Annalisa Pardo
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar spent Sunday touring Hinckley Holstein's diary farm in Chatfield and talking with area farmers about the recently passed Senate Farm Bill.
"We're at a point now, where right now we cna't cut any more costs. There's nowhere to cut anything," Dale Hinckley, co-owner of Hnckley Holstein's farm, said.
"The way the global market's been going, weather, you name it. Everything's been making it really hard to farm right now," Sen. Klobuchar said.
In part, the Senate version of the bill aims to expand crop insurance and crack down on fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly know as SNAP or food stamps.
It also creates incentives for new farmers to enter the industry.
"We have to encourage younger farmers...to get involved," Klobuchar said.
"I want to leave a legacy to my grandchildren that it's okay, we're doing alright and we're treating the animals the way they should be treated," Hinckley said. "It's an honest industry and I want my children to know if you're a diaryman, you're an honest person."
He said the Senator and farmers talked a lot about tariffs and how they affect farmers.
"Everything from the aluminum that wraps that the butter, which I hadn't thought about, to a lot of the other products that go alongside of dairy," Klobuchar said.
"Just by putting tariff on aluminum, that makes our foil packets go up in cost," Hinckley said.
The Senate Farm Bill passed almost unanimously.
"A lot of it is because people are starting to understand what these families are going through on our dairies. And I think that was a big impetuous for getting it done," Klobuchar said.
The House version of the bill passed by a narrow margin with no democratic support.
The two bills need to be reconciled before hitting the President's desk to become law.