An Innovative Farming System Requires Innovative Training One sign that you’re a solid employee is that the boss hates the idea of you walking out the door, never to return. So let’s consider the case of Ryan Heinen, who has worked on the west-central Minnesota dairy farm of Nate and Angie Walter for the past… Read More →
Hydrogen Sulfide Study this Summer Raised Public Health Concerns & Initiated Further Investigation ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Pollution Control (MPCA) has ordered continuous air monitoring at a Goodhue County, Minn., factory hog farm owned by brothers Mike, Yon and Jeff Kohlnhofer. The decision to monitor came in response to an air quality study… Read More →
UPDATE: Farmers and rural Minnesotans are standing up and taking action to stop the spread of factory farms in Minnesota. We are in the remaining weeks of the Legislature and things are moving fast. But thanks to action taken by LSP members and supporters, the corporate-backed factory farm provision detailed in this letter didn’t make… Read More →
Farmers, Nurses, Care Providers & People of Faith Question Major Cuts in Time of Budget Surplus SAINT PAUL, Minn. — State lawmakers are pushing public healthcare cuts that could affect more than a million Minnesotans. The Legislature has less than three weeks to agree on a state budget with Governor Mark Dayton, but the Republican… Read More →
Despite citizens’ calls from across the state, the Minnesota Senate sided with corporate interests and passed the Senate Omnibus Environment Finance Bill with a provision that will double the size factory farms can be before environmental review is required. Sen. Jason Isaacson offered an amendment to remove this bad provision from the bill, but it… Read More →
The State of Iowa is on the verge of eliminating one of the nation’s leading centers of sustainable agriculture research and innovation. The Iowa Legislature’s vote to defund and close the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture comes at a time when the work of the 30-year-old institution is, in many ways, just beginning. It was… Read More →
How citizens in one Minnesota county put values into action to attain a win for the land and their community. On November 22, 2016, history was made in southeastern Minnesota’s Winona County when the Board of Commissioners there passed a ban on any new frac sand operations. It is the first known countywide ban on… Read More →
Citizen Testimony Documents that Proposed Factory Hog Farm Violates Goodhue County Ordinance REDWING, Minn. — Neighbors to a controversial factory hog farm proposed in Goodhue County’s Zumbrota Township were shocked when the Goodhue Planning Commission Monday night recommended approval of a Conditional Use Permit for the project based on documents produced at the hearing and… Read More →
There are lots of reminders out there that we have a long ways to go before building soil health becomes a mainstay of our food and farming system. Some reminders are subtle, while others are about as blunt as a baseball bat to the head. A reminder of the latter variety is featured in the… Read More →
Just about halfway through Dennis Keeney’s slim memoir on his life in agriculture, the author’s tone changes dramatically. For 54 pages, The Keeney Place: A Life in the Heartland, delivers on its title—it offers a somewhat nostalgic glimpse at growing up during the mid-20th Century on a diverse family farm east of Des Moines, Iowa.… Read More →
