Minutes. I am your moderator and a host. I want to thank our hosts, minnesotas aarp and credit unions, for making these possible. Minnesota agora, thank you very much. There is a lot of work that goes into organizing these forums, and i think this has become a minnesota tradition. We had a coin toss. Governor walz won. He chose to go second. Kent will be the timekeeper. First opening question, youve talked about a vision of healing minnesota. Can you give a more specific vision of what that means right now and how you would heal minnesota in the next four years . When i see patients in the office, we cant begin the possibility of healing until weve asked the right questions. If somebody said, ive got chest pain, i to be a fool to say, this is what we are going to do. We are here today together. We are asking the questions and saying, what matters to you . Through the process of asking those questions and having conversations, learning, listening, that is the way we are going to heal minnesota. I disagree with governor walz. His program of one minnesota has become far less of a reality and more of an antonym of what weve seen a. I am talking about a transparent process we go forth and feel lie minnesota is being unleashed to be once again that beacon of economic activity. That is what we will do over the next four months annexed for years after november. And the next four years after we win in november. [applause] brois governor walz, you did run four years ago on one minnesota. Some of the political tone in this state and country is not related to your theme of four years ago. What is your vision for making it happen . Gov. Walz thanks to your sponsors and for each of you for caring enough about our democracy for being here. I saw this when i represented southern minnesota in congress, my fear was division was the problem of the day. That is not how any of us grew up. We know the economy is diverse. The aggie economy is one of the biggest in the country. Rural communities need to thrive so urban communities can thrive, and vice versa. We not only have the lowest employment rate of any state in history, we have the second highest job participation rate. We have the fifthlargest job growth. We kept deaths from covid to some of the lowest in the country, and we are starting to bring in investments, things like global aid in minnesota, things like the largest bonding bill that rebuilds roads and bridges, and ways we can bring our politics. We can disagree without using profanities. We can disagree without believing our neighbors dont love this country as much as we do. I worked with the only divided state legislature in the country and emily first governor in minnesota to never issue a veto. Compromise is a virtue, not a vice. It doesnt mean we all agree. It means we work across differences to live the lives that are best for our families. If it is urban, so be it. If its rural, so be it. To divide us and say, they dont belong, that weakens us. We can do it. Brois the next question goes to governor walz. There is a growing tension between small and large farms. What can administer the administration do to ease the tensions and preserve the family farm . Gov. Walz youve got to understand the reality of farming today. If you ask somebody, what is a corporate farm, theyd say, anybody bigger than me. Diversity on the land, there is a place for larger operations that bring economy to scale. It is a hungry world and have the capacity. We are the place where the green revolution started, so we need to have that, but there is plenty of room, as we saw during the covid pandemic, we were able to foster local butchers. When we saw large plants not be able to prosper, we knew we needed more local folks. It is where my family came from. My dads parents were butchers. They owned a butcher shop in nebraska. Those types of opportunities, it doesnt have to be a competition. When we expand, whether it is into organics or hemp, it doesnt mean we have to take away from someplace else. The more that we innovate and the more that minnesota grows those opportunities and the more we create export opportunities, there are going to be places. This is a false argument that it is family farms versus larger operations. We are proving that there is room for everyone, and the market will drive where we go. We are leading in this. We are creating vibrant rural economies and producing enough food to feed the world. That is the Positive Side of it. [applause] brois dr. Jensen, how do you see managing the balance between large farming, and preserving the family farm . Dr. Jensen i rejected the comment that this is a false argument between family farms this is not a false argument. Over my dead body will minnesota ever sell farmland to foreign corporations. Come on. If i have a patient, such as one i attended two weeks ago, and i checked blood and his potassium is ok, and i say, you are fine, but in the meantime, hes bleeding out and unconscious and an hour later, hes dead, that potassium didnt matter. That is the same darn thing we are dealing with. If we have no gdp growth and are in the bottom half of the country when it comes to the growth of our economy, then the 1. 8 doesnt matter. If we do not have minnesota workers where we were in 2019, it it doesnt matter. If you are falling behind inflation is 9. 1 , the 1. 8 doesnt matter. That is a false metro. You folks see through that. [applause] brois we are going to go to the panel now. The first question will be from minnesota agrogrowth chair roddy hebron. The key to the profitability for agriculture is access to international markets. What specific steps would you take as governor to expand export opportunities for minnesota farmers and their production . Dr. Jensen what would we do to increase exports and make our farms more profitable . The first thing is right now i think governor walz has 34 or 35 key people and Department Heads and commissioners. Maybe we should try to not just have a token of those people come from greater minnesota. Instead of just having three people from their and the rest come from the seven county metro area, that would be a starting point. We need to do value added investment. Do you remember the biofuels in the mid1990s, biodiesel . The Agriculture Community has demonstrated that it is ready, willing, and able to bring new technologies to the market. That is how we get our exports up. Lets make sure that farms can be profitable. What are you paying for fertilizer . What are you paying for cd . Are you able to get Farm Equipment when you need it, or do you have to wait a year and a half to get a trailer bed . What are the Interest Rates doing to you . Weve got to give you the ingredients so you can succeed, and as you do that, you will drive yourselves and your industry to make it more profitable, and we will see new profit products brought to market. I talked to a farmer who said, i dont know why i am buying a tree farm, but i am always looking for opportunities. That is what agribusiness and greater minnesota do. [applause] brois theres probably gov. Walz theres probably not a place in the world that understands this more. I will note that my opponents ticket is from the seven county metro area. These are global issues. Weve increased agricultural outputs by 15 during my term. Its the highest of any state in the nation. Weve created new trade deals. The folks in this room went on a trade mission and set that up. Weve invested in infrastructure to make the port of duluth the western terminus of the atlantic trade route to open up to the british markets everything and everything postbrags it. When it comes to ethanol and value add, its one of the reasons why i was elected to be the chair of the National Biofuels commission. Its the reason we were able to make and continue to work with our innovators in the biofuels sector and make them the champions of the world. Weve got the plant going up and kristin, the campus up there on bio innovation. Weve seen the largest investments, and i want to thank the corn growers. We are competing globally. We are creating trade deals together, and the folks in this room made that happen. It is not a theory about global economics. [applause] brois minnesota now has over one million seniors. Care centers and Nursing Homes are stressed by covid. Theyve had a staffing issue from before the pandemic, and that situation continues. Families in greater minnesota want to keep their aging seniors close to home. What can we do to make sure that seniors can stay close to home . Gov. Walz when you hear some of these statistics, if you are rooting against minnesota being at the top, having the strongest state finances, the second safest highways, things like that, if you are rooting to see failure, that is what you are going to get. We are looking at the data and how it impacts minnesotans. There were times that the state of minnesota had strike teams where we were getting calls at 2 00 a. M. In the morning where there were no workers for longterm care facilities. We were providing workers. We were supplementing them with our National Guard troops. Simultaneously, we were streamlining the process to license nursing assistants. Its been held up by the National Governors association. We streamlined the process and trained 1500 cnas. We made the process simpler and have them out there. What we are hearing from our longterm care facilities, its always difficult to try to hire into these jobs because we need to pay these people to take care of our parents and the value they need. Right now, the state of minnesota has a pipeline to train these people and get them out there. We have a budget that would Fund Everything that is there, and it is simply waiting to be signed. Walking away from the fixes for political reasons is hurting these Nursing Homes. We need to get back and have the legislature fix it and get it done so minnesota can move forward. [applause] what would you do to help Nursing Homes that can help enough workers . There is nothing about our response to covid in response to seniors there is not one. I have been medical director of Nursing Homes and what we did after we did this copycat of california and new york and watch them die alone, is our legacy with what we deal with covid. Never again. Healthcare workers feel like they have been driven away. You went from being a hero to 2020 to being a zero and these people are angry. When you talk about a legislative Program Going down, rather than blame someone else or boasting i have never done any deals it will have to do a deal when they you have other people not doing your you are other people doing your dirty work. You know what is going on. We can do so much better with our Nursing Homes. When you look at what happened with them being locked in, that is not different from businesses being locked down. This concept of locking down minnesota just because you think you can is absolutely an abomination of government overreach. [applause] our next question is from laurie. Summit is frequently ranked in the top top 10 in the country for taxes. The most recent legislative session, both which would benefit farmers throughout minnesota. How would your Administration Work to make minnesota a more competitive tax environment in a way that promotes programs but not a very to growth for forms . If you have some little golden nuggets with a huge spending bill and that goes down because people feel like an overpayment should be returned to the people who pay it then someone is playing games and that is what is happening . We got some broadband support for the greater minnesota but that is because the Senate Republicans worked there tailed off in the House Republicans worked to get over the goal line. We need to work on the succession of the family farms and reduce the state taxes so we allow the family farm to stay in it. This governor opposed we are one of 13 states that has a separate state tax. When our land was going for 2000 in third and an acre when you are at 16,000 an acre and you have a 500 acre farm, you are forcing those families to fracture their farm. That is when they are most susceptible to have it broke down in pieces and we see owned agencies doing rounds to buy the company property. We have seen this over and over and he has to stop it has to stop. [applause] the question is about tax environment and competitiveness. Where you are in this job, you work together. It is starting to me that Senate Republicans in the minority who, when something good something is, they have credit and when something bad happens, its not how it works. We cut taxes more than any time that the past 25 years and there has not been a single increase. We oppose this year and agreed to the largest tax cut in state history. These are realities stop with that scene realities. When i came in, it was 40 and now it is 70 and we propose it to 85 percent. The elimination of the Social Security tax is in there and the largest tax cut since 1858. Scott asked republicans to step away so it looks like it does not get done. Senate republicans signed and went in front of the and went in front of the press and agreed to this. There are solutions here. The state of minnesota is sitting on a surplus that i asked to get back to you. It was generated by spending during the covid pandemic. It should go back to the people who spend it who can make an impact on the things that cost them more by using them their own money. [applause] next question is for governor walz. Inflation is a major concern for families. This audience has a shared interest in making sure people are fed. How will you make sure that minnesotans can keep food on the table . Gov. Walz we are asking for the direct relief. Those are going to take supply chains to work out and fed policy. But minnesota can do is what we talked about earlier. We can grow exports and we can also use the surplus to bring down the cost for all minnesotans stop that is one of the most effective ways and every economist should say we should do. This we have done more to make sure our students can eat and make sure the food programs we work in conjunction with usda and partners, are able to get that out there but the biggest thing we could do is put money back in the pockets of his sons and making sure that one of the things we are seeing is that the partners in the nonprofit whether they be that mgos or others, they need to be efficient. Any child going to bed hungry in this state, that is on all of us and our administration focused on those issues and focus on making sure, they said that safest and best place for any student desktop is the state any child is the state of minnesota. How do you make sure that every minnesota family has put on their 10 table . Dr. Jensen all four weeks ago, i had a patient in my office and she cried and she said dr. Jensen, i have 100 in my checkbook and i dont know if i should belong my gas tank or buy food for my family. If we want to get minnesotans secure, we need to get the jobs and get our workforce restarted and stop fracturing supply chains. We need to do things different. When you incentivize people not to work and scare people from working, when you do all these things and you get them to sit on the couch and watch tv and you dont tell them how they can affect in their own immune system and would you take away options in terms of their treatment, cap when you give them a binary choice instead, you have the disease and go home again over or get worse and come to the hospital and you dont have options. When you do that to people, you scare them and that is the worst think we can do. We need to rise up and recognize we play a part in building the bridges that allowed minnesota to the that economic part of the northwest and we are not. The midwest is looking for leadership. Feeding minnesotans is important but until we lower the cost of energy, we are not going to do it. [applause] we have we have an hour left so i want to thank our sponsors. The next question is from dan placing plessing. What steps will you take to support and encourage development in Rural Communities . Dr. Jensen the question is near and dear to my heart. What steps will i take . I traveled the state and there is no question we need to do a better job letting young people in smaller towns and rule and greater is on that note that there is tremendous opportunity. We need to start with aggressive broadband cap connectivity that rivals the seven county metro. There are opportunities in sailors and research and finance and so many opportunities. We need to be so well connected that a Business Owner can compete with downtown minneapolis. We need to do something else. The waiter minnesota greater minnesota doesnt feel like they have a seat at the table. Arguably, greater minnesota has the most public to pick Small Business prototypical small Business Owners. You know that the buck stops at your desk. You on it. If it goes down, you own it and we have to stand up bold. What makes is great is not our 10,000 lakes, it is our people and we are not going to get common sense from the capital. We will get it from you and thank god for that. [applause] how do you ensure the vitality of freedom . Gov. Walz what you will never hear from your governor is that minnesotans are lazy. Hearing that minnesotans are lazy while we watched 13,000 neighbors die and hundreds of thousands putting hospital put in hospitals. Be part of the solution. When you are the executive of the state, you stand up and say i take responsibility for this. The way we talk to our children as a teacher to call ourselves schools, they are the best in the country. Call our schools black holes and disrespect teachers and parents, that is not the key. Not having a plan to legalize school and to say and divide us on the issue on block broadband when we have done more investments than any other state and you have heard it, it has to be better than the city. The city doesnt have broadband for the children. Trying to tell them we are doing it to create those jobs but if we come together to find a solution and recognize that we have invested 300 million bipartisan we parsingl bipartisan we bipartisanly. Invest in students and teachers but dont call us lady lazy. [applause] governor minnesota has been a great protector of biofuels. What do you see in the future of gov. Walz this is my 17th farmfest and we have been talking about this. I believe in what we have done. I was in janesville talking about efficiencies. When everyone anyone disrespects our industry, they are using things from the past. I peers across the country tells me to be the chair of the governors a full biofuel meeting committee. We need to make it yearround. Thank you cora growers corn growers. We will have pumps at all stations. You blend the e. U. 35 and you get the same mileage. This is a solution to the climate issue and it is creating jobs right here where you can take chemistry and come back and work at the plant. That is how you create solid communities. We invest and make sure that Transportation System is diversified. We are only scratching the surface. The advanced fire fuels are going to make beautiful minnesota a leader and how we address climate and carbon and how we create jobs and i have done that as the chair of this and with all of you. How do you ensure minnesota remains a leader in biofuel production and innovation . I have to confess, i am confused but i am the region so i guess i am entitled. If biofuels are the future of minnesota, why did our governor hook the wagon to be a california copycat . [applause] following the california rules by 2025, 35 of the vehicle sold should be elective vehicles and we are less than 2 so we have to go from 2 to 35 and in 2009, governor walz was an congress and probably stood next to erik paulsen and called on the minnesota legislator to promote the moratorium on nuclear power. What is the future . Is it biofuels or electric cars . Why are we doing this to the economy . With a f150 electric vehicle in minnesota has less than 2000 miles, why would you do that . California was to get rid of internal combustion energies. It are fuels if biofuels are the future, i think we could back off the california cap and stop tomorrow copycat and stop tomorrow. [applause] the next question is from the minnesota farmer unions resident president. During the early stages of covid, and our plants had to shut down because of workers getting sick and in some cases dying. It exposed how fragile our Food Security system is. We know we need the large processing plants but we also need to rebuild smaller, regional plants not only with Meat Processing but all of agriculture. We know when we need we need to refill the system. Others you as a governor work towards this how does you as a governor work towards this . Dr. Jensen governor walz was faced with a confrontation and challenge have that had never come to minnesota before. Can we give a hand for him . One size does not fit all. We had cases in some counties and others and not others but it was onesizefitsall. That is why so many people felt like subjects under an emperor. He protested our comments my comment about people on the couch but i saw it. I saw the Blood Pressure increase and the delay in diagnosis these diagnoses. We work nation leading in terms of how many people were dying in Nursing Homes. Something was terribly wrong and we wanted to do the right thing. Do you remember the mantra, flexing her . Flexing the curve flexing flatten the curve . The bottom line is when the second lockdown came, you noticed you could get a haircut during the second lockdown . Did we learn that the covid virus didnt like to eat all of a hair follicle . This is the kind of Decision Making we did. We were making it up as we went along. What do we do to balance our supply chain and Food Security . Gov. Walz i will answer this question directly but i will ask have you seen someone died die who was unvaccinated from covid or someone with long covid . Oh many platforms, this misinformation, as far as making it up on the fly between the mayo clinic the predominates on people making the decision on this. Minnesota salt fall fewer saul far fewer deaths. You cant hope that covid wasnt real and you can take ivermectin but that is not where the facts are. One of the things we saw was the vertical integration of processing of meat. Putting it as a health risk and economic risk. We were the first state to open smaller meet plants. We have Global Technical colleges offering meatpacking skills. We have kids wanting to do this locally and specialized processing. You know the local ones you want to go to. You want to go there because he gives is that opportunity. We invest in that and that is the way we strengthen the production. [applause] the next question is about the environment and regulatory costs. Governor walz, you will go first. How do you the balance of the cost of farmers while impacting protecting the environment . Gov. Walz producers are the one who cared deeply. Making sure about soil health and fertilizer perspective, make sure we are incentivizing folks. Our atwater agwater program reduces that time. If the voluntary program, enrolled many producers. Say we have stopped with regulations, it is this respectful to people who know that we need to do things a certain way. Our job is to make things as least, some as possible. We are dealing with chemicals that touches every single one of us but we recognize producers need to be given the tools and support and i have been a big believer in conservation compliance. All of us benefit from that. We have to measure things and see producers and partners in both Environmental Stewardship and be able to produce the food we need. That is what we are doing. We can always do better but when you tell producers they dont care about this, they care. They know the compliance and the regulatory pieces of that should not be there but we need to make sure they are as smooth as possible. [applause] how do you balance protecting environment and regulation with the state of minnesota . Dr. Jensen i am confused again. [laughter] the producers are being disrespected if we lower the regulations in the permitting process . What you heard was the producers, the government to tell you have to be compliant and the government will determine what the best actresses are because you are up to the task of optimally extorting the land you live on stewarding the land you live on. Let farmers farm and let teachers teach and let governors government get the hell out of the way. [applause] when does it stop . We can talk about ivermectin. We had a people were dying and they died because they did not respond to the medicines we thought they would. We didnt give up and talk to anthony fauci. We kept trying and we try things that didnt work. We try we tried other things and we stop the die. That is what people wanted us to do. If you can do vitamins, lets do these things and talk to your doctors. That is what i said and i would say for the rest of my life. [applause] next question from the panel is from the Minnesota State the faa Vice President. I am sitting here on behalf of the students enrolled in natural resources. What specific steps will you implement to support career and Technical Education to address the labor searches shortage . Dr. Jensen we have to build a bigger menu. In 19 73, i graduated from sleepy eye and there was discussion, too many kids are being forced to go to college. There was no real value gained. We have to push secondary enrollment options. We have all kinds of things and we need to get those programs into the traits and match up better. Tell kids, whatever you choose it is ok. Between 18 and 21, when kids go into a certain direction and date paul short, whether they disappoint themselves or others, we put them in a place that is dark. That is why we see so many people consider suicide. We need to invite people to the table with sincerity. We need to have a bigger menu and be able to do Something Better with tuition costs. Maybe we go to university up minnesota and say 10,000 a year is the max. We have to get creative. It isnt fair to all the people who paid their tuition loans and paid off their debt, it is not fair to say we will wipe them away. We need to be responsible and whatever you incentivize, we will get more of it. Gov. Walz three was not i agree with scott. Pso is great. The idea that you can invest in your children, the first thing we can do and we did this. We invest in the education school. We invest their. We make sure recognize that the Rural Community i live, it was a required course. For all of us to have that knowledge. You can invest with communities with things like broadband. The major things Like Health Care and what is going is affordability around childcare, make sure we have that capacity. You have the image needs amenities. We create the opportunities in schools and work with trades. One other things we need to make sure is we are paying a living wage. It is outrageous as we complain about gas prices that British Petroleum made more money this quarter than any company in world history. We can make turkey the economy that works for everyone and the economy where everyone feels a part of and our children know that that innovation and that investment is what we care about. To tell them, we will not invest. When we went to school, the generation pay for it. Invest in them. [applause] you mentioned in the last answer, the cost of childcare is limiting. It has been an issue for quite some time. What can we do to make childcare more accessible especially in greater minnesota . Childcare more accessible in greater minnesota . Gov. Walz we can do what republican states do, we can use federal funding to raise our reimbursement rates to pay folks a fair wage to get there. Again, minnesota was the safest place for children, it was the place for that Early Childhood industry was being done in the private and nonprofit and being done by things like headstart. If we invest in that capacity, make sure the economic model works, if we make sure our families are incentivized to use that childcare, what we are saying is we saw people leave the workforce because the balance between what they could get paid and what it costs for child care was equal. We have the capacity to make this work. Our business community, the chamber of commerce, this is one of their priorities. We had a Bipartisan Group of experts take a look at expansion of the economy in minnesota, and one of the top once was investment in childcare, bringing the investment rate up. Those are things we can do right now that will make a difference and incentivize those businesses. When children get a healthy start, for every dollar we invest before they get to kindergarten, we get 12 in return through less social services and more productivity. Dr. Jensen, how do you ensure childcare is more accessible and affordable . Dr. Jensen government gutted our daycare. Government did that. One of my children has to pay 35,000 a year for two of their kids to be in daycare. It is not working. It is broken. There is this thing called waste, fraud, and abuse. We have had hundreds of millions of dollars fraudulently taken away from programs it was supposed to support. Why dont we try Something Different . Why dont we just get out of your way . Instead of regulating and permitting Daycare Centers to death, lets not make it a government business and then come back to you and say now that we have helped you falter, and you cannot do it without us, we will step in with the new program. We will give you some money if you do it this way. There will be strings attached. Why dont we get out of their way . Why dont we let moms and dads safe this seems to be a suitable place for my children to be taken care of. That is what we should be doing. Remember Ronald Reagan . He said before we look at government to solve our problems, we should look at our neighborhoods and churches and communities. Dont you think government has enough access to our kids . They have got them k12. Now they want universal preschool. I think government is part of the problem when it comes to indoctrinating our kids. I want my children and grandchildren to learn the basics in school. What we learn from homeschoolers, you can do that two or three hours a day. Lets go that way. We will turn back to our panel. Rod he bring, ceo of comptroller financial. Both of you have mentioned the tradeoffs between urban and rural. The population continues to decline in many parts of rural minnesota. What strategies or initiatives would you focus on to reverse this trend . Dr. Jensen, you go first. What would you do to reverse the trend of declining populations in rural areas . Dr. Jensen if you want to increase the population in any area, you have to have a robust economy. Let farmers farm. We have been blessed in this state to have powerful companies. Do a mental exercise. Imagine minnesota if we lost chs, schwans, best buy, 3m, target, cargo . What would we look like . We have not had a major fortune 500 company come to minnesota since 2004. That was mosaic. They left. We need to get government out of the way. That is how we get greater minnesota to flourish. Lets make sure the young people realize there is lots of opportunities. We have regulated, permitted these industries to death. We are doing it in all kinds of sectors. We are making hairdressers go through these processes. Every time someone says lets make you register. Then we get to weaponize someone. I know about that because the minnesota board of medical practice has important work to do to protect minnesotans. When that group gets weaponized where people are using it because of political ends, that is not just on me. If they did it to me, they will do it to you. This is not a good thing. This is not one of those moments to say it happened to you, i am not worried about it. We are in this together. Minnesota has a hostile attitude toward business. We have got to change it. Governor walz, how do we reverse the trend of population decline . Gov. Walz it is a great question. It is one every state is dealing with. We have seen this over the past 100 years as mechanization moved people into urban areas. One of the things we have stressed in my administration and keep talking about one minnesota, you want people to have the options. I graduated with 24 classmates, 12 of whom were cousins. My mom is still on the farm. That was the best education i could have gotten. It was a wonderful community. The opportunity for jobs to be there was limited by the number of the demographics. One of the things we are seeing by innovating in things like biofuels, having the largest hem p crushing plant in minnesota gives us new opportunities. As we expand broadband, we have the opportunity to live in a lowcost community that has wonderful amenities. We need to change the formula on how we are funding our schools do not put the pressure on property taxes alone. Then we follow through with providing childcare options, the things that are necessary. People will choose the life they want. For some it is urban, suburban, greater minnesota. The disadvantage is when the amenities are not matching up. It is one of the reasons i cannot understand for 20 years we are underfunded the local government aid program. I ran on refunding government aid to keep people in their communities. We dont just complain. It is not a Big Government thing. It is how do you solve the problem. That is what the job of governors. [applause] National Pork producers Vice President , you have the next question. The single greatest threat to the minnesota pork industry is the introduction of a foreign animal disease into the u. S. Although farmers continue to work diligently on prevention and preparedness, there is still much work to be done to make sure we can efficiently respond. How will your administration continue to prioritize and invest in preparedness and response planning within the Minnesota Department of ag and Animal Health . Dr. Jensen thank you. It is a great question. It is one thing to talk about things. It is another to be the executive. I have worked 12 years in congress as we wrote farm bills, and we talked about bio security and pathogens and about an intentional terrorist attack on our food system. When we saw the bird flu epidemic, when we saw it in 2015, it burned like wildfire. We ended up destroying about 9 million animals. It impacted about 115 of our growers. We learned from that. We put in the bio security. The work tom peterson and his team did with our livestock users was phenomenal. It went up even more this time. Transmitted by wild waterfowl. That became dangerous because there is no way to track that down. We contained that 280 facilities, about 3 million birds, and we repopulated at a quicker rate. Whether it is the pandemic or bio security around pathogens in our livestock industry, it is about having a plan, working together, and executing. Trust me on this, you need government when something this big happens and the collaboration and coronation are agencies did saved birds, saved livelihoods, and put minnesota back on the map as the number one turkey producer. We need to stay in that place and make sure this does not happen with pork. We are ready. Dr. Jensen, how do you make sure disease is not an issue for livestock producers . Dr. Jensen you need government. Ronald reagan said fear if someone comes to your door and they say i am from the government. I am here to help. That is the contrast today. In terms of epidemics, pandemics, they have happened before. This is not a new problem. This has gone on for millennia. It will again. In 2002 with the initial sars coronavirus, we saw those folks that got the disease, and it never developed into what we were told it was. Those people would hold onto antibodies for at least five years. 85 of people still have antibodies in 2007. When you respond to a Public Health crisis, you have to go to the experts. You have to go to the people in the field. You have to combine Public Health people with physicians. You have to go to the pork producers. I talked to them yesterday. They are as motivated as anyone to make sure Early Detection happens, containment happens so we can mitigate the amount of time this is going to affect the industry. Too often politicians think they have the answers. They do not. We need to go back to the local place and say what can we do . Veterinarians are thinking about this. I have talked to them. They are watching and planning. When we have a plan, we cannot throw it out the window just a just because things get hot in the kitchen. That is what we did with covid. Time. [applause] you are listening to the farmfest gubernatorial forum. I want to thank our sponsors, minnesota credit union, Minnesota Farmers Union, aarp minnesota. The next question is from dan, Minnesota Farm Bureau president. Crop protection products are important to ensure an abundant food supply. What is your view on allowing farmers to follow the label on those products that has been developed with approval from the epa when it comes to using those products . The most important thing on this question is we cannot have government being a fickle partner. The farmers do what they are advised to do. They follow the rules, the labels, then it is not enough. Someone says you are breaking the rules. Farmers feel over controlled, overmanaged. It is the same thing teachers feel. When we talk about teachers, we have got to be careful and make sure we are not lumping ed minnesota with teachers. When we talk about teachers, we are not talking about ed minnesota. We need to let the ag business develop and grow. If the government is going to put rules down, fair enough. Lets make sure the appropriate people were part of that process. Once they are doing it, they have got to be protected as long as they are being compliant with the law. That does not always happen. Too often the rules change. This drives farmers crazy. It drove me crazy during covid when i was told even though 30 to 40 of my prescribing habits which have been off label for 40 years, it was no longer allowed. I could still use flomax to help pass kidney stones, but i could not use ivermectin even if my patients desperately wanted it. When did the patients become nothing more than a pawn in the process of government . That is what you endured. Off label prescribing, off label rules, it is the same. Time. Governor walz. Gov. Walz i am going to answer the agriculture question. I think we will have more conversations about covid pandemic and the response. Dan, i think this goes back to the question of our producers and people who are using these products are the ones who are most responsible. It is their land. They know what they are going to do. What is the regulation on how to get that out and work with them . The consistency, we know the issue of drift was big for all of us. The draft and the damage. The first year that came out, tom and his people had 160 complaints about this. We worked together about the use of this. We found parameters that worked with the producers. We reduced the number of complaints to 15. We need to know these are powerful chemicals. They make a major impact on our ability to produce food, manage pests, but there is also the impact on others and water and some of those things. We follow it. We work together. This is not theoretical. This is not some stand up. This is really happening right now. Here in minnesota, i think we are striking a proper balance to get where we need to be to get the benefits of those products, but also to protect the public. We are in this together. The idea that we would not need to monitor water or make sure a child was not shaken at a daycare, those are basic safety things. That is good policy. Time. Governor walz, the next question from Minnesota Farmers Union president gary. There is a growing concern, whether it is Climate Change or whatever you want to call it, there have been more weather events lately then we have experienced in the past. A large part of the state was in a drought last year. Just a few years ago, we had a lot of heavy snowstorms took a lot of dairy farms down. This spring, we had a lot of windstorms. I know the state is limited to what it can do, but what can the state do to help producers and communities . Gov. Walz this group knows the question of whether Climate Change is real is there. It has been answered. Last night, we had fairly heavy storms that went out. There is a system in place. Local Emergency Managers responded. We had 29,000 people without power. One of the things is the preparation we can do. We need resiliency in our infrastructure, understanding we cannot have the floodwall in duluth washout. One of the things we can do is invest in those programs that make a difference for folks. As gary talked about the Dairy Program of making sure we were there to respond, we should consider we passed a great ag package. Those that wanted to kill the entire bill, we were able to pull out the ag and veterans package. I think we need to think about permanent drought relief so we do not get caught in the politics so we are there to provide relief. It is one of the things you have heard. It is all of the above. Everything that has got sad about clean cars was not true. The fact of the matter is we are having a broad approach to this. Our ag producers are going to be the ones from sequestration of carbon still looking at crops that are more resilient. This is going to be a hungry, hotter, more disrupted world. We can start to do the things that both insulate us from those things, making sure our infrastructure is good secure, and support our producers. Dr. Jensen, what is your vision for managing climate issues related to agriculture . Dr. Jensen i think we need to separate weather from climate. We see the weather happen all the time. We are impressed with it. Climate, we need to be careful. As scientists, we need to make certain we are not arrogant about what we think is happening. We do that in this country because of the way we do science, the way we get it paid for, the way we get Research Projects published. There is a whole cycle that often times calls for more confidence and arrogance than the science shows. We have used this term follow the science over the last couple years. I think there is Climate Change. It is gradual. It is slow. We have to be number. The way we have to be nimble is to say what is our plan . What are we going to do . With some of these cataclysmic events that go on, the most important things we can do is spend our infrastructure money on infrastructure. Make sure it is not boondoggle, some project to pay back a political friend. Lets do infrastructure so all of our roads and bridges can stand up to the rains and floods. We need to go back to the local communities. Nobody can know better than you how you can best prepare against these catastrophic weather events. We stay nimble. We dont try to fight you. If we provided equitable funding to all the various counties in the state, how would you stand it spend it . That is not what we do in government. We are micromanaging. We do it poorly. Final question from our panel will be from natalie, Minnesota State ffa Vice President. Recognizing stress impacts students like myself, peers, and teachers, would your Administration Support additional funding to hire Mental Health specialists in our Minnesota Schools . Dr. Jensen. Dr. Jensen it was midnight a long time ago when i got home, and i had to call the Hennepin County medical center. They had a body in their more that needed to be identified. I went down, and it was my brother bruce. He had committed suicide. I deal with suicide every week in my office. When we take 18 to 21yearolds, we set them up for critical emotional and mental struggles. Unfortunately, we have done nothing more than talk. We have had Health Care Insurance companies reduce the reimbursements to psychologists, therapists, counselors. We have turned psychiatry into nothing more than trying to determine the best pharmacological goulash. We have not done the job. You have every right to be disappointed in the medical profession. We have got to step up to the play. So much of what ails us has to do with Mental Health. We are not as mentally healthy as we once were. I dont think all the technology in the funds helps us get there. We need to look each other in the eye and say i am sorry. I am sorry that i have fallen short. As a profession, medicine has fallen short. As policymakers, when i was in the senate, i am sure i fell short. We can do so much better. Unless we have you at the table reminding us and pushing us, it is not going to happen. Gov. Walz i am in agreement with scott that the health Insurance Companies do not reimburse the way they should. When you see the highestpaid executive in this state is the ceo of a Health Insurance company, that is broken. Those are things we need to continue to work on. That is why we have expanded the ability for minnesotans to afford health care. We were able to pass the reinsurance rate so we were able to keep those rates as low as we can, real things that make a difference. I spent two decades. I come from a family of teachers. This is the air i breathe. The stress of the modern world moves quickly. What used to be in line bullying is now online bullying where you see people being stressed. When we talk to our students, they are feeling that stress. In minnesota for decades, we have gotten by on the cheap for our counselors. We ranked 49th out of the 50 states on per capita counselors. These counselors are trying to figure out career paths. We have seen innovative programs over at minneapolis at ascent integrated into the school. We have the services that are provided public and nonprofit in that school helping them. We are seeing results that are improving lives. This is when we tell our children they matter. When you hear you are going to cut funding to schools, you are cutting money to Mental Health services. We need to fund the programs that are working. [applause] just as we started, we asked about governor walzs mission of one vision of one minnesota. I cannot think of a topic that would unite our state more than a viking super bowl. What is the vikings record going to be, and how far will they go in the playoffs this year . Gov. Walz theyre going to win the north by a game, split with green bay, and we are going to get to the nse challenge again. Dr. Jensen matt burke, he desperately wanted a super bowl. He knew of our traditions, so he left for four years and got one in baltimore. He is a man of character and determination. I think the vikings are going to do us proud. Hopefully they can do a better job of staying on offense. It is exhausting to be on defense. It is fun to be on offense, not defense. I think we are going to finish second in the division, make minnesota proud and realized the vikings are on the right track. Im not optimistic about the super bowl. Realists i guess. Dr. Jensen, you have two minutes. Dr. Jensen we need more cops on the street. We need restorative justice. We need judges that will stick to them mandatory minimums. There was a boy killed. There is a poison of lawlessness across minnesota. We know this is a problem. We have got to enforce the law. Got to. What i am most proud of during the covid environment is i stayed with my patients. I made house calls. We continue to have conversations. Over 90 of my patients over the age of 70 with underlying conditions were vaccinated against covid. What i did not do is i did not flinch. I did not freeze. I did not stop making decisions. Had i been in the governors office, the National Guard would have been on the streets sooner. The precinct is more than just a building. You would not see the Christopher Columbus statue torn down by demonstrators could i will not freeze. I will make mistakes. You cannot be a Family Doctor without making mistakes. I will come up short, but i will keep trying. In the end, when you talk to people that represent my departments, my commissioners, you will not be talking to heavyhanded, meanspirited leaders. You will see the mpca and dan are there to serve you. And of the dnr there to serve you. When i was in the senate, governor walz and i worked together to get an insulin bill passed. It was a pleasure to work with him. He compromised, and i compromised. We got it done. I think we served many diabetics. Thank you. Gov. Walz thank you, scott. The one thing i know is if we could have scott jensen apparently instead of bud grant, we would have had four super bowl. It is easy to say these are the way things wouldve happened. It is easy. I want to be clear about this. Having served 24 years in the National Guard, that is a lot more experienced than watching top gun maverick and second guessing our men and women putting themselves at risk. They performed historically and heroically. The issue is this, we are facing challenges. When we face challenges, the solution is not to divide more of us. It is to come together. I am proud in minnesota we were able to do that, keeping our death rates from covid the lowest 10 in the nation in our state. Please. Gov. Walz keeping our hospitals functioning, making sure we were creating an economy that is resilient by having the fifth highest job growth and the longest job lifetime of those jobs that get created. We are creating an economy that works for everybody. We are addressing Climate Change. We are coming up with budgets that invest in police and had someone not said kill the bill, there would be 300 million and three dozen more state troopers on the streets today. The governor does not make those decisions. We do them together. This job entails more than secondguessing. It requires more than standing up when saying who is responsible for getting tests for covid. It is me. Who is responsible for getting vaccines out faster than any other state and more seniors boosted than any other state in the country . Me. Who is responsible for making sure that job growth in those things went through . Dealing with a divided legislature and having a balanced budget with a historic surplus and no tax increases. We can move minnesota in a positive direction together. Lets do it. [cheers and applause] over the past few months the january 6 Committee Held a series of hearings. All week watch cspan as we look back at the eight hearings featuring never before seen evidence, depositions, and witness testimony into the attack on the u. S. Capitol. On monday 8 00 p. M. Eastern u. S. Capitol Police Officer Carolyn Edwards that was knocked unconscious during the first reach of the capitol grounds, shows her story alongside a filmmaker filming the proud boys at the rally. Watch on cspan, cspan now, or
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