Sen. Coleman gained farm knowledge over decades

By By ANDREA JOHNSON, Farm & Ranch Guide
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

Sen. Norm Coleman seems like an unlikely champion for Minnesota agriculture, but he’s thrilled to have the job.

Coleman was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1949, earning his law degree at the University of Iowa in 1976.

From there, he served as chief prosecutor for the Minnesota State Attorney General, Minnesota State Solicitor General, and Mayor of St. Paul.

He was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2002, and is now seeking re-election to that post.

Despite his urban roots, Coleman says he has spent the last 30 years learning and developing his philosophy of Minnesota and U.S. agriculture.

He serves on the Senate Ag Committee, and recently visited the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association office to talk about the passage of the farm bill in the House and Senate.

When asked what he believes about agriculture, this is what he had to say:

Coleman has learned that folks involved in production agriculture have character and perseverance.

“I see folks working awfully hard facing increased input costs that folks don’t talk about whether it’s energy, diesel, fertilizer, equipment,” said Coleman. “Our dairy farmers that have to go 24/7 n they don’t get a day off. They don’t get Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter off when it comes to milking cows.”

He has also learned that good times come and go in agriculture. He learned of the crisis that pork producers faced in 1998 when live hog prices dropped to just 8 cents/pound.

“I’ve seen, right now, we have good commodity prices, and that’s all folks can talk about, but I’ve seen the other side of it,” said Coleman. “That’s why the (farm bill) safety net was so important to me.”

Finally, Coleman says he continues to support alternative energy. He was an early proponent of converting sugar to ethanol. He also says the alternative energy revolution was started by farmers who have worked to develop ethanol and soy-based biodiesel.

He also mentioned wind energy, methane digesters and cellulosic ethanol.

“An energy independence, through the course of this discussion (farm bill) and before, and for me, this debate is not one of necessarily new perspectives, but just reinforced things I’ve learned over the last couple of decades working with folks that give us safe and affordable food supply,” Coleman said.

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