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Ask Your MN Representative to Co-Author LSP’s Manure Management Reform Legislation

April 24, 2024

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Over the past few decades, the dominant push in agriculture has been for farms to grow larger and for the industry to consolidate into a few hands to maximize profits. One of the many ways the biggest have been able to get bigger at the expense of small and mid-sized farmers, rural communities, and our water and climate is by externalizing the costs of pollution. When an aquifer becomes contaminated due to agrichemical and manure runoff, the people who draw from that aquifer are forced to spend up to tens of thousands of dollars to access safe drinking water. If the operation itself had to pay the costs for getting clean water to the community, it would most likely have to do business quite differently or not exist in the first place.

In southeastern Minnesota, for example, approximately 9,000 people have unsafe drinking water. Meanwhile, the Legislature is using public dollars to assist with getting these people access to clean water while doing little to address the root of the problem. The Land Stewardship Project strongly supports funding to ensure Minnesotans have safe drinking water, but without a more holistic approach taxpayers will spend decades subsidizing Big Ag’s pollution with no end in sight.

In fact, Minnesota feedlot rules have not been updated in nearly 25 years. According to data from the 2022 U.S. Agriculture Census, between 1997 and 2022, Minnesota lost 78% of our dairies and the average dairy herd increased in size by 277%. Our current rules and regulations do not reflect what our agricultural system looks like today.

That’s why, this Minnesota legislative session LSP’s Animal Agriculture Steering Committee has been working to introduce and build support for legislation that supports comprehensive manure management reform. The bill was introduced by Rep. Andy Smith and Sen. Mary Kunesh in March. Our goal this legislative session is to show legislators that Minnesotans want our lawmakers to prioritize this proposal in 2025 and to secure 40 legislative authors and co-authors on the bill. So far, we have 15 authors.

To make sure we reach our goal, we need your help. Can you take just two minutes to ask your Minnesota Representative to co-author this legislation, if they aren’t already?

Take Action HERE!

The Bill:

• Lowers the threshold for required manure management plans to include the largest 16.75% of feedlots.
• Adds the testing wells and application fields identified in or affected by a manure management plan for baseline nutrient load levels as a part of approving a manure management plan.
• Requires mapping of manure management plans to identify overlapping manure management plans and areas of potential over-application.
• Creates a tiered fine system for unremedied violations directed toward improving water quality in the fined feedlot’s watershed.
• Strengthens setbacks for manure application from municipal and private wells, hospitals, sinkholes, bodies of water, or wetlands.
• Slowly increases county feedlot inspection rates from 7% of feedlots in the county each year (approximately once per 14 years) to 20% (once per five years).
• Increases Minnesota Pollution Control Agency feedlot inspection rates for the largest 13% of feedlots to once per year.

Please take action now and ask your Representative to co-author this legislation today! 

Want to get more involved in LSP’s Animal Agriculture Campaign? Join our next Animal Ag Campaign Action meeting on Tuesday, May 28, at 7 p.m., via Zoom. Learn more and register here.

 

Category: Action Alerts
Tags: CAFO • clean water • factory farm • livestock production • manure • Manure spills • Minnesota Legislature • nitrate pollution

Contact

Amanda Koehler, LSP Policy Manager, e-mail

Upcoming Events

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May 2025

Thursday May 15

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
MN Women in Conservation
Thursday May 15
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
MN Women in Conservation
42652 County Rd 7, Belview, MN 56214, USA

NOTE: REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR THIS EVENT
 
Come out and play with MNWiC and Renville County Soil and Water Conservation District. Tour Iverson Tree Farm, learn from other women land stewards, and meet local Master Gardeners and conservation professionals who can help with your own land dreams.
 
For details and to register, click here.
 
 

Saturday May 17

11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Community Plant & Seed Swap
Saturday May 17
11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Community Plant & Seed Swap
Lift Bridge Brewing, 1900 Tower Dr W, Stillwater, MN 55082, USA

Lift Bridge Brewing Co. and Sustainable Farming Association are partnering to host a free seed and plant swap and fundraiser at Lift Bridge’s taproom in Stillwater. Vendor opportunities available. 
 
Details here.

Tuesday May 20

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Webinar on Agrivoltaics: Sheep Solar Grazing Producer Panel
Tuesday May 20
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Webinar on Agrivoltaics: Sheep Solar Grazing Producer Panel
Zoom Virtual

Participants will hear from sheep producers about their experiences, along with the benefits and challenges of grazing sheep under solar panels. This webinar is part of a series about cattle and sheep solar grazing and growing forages or grain crops under solar panels.
 
For details and to register, click here.

Thursday May 29

9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing for Sustainable Farmers
Thursday May 29
9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing for Sustainable Farmers
Zoom Online

Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing Best Practices to Get Your Farm’s Next Customer is designed to help farmers grow their customer base by sharpening their storytelling and digital marketing skills—whether they’re selling through farmers’ markets, CSAs, or direct-to-retail. This Greener Pastures and Meet the Minnesota Makers workshop will cover how websites and social media can actually convert viewers into buyers to creating content that builds community loyalty.

This workshop is also designed for ag educators, professionals, and partner organizational staff who support farmers directly and want to be well-versed on the marketing best practices to support direct-to-consumer farms. 

For details and to register, click here.

June 2025

Wednesday June 25

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Wednesday June 25
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Hoosier Ridge Ranch, 15998 Wabasha County Rd 26, Altura, MN 55910, USA

Over the last 50 years, livestock have left many farms. Eric Heins is doing the reverse: bringing cattle – and their poop, pee and hooves – back to his land. Come see how Eric is using his Normande-shorthorn crosses in a variety of grazing situations. During this Land Stewardship Project-Practical Farmers of Iowa field day, you can view permanent pasture, where Eric (like everyone) is battling the cool-season grass takeover. You’ll also learn how Eric is using his cattle in cover crop mixes, prairie and woodlands.

Since purchasing the farm in 2020, Eric has converted the cropland to pasture. He also custom-farms a diverse rotation of crops, covers and small grains on neighboring farms, including an established prairie on Iowa Department of Natural Resources land. A possible bonus: Eric is hoping to have virtual fence collars by the time of the field day, but no guarantees!

A meal featuring Hoosier Ridge Ranch burgers will follow the field day.

See & Discuss

  • Cash-flowing the conversion to pasture on owned versus rented cropland
  • Stockpiling pasture for winter grazing
  • Mechanical buckthorn clearing for silvopasture
  • Grazing agreements on DNR prairie and neighboring cropland
  • A sudangrass mix after a canning pea crop
  • An extended rotation with oats, barley and Kernza

For more information, contact LSP’s Alex Romano at aromano@landstewardshipproject.org.

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