District 4 is fortunate to have a candidate with Daryl Luthens’ experience and accomplishments in this race. Daryl started Skyview Dairy in 1968. Since then, the farm has expanded into a milking herd of about 1,400 cows. The family farms 3,500 acres and feeds most of its grain to the livestock.

In 2018, the University of Minnesota recognized the Luthens as the McLeod County Farm Family of the Year for demonstrating a commitment to enhancing and supporting agriculture and agriculture production.

Dairy farming is one of the most demanding businesses today. Since 2012, more than 1,100 Minnesota dairy farms have gone out of business. Minnesota lost 328 dairy farms in 2019 alone. That is an 11.9 percent loss in one year. Yet with Daryl Luthens’ business skills, his family-owned Skyview Dairy has not just survived, it has grown and expanded and created much economic value in McLeod County.

Today, McLeod County is struggling to recover from an economic downturn caused by COVID-19 that is threatening the McLeod County budget for 2021 and beyond. We need Daryl’s common-sense business skills to separate wants from needs as our county overcomes this crisis.

Like farmers of any type, dairy farmers’ income depends on a lot of things outside of their control, such as weather, the international commodity prices, and more recently trade sanctions imposed by China. McLeod County also depends on many things out of the county’s control, and Daryl has shown unique skills to succeed under these circumstances.

Daryl has demonstrated the ability to both represent rural township residents and to work with municipalities. A good example is how he worked with Hutchinson for an environmentally safe way to create compost at CreekSide Soils for sale to help Hutchinson and the county.

Join me by voting to elect Daryl Luthens.