At the annual convention of the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association convention Dec. 6-7, the gavel was passed from outgoing President Krist Wollum to President-elect Mike Landuyt.

Mike Landuyt, Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association president

Landuyt, of Walnut Grove, Minn., operates a fourth-generation family farm with his wife, Kari, and parents, George and Kris Landuyt. They manage more than 700 head of cattle on feed and raise 2,500 acres of corn and soybeans, plus some hay.

The Farmer caught up with him after the convention via email and sent him the following Q&A.

What policy issues at the state level will you pursue with the 2019 Minnesota Legislature? We will continue to partner with other groups to work on a permanent fix to the ditch mowing permits. We are also still watching how the nitrogen rule develops.

A number of new state lawmakers are located in the Twin Cities and suburbs. Beyond the usual visits to the state Capitol, what will MSCA encourage its members to do to share beef producer concerns and stories? We are planning on doing a grilling event at the Capitol in May for Beef Month. At this event, we are hoping to bring lawmakers and their staff together with producers.

During her presentation at the annual MSCA convention, Danielle Beck, director of legislative affairs with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, mentioned that MSCA has played a leadership role regarding “fake meat.” Please explain what took place. MSCA brought policy to NCBA in January on alternative and lab-grown meat. This policy was then adopted at the national level. We worked to pass state law that would require USDA inspection of these alternative products before they entered the state. We will try again on this issue in the 2019 session.

What are your goals as MSCA president? I would like to keep building on the momentum we currently have. Membership has been growing, and many of our policy issues have been taken up by state and federal lawmakers.

Anything else you’d like to share? I am very excited to work with the executive and regional directors that make up our board. They are a great group, and we will be able to hit the ground running to work for Minnesota’s cattle producers.

Also, after years of working on the wolf issue for our northern producers, legislation has finally made it through the House, and we will continue to work and get it through the Senate.