Pawlenty gets a message on feedlots
By Tom Meersman
Star Tribune
November 18, 2004
About 30 farmers and conservationists concerned about feedlot regulations delivered 5,000 postcards to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's office Wednesday in what they called a campaign to protect democracy, family farms and the environment.
The farmers are concerned that the governor or the Legislature will preempt township and county planning authority over livestock operations. Local zoning decisions or ordinances have restricted the building or expansion of feedlots in some areas.
"Rather than let our rights be taken away quietly, we want Minnesotans to know what is happening," said Paul Sobocinski, a Wabasso hog farmer and organizer for the Land Stewardship Project, a nonprofit farming and conservation group.
A governor's advisory task force on livestock reported in June that local control makes the siting of feedlots unpredictable. The task force was particularly concerned about the state's long-term ability to compete in the global marketplace unless farmers are able to expand their hog, poultry, beef and especially dairy production.
Lois Nash, who owns a 320-acre farm near Dodge Center just west of Rochester, said she and many other lifelong Republicans do not want the governor to weaken local government rights or environmental protections to benefit corporate agricultural interests.
"That's not why he [the governor] got my vote," she said. "That's not what I value."
Nash said that she and others collected signatures on the postcards at church meetings, county fairs, farmers' markets and other events. The cards say that factory farms are not efficient or environmentally sound, and that they "promote the interests of a few over the health and well-being of the rest of us."
Pawlenty was not in his office when the postcards were delivered, and no representative met with the farmers. Later in the day, Michael Schommer, spokesman for the Minnesota Agriculture Department, said that the concerns of the farmers were premature. The task force made no final recommendations about local control of feedlots, and a subcommittee
still is reviewing the issue, he said.
"We're not talking about stripping local control, but about how to make the siting process for feedlots more fair and predictable and less costly," Schommer said. He said that Minnesota is a regional leader in regulating feedlots to protect the environment.
Coincidentally, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced Wednesday that an additional 200 large feedlots in Minnesota will be regulated by a federal program. That system already requires 600 of the state's largest livestock operations to have individual permits that prohibit the discharge of pollutants to surface waters.
Tom Meersman is at meersman@startribune.com
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