Farmers are among the most courageous people I know.  Every year, they literally risk their lives — their homes, lands, livelihoods, and everything else they hold dear — for a vital cause: to feed a starving world.

 

However, because life is often unfair, those risks are real, and today, especially harsh.  Most commodity prices are again far below the costs of production.  Projected 2018 corn prices are 18 percent below estimated parity prices; soybeans are 10 percent below.

 

Projected milk prices are only 70 percent of what they were in 2011.  Hog prices are barely half of those levels.

 

To make awful situations even worse, US trade policy is forcing farmers onto the front lines of very dangerous trade wars, with no good end results in sight.  While some industries, like steel, are benefitting from protectionist practices, many American farmers depend heavily on exports to support even today's low prices.  China's and other countries' retaliatory tariffs are already shrinking export markets for growing numbers of US commodities. 

 

Unfortunately, I do not see a resolution to the Trump Administration's trade wars before I leave office.  I am leaving most of Minnesota's economy in far better shape than when I became Governor.  I deeply regret that the farm economy is a major exception to those successes.

 

I am proud that my administration restored fiscal integrity to our state government.  We did so by increasing state income taxes on only the wealthiest 2 percent of our residents.  We used those revenues to balance the state's budget, pay off almost $3 billion owed to our schools, and increase funding for education, highway improvements, and essential services. 

 

When I campaigned for Governor, I promised to increase state funding for public education every year.  "No Excuses.  No Exceptions."  I kept that promise.  We also added state-supported, all-day kindergarten, and significantly increased funding for early childhood education and higher education.  Our state will only succeed, if all our children do.

 

One area in which the Legislature failed to make as much progress as I wanted, is in the high cost of health insurance.  Health care premiums are crushing many people's finances.  That is why I proposed a MinnesotaCare Buy-In option that would allow farmers and other self-employed Minnesotans to purchase high-quality health insurance at prices averaging 28 percent lower than other commercial health plans.  I urge everyone to keep demanding that the Legislature make available this kind of lower-cost health insurance option, which many people desperately need.

 

It has been my great honor to serve our state during these past 7+ years.  I have done my best to do what I believed was right for Minnesota — for now and for the future.  

 

Thank you for the chance to serve as your Governor.