To Olaf Haugen, microbes equal money. That’s because at the height of the growing season on his family’s farm in southeastern Minnesota’s Fillmore County, 70 percent of the dairy herd’s feed comes from grazing. He not only rotationally grazes permanent pastures, but runs his cows through plantings of annual cover crops, which he prefers to… Read More →
MPCA Public Informational Meeting scheduled for June 19, 2018 Catalpa LLC out of Waukon, Iowa, is proposing a massive factory hog farm in Fillmore County. The proposal is undergoing an initial environmental review. Due to public pressure, the comment period was extended until Tuesday, July 3, 2018, at 4:30 p.m. Here are some of the… Read More →
BYRON, Minn. — How did various cover crop seeding methods fare over the winter in southeastern Minnesota? That question will be discussed Friday, May 14, on several Byron-area farms. This free field day will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the farms of Rick Lutzi, Kevin Connelly, Martin Larsen and Tom Pyfferoen.… Read More →
Appeal of Lower Court Ruling Puts County Feedlot Permit on Hold ZUMBROTA, Minn. — Residents of Zumbrota Township in southeastern Minnesota’s Goodhue County filed an appeal today with the Minnesota Supreme Court in an ongoing effort to protect their community from a proposed factory hog farm. The proposed facility would house 4,700 hogs, a 3.5-million-gallon… Read More →
Do you own farmland and want to make sure it is taken care of using good stewardship practices? Two “Managing for Stewardship” workshops are being presented in Minnesota this winter by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) and the Upper Mississippi Region of the League of Women Voters. These workshops are for farmland owners, retired farm… Read More →
Corporate Interests’ Lawsuit is Last-Ditch Effort to Undo Frac Sand Ban WINONA, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) this week filed a notice of intervention in a lawsuit challenging Winona County over its ordinance prohibiting frac sand operations. LSP is taking this legal action to represent the interests of its Winona County members whose… Read More →
Incredibly, MPCA Environmental Review Missed Neighbors’ Homes & Wells Land Stewardship Project members in Zumbrota Township in southeastern Minnesota’s Goodhue County are facing the possibility of having a proposed 4,700-hog factory farm and 3.7-million-gallon liquid manure pit in their community. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is charged with doing an accurate and thorough environmental… Read More →
Last month in a special report, the Star Tribune newspaper revealed how much water pollution from agriculture is costing taxpayers. At $125 million in 2014 alone, the price of industrialized, monocrop agriculture is significant and only likely to grow. In north-central Minnesota, we have an opportunity during the next few weeks to prevent some of… Read More →
I am tired of hearing about the negative role of government, especially as it relates to the Affordable Care Act. I lived for almost 20 years without health insurance and avoided the doctor except for an emergency. Unless you have experienced collection letters and the follow-up calls, you have no idea what they do to… Read More →
It’s no secret that federally subsidized crop insurance makes it more attractive to till land that normally would be too wet, steep, lacking in fertility or otherwise “marginal” to raise a profitable crop on. But a recent study out of the University of Wisconsin attaches some solid numbers to just how much marginal land we’re… Read More →
