During a visit to the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) on the University of Minnesota's campus in St. Paul, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, announced that an amendment she secured in the Agriculture funding bill that passed the Senate would allocate $1 million to the USDA Cereal Disease Lab, which is also located on the University of Minnesota campus.
Included in this funding is $500,000 for research on industrial hemp fiber, which would support Minnesota hemp growers and processors who are part of the $445 million industrial hemp industry. An additional $500,000 would accelerate research to prevent crop losses from mycotoxins, which would benefit Minnesota farmers.
The bill passed the Senate with a strong bipartisan vote of 87 to 9.