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Committee advances bill to create competitive AGRI grant process; adopts A1 adding monitoring and testing provisions
Summary
House File 2,579 was laid over after the committee voted to adopt an A1 amendment that added proposed spending for retail milk testing, voluntary worker biomonitoring, and wastewater surveillance related to avian influenza; the underlying bill would direct many small appropriations into competitive grants administered by the Department of Ag.
The House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee laid over House File 2,579 after members debated a bill to shift many small agricultural appropriations into a competitive grant process administered by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and after adopting an A1 amendment that added three proposed monitoring initiatives related to avian influenza.
Representative Hansen moved the bill to create two grant tracks administered through the AGRI program—one for smaller "mini grants" (Agri Support) and one for larger competitive awards (AgriWorks)—with the effect of directing appropriations into a department-run competitive process rather than individual earmarks. Paul Hugenen, director of the Ag Marketing and Development Division at MDA, told the committee the department already runs competitive processes for AGRI and that administrative allowances within AGRI would cover program administration; he said the approach would be similar to other AGRI grants and would not require a separate fiscal note.
Chair Hansen offered an A1 amendment that would add three activities related to avian influenza: testing retail milk before sale, voluntary biomonitoring for agricultural workers, and wastewater surveillance. Hansen described the $4,000,000 figure as a baseline drawn from the supplemental budget and said he divided it across the three activities roughly as $1.5 million for retail milk testing, $1.5 million for biomonitoring and rapid testing, and $1.0 million for wastewater surveillance; he said the numbers were not final. The committee accepted a verbal fix to identify fiscal year 2026 in the amendment language and then voted to adopt the A1 as amended.
Commissioner Tom Peterson of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture testified that USDA and FDA testing cover pasteurized milk and have not found a public-health issue; he said pasteurization kills the virus. He also said the state and federal agencies have ongoing biomonitoring and surveillance efforts and that Minnesota has not found positive human cases linked to avian influenza. Members discussed whether the amendment’s activities duplicated ongoing federal or agency work; some members said much of the proposed activity is already under way through state or federal programs. Representative Anderson expressed concern that the amendment’s language and funding levels could alarm the public if not carefully framed.
After adopting the A1 amendment by voice vote, the committee laid House File 2,579, as amended, over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.
