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New Minnesota Farmers Union president concerned about ag economy

The new president of the Minnesota Farmers Union says a return to profitability for its farmer-members is the organization’s top priority.

Gary Wertish has served as vice president of MFU since 2009 and filled in as interim president following the retirement of Doug Peterson at the end of 2016.

He tells Brownfield the economics aren’t working very well for farmers right now.

“We’ve come off this last growing season with record crops.  But, take corn for example: even with a record crop it doesn’t cash flow for a lot of people.  So the big challenge is the depressed farm economy for both grains and livestock.”

Wertish says MFU is looking to the next Farm Bill for solutions, but there’s a lot of uncertainty.

“Anytime you have a change of administration, it doesn’t matter which party gets into power, you always have a level of uncertainty because you have new cabinet members and officials to work with.  It will be very important for Farmers Union to be involved, and the bottom line is we need a better safety net in the Farm Bill to keep farmers in business.”

Wertish, who farms near Renville, won a special election consisting of board members of county presidents from across the state.

He becomes the 10^th president of the Minnesota Farmers Union.