Greene
Rep. Keith Allen
Rep. Peter Johnson
Follow on your favorite podcast platform, or at www.TheDailyAgenda.com/Podcasts. (SPONSORED: Minnesota Telecom Alliance)
FUTURES: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “A market analyst is encouraging farmers to prepare for a seasonal high in corn futures. Naomi Blohm with Total Farm Marketing says over the past 17 years, the summer price high for the December new crop corn contract occurred five times in May, seven times in June, and five times in July.” BLOHM: “In more recent years that price high has been more in that May, June timeframe. So part of it depends on weather conditions, part of it depends on planting progress, some of it depends on the outlook for summer weather forecasts.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3YR0QDp
NITROGEN: Via KSJB-Radio, VERBATIM: “Minnesota’s fifth annual Ag-Urban Partnership Forum brought together 60 experts Tuesday to discuss nitrogen management in agriculture. University of Minnesota educator Brad Carlson explained that most nitrogen loss occurs when soil organic matter releases nitrogen after harvest, not from fertilizer misapplication.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3YgiYGO
ENERGY: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins visited the Hamm Institute at Oklahoma State University (OSU) with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for the Powering AI: Global Leadership Summit. The Cabinet members were joined by Representative Stephanie Bice and Representative Frank Lucas.” ROLLINS: "President Donald J. Trump is working to get America back on track—and that starts with responsible use of our federal lands for energy and mineral production. We have hit the ground running at USDA. Through bold leadership to prioritize rural prosperity, support biofuels, reform permitting, and streamline regulations, this Administration is putting America First. I am proud to serve alongside a remarkable Cabinet who is determined to ensure America's prosperity for generations to come." READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Gq8xKp
BEETS: Via Agweek, VERBATIM: “The last sugarbeet processing plant in California is slated to close, possibly ending a 155-year-old industry in the state. Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative announced on April 22 that it will close its plant in Brawley, California, which has operated under its subsidiary, Spreckels Sugar Company Inc. A statement from the company said operations are scheduled to begin the decommissioning and closure process at the nearly 100-year-old facility in late July 2025 as the current processing season winds down. Certain functions, including warehousing and shipping, will continue to operate until all products have left the facilities, likely in late 2025 or early 2026.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/42JPTVs
COVER CROPS: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “A farmer in southeastern Minnesota is hopeful cover crops will help him return to spring fieldwork sooner following recent rains. Ed McNamara of Goodhue says cover crops dry the soil out.” MCNAMARA: “It basically acts like a dehumidifier because as the plant is green and growing, it’s sucking moisture out. So any moisture that you get, it’s removing moisture into that plant material.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/42IWwaw
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
FLOWERS: Via Pine Journal, VERBATIM: “Despite limitations to the growing climate in northern Minnesota, farmers Heidi Wanzek and Em Klein of Prairie Rose Farm and Floral in Mahtowa are pushing its limits to produce the widest possible variety of locally grown flowers. ‘There's options here to get something growing right where you live that's healthier, it's more environmentally friendly, it's sustainable, and the product is just going to be more exuberant, higher quality,’ Wanzek said.” READ/PHOTOS: https://fluence-media.co/3YjhyeB
REINDEER: Via Successful Farming, VERBATIM: “When people think of reindeer, of course the first thing that comes to mind is Rudolph and company pulling Santa’s sleigh. Thanks to their significance during the Christmas season, raising reindeer and renting individuals or small groups for community holiday celebrations and other events can be a profitable venture, especially for farms located near major metropolitan areas. Agritourism is another option, welcoming guests to visit reindeer at the farm.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4iADMjA
BEER: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Apparently, you can take the girl off the farm, but you can’t take the farm off the cans from one of Minnesota’s best-loved breweries.
Lift Bridge Brewing is sidelining its Farm Girl saison beer for a more accessible and un-genderized golden ale called Farm Day.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/42wcshE
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