Two Minnesotans in Congress will lead Democrats in farm policy

Once upon a time, Minnesota Democrats seemingly ran out of farm-conscious leaders.

When Rep. Collin Peterson, a son of the Red River Valley and an agriculture committee chair, lost his seat in the U.S. House back in 2020, he told supporters that was it for his party.

“When I lost the election in ‘20, I told some allies, ‘That’s the last time we’re ever going to have a head job in agriculture for Democrats in Minnesota,’” Peterson said.

But when Congress convened in Washington, D.C., this month, much to Peterson’s pleasant surprise, two Minnesota Democrats — Amy Klobuchar in the Senate and Angie Craig in the House — ascended to the ranking member spots on agriculture committees. What they’ll bring back to their home states will be twin-powered political leverage, ever crucial in a divided Congress.

“It’s not so much what they’re going to gain,” Peterson said, “as what they’re going to not lose [for Minnesota].”

That two Minnesotans in Congress will sit in the ranking member spot on the Agriculture Committee in the Senate and House wasn’t on pundits’ post-election bingo cards. With the retirement of Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow, it was widely expected the four-term Klobuchar would become the ranking member in the Senate. Klobuchar herself, a supporter of biofuels and Minnesota staple crops from sugar beets to corn and soybeans, turkey to hogs, had frequently spoken of the apparent succession in her party on stage at summer Farm Fests and the State Fair.

“I don’t think it’s ever happened,” said Klobuchar, referring to farm committee leadership in both houses of Congress coming from the same state. “You’re going to have two people who understand Minnesota agriculture.”

For Craig, the road was more unpredictable. In December, the four-term congresswoman representing the southern suburbs and a broad swath of Minnesota farmland, bested fellow Democrats, including past chair Rep. David Scott of Georgia, to gain the mantle atop the agriculture committee in the House.

“I ran for ranking member because I truly believe that family farmers are an important part of this country,” Craig said. “Of course, at the end of the day, it’s good to have the Senate ranking member a friend of yours.”

The GOP will lead both committees. The Republican chairs, Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas and Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson of Pennsylvania, hold the gavels. Rep. Brad Finstad, a southern Minnesota Republican and farmer, chaired a subcommittee in the most recent Congress.

But the two Minnesota Democrats will undoubtedly shape legislation from crop insurance to forestry to rural development in a nearly deadlocked Congress. They’ll look to do what proved impossible over the last two years: pass a farm bill. Instead, lawmakers have resorted to approving one-year extensions of the massive omnibus bill funding a wide range of things from nutrition programs to the farm safety net.

Their bipartisan track record could also help in getting the Farm Bill passed this year, which could happen as early as late spring, Boozman said.

“For any farm bill, you need 60 [Senate] votes,” Klobuchar said. “So that gives me a lot of leverage to be able to make sure that we have a farm bill that works for everybody.”

On Capitol Hill, agricultural politics break down along geographic as much as partisan lines. Craig notes her opposition to the GOP-written farm bill this summer was largely based on the legislation’s favorability toward southern commodity crops, such as peanuts and cotton, over Midwestern staples like corn and soybeans.

“My job as ranking member is different from just representing the second [district],” Craig said. “I need to represent my colleagues across the country.”

But she added that her perspective as a Minnesotan is undeniable.

“Certainly it’s not going to hurt to have a ranking member on the House and Senate side who understand the importance of Midwest crops.”

Last Saturday, Craig drove to Pennsylvania to appear at a farmer listening session with Thompson. She counts her strong working relationship with Thompson as boding well for this Congress’ work on a farm bill.

Following Democrats’ leadership vote, Thompson spoke to the Minnesota Star Tribune about Craig, calling her an “active member of my committee.”

“We have a good relationship and good communication,” Thompson said.

On the Senate side, in 2023, Klobuchar hosted Boozman for a series of meetings with Minnesota agriculture players, which Klobuchar said, “just shows our relationship.”

In the interview, Boozman said the agriculture committee is one area of government that isn’t a “partisan place.” Boozman has a “very good” relationship with Klobuchar, whom he thinks is well respected by Republicans.

“Agriculture shouldn’t be about Democrats and Republicans,” Boozman said. “It’s a bipartisan effort to help the farm economy.”

Boozman also said Klobuchar has the rare ability to both relate to farmers and present farm policy clearly.

“Farm policy is not easy to understand. She’s able to break it down and talk to members, help them understand it,” he said. “She can do all of those things, and yet, when we’re in Minnesota and we’re out on the farm, she’s very, very comfortable talking to the farm community. The farmers love her and can relate to her. So not everybody can do all those things.”

The challenges confronting U.S. agriculture are numerous — from bird flu’s devastating impacts on poultry and cattle operations, to stymied trade, low crop prices, international competition, and the looming showdown over tariffs under an incoming Trump administration.

In D.C., farmland policy touches not just commodity markets but also anti-hunger efforts, the tracts of timber in public lands and even rural housing.

Klobuchar said that what makes Minnesota uniquely able to understand the interconnectedness of agriculture and food, of trade and the environment, is that the state is, in her words, “not purely rural.”

Historically, ranking membership has also meant that when power shifts hands in D.C., the two Minnesotans are likely to become committee chair. Peterson, the former Dean of Minnesota Agriculture, knows a thing or two about what that rarefied air.

“It’s so hard to climb the seniority ladder,” Peterson said. “It’s obviously going to be good for Minnesota and for the Midwest, but also for the country.”