Statewide Outcome(s):
Agency Services supports the following statewide outcome(s).
A thriving economy that encourages business growth and employment opportunities.
Minnesotans are healthy.
People in Minnesota are safe.
A clean, healthy environment with sustainable uses of natural resources.
Efficient and accountable government services.
Context:
Agency Services provides leadership and support services to the agency and its employees and performs agency-level services for the public, agricultural industries and other governmental entities. Operational funding comes mainly from the state General Fund and indirect charges on other funds. Funding for loans managed within this activity comes from state bonding activities, revolving funds, the Clean Water legacy fund and Federal clean water money provided through the state’s Public Facilities Authority.
Minnesota’s agriculture and food industries continue to face formidable challenges. Public expectations for food safety, natural resource protections and agricultural security are at the highest level in recent history, and the competition for domestic and international markets is more intense each year. Agency Services supports all of MDA as the agency strives to meet stakeholders’ ongoing needs and provide timely responses to critical situations such as food safety concerns. MDA works in many ways to help Minnesota’s agriculture and food industries position themselves for success in the global, fast-changing marketplace.
Strategies:
Agency Services includes the Commissioner’s Office, Human Resources, Finance and Budget, Agricultural Statistics and also houses information technology staff under the authority of the state Office of Enterprise Technology (MnIT). Agricultural Statistics is a joint Federal/state office that collects, analyzes and disseminates statistical information useful not only to agricultural producers and processors but also to economists, the media, local government and the public at large. Housed within the Finance and Budget area are the Rural Finance Authority (RFA) and the Agricultural Best Management Practices (AgBMP) loan program. The RFA is a component unit of government overseen by a board made up of four state agency commissioners, the State Auditor and six private sector members, including farmers and ag lenders.
Results:
This activity provides support for the three basic goals of the agency: protecting the safety of the food supply from the farm to the consumer, promoting environmentally friendly agricultural practices and improving the marketability of Minnesota’s agricultural products, including those seen below.
|
Performance Measures |
Previous |
Current |
Trend |
|
Progress towards
achieving |
5 |
5 |
Stable |
|
News release tracking – market value of media coverage |
$12,625 |
$73,330 |
Improving |
|
RFA loans over 30 days past due |
<1% |
<1% |
Stable |
Performance Measures Notes:
Progress towards achieving COOP objectives: “Previous” is January, 2012. “Current” is August, 2012. Goal is ten. A Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) identifies potential business interruptions (building disaster, pandemic, etc.) and provides a framework (plans, procedures, resources, etc.) that enables the organization to recover and continue the essential services it provides for the state. The MDA continues to make COOP program improvements every quarter.
Scale: 0 = no progress / 1-3 =limited progress / 4-6 moderate progress / 7-9 substantial progress / 10 objective achieved. All state agencies are required to have a Continuity of Operations Plan per the MnIT Enterprise Continuity of Operations Standard (https://mn.gov/oet/images/SEC_S_Enterprise_COOP_Security.pdf).
News Release Tracking: “Previous” is July 2012. “Current” is August 2012. This is a new system begun in FY 2013 to quantify the communication value of news releases. Measurement is “Ad Equivalency Value,” which is the dollar amount of paid advertising needed to reach an equivalent number of viewers or readers as the number reached by the news stories generated by the news release. For July 2012, the viewer/reader number for all MDA news releases was 1.2 million readers/viewers, and for August 2012 it was 5.712 million. The goal is to increase the total monthly average ad equivalency value by ten percent from FY 2013 to FY 2014. See: https://www.mda.state.mn.us/en/news/newsroom.aspx
RFA Loans: Goal is less than two percent. “Previous” is June 30, 2011. “Current” is June 30, 2012. The RFA loan portfolio totaled 551 loan files at the end of FY 2012 with an outstanding loan balance of $54.2 million. For more on the RFA, see https://www.mda.state.mn.us/about/divisions/financebudget/agfinance/rfaboard.aspx