Minnesota’s livestock farmers and specialty crop growers who applied for disaster assistance to help with 2021 drought should get checks soon. The Minnesota Agriculture Department says checks are being mailed this week. Minnesota Ag Commissioner Thom Petersen says there’s still a need. “Right now, two percent of our state is in a D2 to D4. If you looked back on one year ago, 88 percent of Minnesota was in a D2 or D4 drought.” The majority of the 3,000 applications received by the ag department were approved. That means $18.9 million in eligible requests, more than double the $8.1 million appropriated by the Minnesota Legislature earlier this year. Checks will be pro-rated to 41.9 percent of the amount farmers are eligible to receive. The legislation allowed up to $7,500 per eligible farmer, but the maximum payment per farmer is now $3,143. “Right now, the payments are what they are. The governor may be interested in looking at more in a future legislative session. It’s a big deal for our department to process 3,000 checks. It’s not something we do often.”
