Staff photo by Fritz Busch First District Congressman Brad Finstad, R-New Ulm, talks about the farm bill and other agricultural issues at the First and Second District Congressional Candidate Forum at Farmfest Tuesday.

GILFILLAN ESTATE — Seven congressional candidates of the first and second district discussed the farm bill in depth at a Farmfest forum Tuesday.

“Welcome to God’s country. My family is a four generation farm family just south of here. The fifth-generation is in the audience,” said First District Congressman Brad Finstad, R-New Ulm. “A corn and soybean farmer, the farm bill is very important to me and my family as it is to 20,000 farm families in 20 Minnesota counties I have the honor to represent.”

In the House, Finstad said he was very proud of the fact that the House Ag Committee has passed a bi-partisan farm bill through the committee process. We listened to the people, making sure it was written by farmers, for farmers, not by Washington DC bureaucrats for Washington DC bureaucrats,” he said.

Finstad said he went to farm bill listening sessions in each southern Minnesota county to get farmer input.

“We need to move the farm bill on the House of Representative floor and the U. S. Senate to take the ideas, make a bill and get something done,” he said.

Republican 1st District challenger and mental health therapist Shawn Tweten said said he’d like local farmers to have more say in the farm bill and that it shouldn’t restrict what farmers can grow and can’t grow. He said too much of farm subsidies go to the wealthiest 10% of farms.

Lawyer and former assistant county attorney Rachel Bohman, R-Rochester, said there is no reason the farm bill is overdue and there is no reason the house majority can’t build a bridge with democrats and get it done.

“House Republicans refuse to budge on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) funding that is about $6 a day per person. I can’t feed my kids on $6 a day. It’s unacceptable that we can’t continue to feed people in our country,” Bohman said.

2nd District Congresswoman Angie Craig, D-Eagan, said at the end of the day, the farm bill will be negotiated and that conservation programs and crop need to be more of a part of it.

Second District Republican challenger, former federal prosecutor and Marine Joe Tierab of Windom said the farm bill is a good bill that strengthens crop insurance, the farm safety net, conservation programs, invests in communities and has bi-partisan support.

“A lot has changed since the last farm bill. We have higher input costs and inflation that made the terms of the old farm bill obsolete. We need a the new farm bill to move the process forward,” he said.

Finstad said more money must be used to improve the farm safety net or generations of farmers will be lost.

“We need strong corp insurance. Our bill that stands before the house does that,” he said.

He said the Biden administration created an agricultural trade deficit and that new trade deals are needed.

“The current administrative had done too little for trade. I’m willing to negotiate on it but our corn and bean producers must be treated fairly in the farm bill. We need to ensure our processes are not owned by Chinese and Brazilian billionaires,” said Craig.

Bohman said California shouldn’t make decisions on Minnesota food is processed.

“We have lots of pigs in Minnesota and should process them here, not let other states and countries decide how to to it,” she said.

Tweten said he supports going into new markets for Minnesota agriculture.

“We need to be in every market we can. It makes too much sense,” said Teirab.