The Minnesota Senate on a voice vote and subsequent roll call adopted the conference committee report on House File 2446, the state government appropriation bill for agriculture, sending the measure back as repassed by a 58–8 roll call vote.

Senator John Putnam, the Senate author who moved adoption, said the bill balances support for farmers with expanded food-access programs. "This bill was written on Minnesota's farms to help farmers feed all Minnesotans," Putnam said on the floor, urging senators to "vote green." The conference report was the product of negotiations that raised the Senate target from an initial negative figure to a positive conference target, Putnam said.

The measure funds the Department of Agriculture, the Board of Animal Health, the Agricultural Utilziation Research Institute and the Office of Broadband Development and contains both appropriations and policy changes. Supporters highlighted increases to the ag emergency account and to compensation for wolf and elk depredation, expanded farm business management support, rural mental health and farm-safety funding, and new or expanded food-access programs including funding for farm-to-school and meat-processing grants.

Senator Westrom, speaking in favor of the bill, called the agriculture budget "the basic bill of feeding the state," citing research and inspection functions and specifically endorsing the cottage-food provisions that will broaden opportunities for home-based food businesses. Senator Liske (recorded in the debate as discussing cottage foods) described a change from a previous dual-fee system to a single-tiered registration fee and said the registration fee for the lowest tier will be $30, down from a prior $50 fee for some producers. Senator May Quaid described a state response to a federal reduction in local food purchasing assistance, noting that, after an $18,000,000 federal cut, "in this bill, we find a response to that and we create a state version of that." Putnam and others also described a new state Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LPA) program intended to fill a gap left by the federal program.

The conference committee report also includes fee adjustments. Putnam said the Senate reduced projected growth in certain grain-related fees by drawing interest from the Grain Indemnity Fund and adopted an amendment to cap future fee growth. Debate included acknowledgment from several senators that fee increases remained a point of concern for licensees and small businesses.

The bill advanced through the third reading after adoption of the conference report; the secretary read the bill title on the floor and the roll call showed 58 ayes and 8 nays.

Votes at a glance
House File 2446 (Department of Agriculture budget) — Motion to adopt conference committee report: Moved by Senator John Putnam; outcome: adopted; roll call: 58 yes, 8 no.

What changed and why it matters
Supporters framed the bill as a combined set of farmer supports and food-access measures: increases to depredation compensation and emergency accounts, expansion of farm-down-payment assistance and business-management funding, and new or boosted food programs (farm-to-school, early-care grants, meat-inspection and processing grants, and a state-level LPA). The cottage-food protocol was described as a policy change intended to simplify registration and expand market opportunities for small and home-based producers. Supporters said the conference process moderated a steeper fee increase for grain elevators and capped future growth.

Concerns and clarifications
Several senators noted concern about fee increases for elevators and food handling licenses and asked for continued monitoring; Putnam and conferees said some increases were moderated in conference. Senator Green asked whether depredation accounts overall increased; Putnam answered that the apparent cuts were "carve outs" and that the overall appropriation increased and included flexibility for the MDA to reallocate to respond to spikes in need.

What the bill does not do
The conference report made changes to fee structure and program funding; it does not itself change federal programs. Where speakers referenced federal cuts or programs (for example, the federal local food purchasing assistance program), the bill creates a state-level substitute as described by sponsors.

Next steps
The bill was repassed by the Senate as amended by the conference committee and was transmitted following the adopted conference report.