Agriculture committee previews pesticide bills, fair grandfathering and conservation funding requests

Committee members met March 20 to preview several incoming agriculture items, including potential pesticide and neonicotinoid legislation, a proposal to grandfather county fairs, conservation district funding requests and a proposal to allow farm‑stand cannabis sales.

The session functioned as a planning discussion rather than a formal hearing: members identified bills they expect to see, outlined requests for draft language and asked staff to arrange educational briefings before moving measures forward.

Why it matters: the items discussed — regulatory changes for pesticides, funding for conservation districts and school nutrition, and rules for direct cannabis sales from farms — could affect farmers, conservation programs and school meal services across the state if enacted.

Committee member 1, a committee member, said the panel had been receiving “a lot of emails” and that several miscellaneous and policy bills may be coming their way. She flagged “pesticide stuff,” “green growers” and “the bees, coming in as far as on the neonicotinoids” and said the committee has done prior work on the subject…