Imagine opening your local newspaper on a Monday morning and discovering that a 5,000-head factory hog farm or an 6,000-head mega-dairy is being proposed in your township — and the public comment period ends that very weekend! We deserve the right to have a voice when major decisions that could impact the health of our… Read More →
Last night, after six hours of presentations by members of the public, the Winona County Board of Adjustment denied a request to exceed the county’s animal unit cap by nearly four-fold. The Board of Adjustment found that the record clearly showed the variance request did not meet the legal requirement for a variance. (Full information… Read More →
NOTE: During a pair of Land Stewardship Project workshops Jan. 29 and 30, Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz will be discussing how they are using no-till row cropping, managed rotational grazing and diversified cover cropping to build soil health profitably on their southwestern Minnesota farm. For more background on the Breitkreutzes, check out this LSP blog… Read More →
‘Our Farm Bill’ Campaign Concludes for Now The membership of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) launched the “Our Farm Bill” campaign in 2016 as an ambitious grassroots effort of family farmers, rural communities and urban allies to change the direction of federal policy. It was a campaign based on the vision that our public policy… Read More →
Public Outcry for Environmental Impact Statement Results in Permit Denial ST. PAUL, Minn. — After months of public pressure and in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner John Linc Stine announced on Dec. 18 that a controversial factory hog farm proposed by Catalpa Ag in Newburg Township in Fillmore… Read More →
Do you own farmland and want to make sure it is taken care of using good stewardship practices? A series of “Managing for Stewardship” workshops will be held in Minnesota during January and February. These workshops are for farmland owners, retired farm men and women, those inheriting a farmland investment and farmers who would like… Read More →
On a warm day in early October, the owner-operators of Clover Bee Farm are preparing a delivery for the 43 shareholders that make up their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable operation. Standing in a hoop house, Andrew Hanson-Pierre cleans dozens of fat onions, while across the farmyard in a barn that’s been converted to a… Read More →
LEWISTON, Minn. — Corporate agriculture interests have failed in their attempt to limit the time the public has to submit comments to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) about a massive dairy project’s potential environmental risks. A lawsuit was filed in Ramsey County District Court seeking to prevent the comment period for an Environmental Assessment… Read More →
On Tuesday, Oct. 16, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) held a public information forum regarding Daley Farms of Lewiston, Minn., and the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) which is part of the operation’s current permit application approval process. Daley Farms wants to more than double its dairy herd from 1,728 cows and calves to 4,628… Read More →
NEWBURG TOWNSHIP, Minn. — In a highly unusual move, one of the partners of a proposed massive hog operation has filed a lawsuit in southeastern Minnesota’s Fillmore County asking the District Court to impose a restraining order preventing Newburg Township officials from meeting to adopt a one-year moratorium on new large-scale feedlots and other developments.… Read More →
