nitrates

Submit Your Ag Legislative Ideas to the MDA Today

Let's Prioritize Soil Health, Farmland Access, Support for Small & Medium Farms, Water Quality

August 20, 2026

We currently have an important opportunity to support state policy that bolsters family farmers, clean water, healthy soil, and thriving rural communities. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has officially opened its 2027 Legislative Ideas Portal. Between now and Sept. 18, the MDA is gathering policy, program, and funding proposals from the community to help…  Read More →

Category: Action Alerts
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Rocket Surgery, Farming & Water

A Lobe Rangers Field Day Highlights Why We Need to 'Rethink Nitrogen'

By Brian DeVore
August 6, 2026

On a muggy, overcast July day in northwestern Iowa, Matt Bormann and Zack Smith were standing in front of a sophisticated piece of conservation tillage equipment that farmers like themselves use to keep soil in place while planting corn and soybeans. A few yards away, another farmer, James Hepp, was standing in front of a…  Read More →

Category: Blog
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LSP Joins Lawsuit Over Failure To Consider Environmental Impacts of Riverview Mega-Dairy Expansion

If Built, West River Mega-Dairy Would be Minnesota’s Largest

August 3, 2026

MORRIS, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) has joined Food & Water Watch in suing the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) over the state’s recent failure to order an environmental impact statement (EIS) for Riverview’s proposed West River Dairy expansion near Morris. If built, the 18,855-cow facility would be the largest factory farm in…  Read More →

Category: News Releases
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Land Line: Riverview, Lobe Rangers, Fertilizer & War, Climate’s Double Indemnity, Colin Cureton’s Ag Legacy, Grazing & Birds, Roundup’s SCOTUS Support, Farm Bill

By Brian DeVore (editor)
June 28, 2026

Sign Up for E-mail Delivery of The Land Line Morris-Based Mega-Dairy Coming Closer to Reality with Key Regulatory Ruling (6/7/26) The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will not require an environmental impact statement for an expansion that would create the largest dairy CAFO in Minnesota, reports the Minnesota Reformer. Highlights: Riverview wants to expand a…  Read More →

Category: Blog
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Land Line: Dairy $$ Impact, Farm Bankruptcies, Seed Antitrust, Nitrates, Bat Bucks, Busting Bees, Pesticides & Cancer, Compost

By Brian DeVore (editor)
May 29, 2026

Sign Up for E-mail Delivery of The Land Line Opinion: Huge Dairy Operations Change the Fabric of Farm Country (5/28/26) Dairy farmer Duane Holker writes in the Minnesota Star Tribune that plans to build the largest dairy operation in Minnesota are a threat to producers like himself, as well as rural communities in general. Highlights:…  Read More →

Category: Blog
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Land Line: Nitrates, High Tech Mismatch, Dairy Soil Health, USDA Cuts, A Dairy’s Demise, New Farm Bill, Whole Grain Baking

By Brian DeVore (editor)
May 12, 2026

Sign Up for E-mail Delivery of The Land Line Nearly One-Fifth of Americans Are Consuming Water With High Levels of Nitrates (4/27/26) Close to 20% of Americans are exposed to water polluted with high levels of potentially cancer-causing nitrates, known to come mostly from agricultural runoff, according to a study reported on in Inside Climate…  Read More →

Category: Blog
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Tell Your Legislators: Fund the SE MN Groundwater & Soil Health Initiative

Contact Lawmakers by May 14

May 11, 2026

Nitrate levels in southeastern Minnesota’s groundwater are a major problem — and thousands of families depend on that water for drinking. The good news: we have a proven solution. The Olmsted County Groundwater Protection and Soil Health Program has helped farmers reduce nitrate leaching across thousands of acres since 2023. Now, the Minnesota Legislature has an…  Read More →

Category: Action Alerts
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Land Line: Nitrate Pollution, Sensing Trouble, Fertilizer Prices, Price Crunch, EIS for CAFOs, MAHA & School Lunch, Oats

By Brian DeVore (editor)
April 24, 2026

Sign Up for E-mail Delivery of The Land Line Nitrate is Quietly Polluting Rural Drinking Wells. How Researchers are Working to Help (4/21/26) Harvest Public Media reports that across the Midwest and Great Plains, large-scale fertilizer application and livestock facilities have increased the pace of nitrate contamination accumulating in groundwater. Highlights: Scientists have tested more…  Read More →

Category: Blog
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Water, White Torpedoes & The Lobe Ranger Way

For these 3 Farmers, Resisting Peer Pressure Doesn't Mean Ignoring the Power of Community

By Brian DeVore
April 12, 2026

CUMBERLAND, Iowa — Here in southwestern Iowa, it’s the season of the white torpedo. Once it seemed spring wasn’t fake news, pickup trucks began towing to winter-dormant fields tubular tanks of gaseous anhydrous ammonia fertilizer here and in the rest of the Corn Belt. These white cylinders are the harbingers of a new planting season…  Read More →

Category: Blog
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Land Line: Riverview, Nitrogen Cuts, H20 Poll, Bridge Payments, Meatpackers & Antitrust, Gutting Emerging Farmer Support, Rural Population

By Brian DeVore (editor)
April 7, 2026

Sign Up for Email Delivery of The Land Line Plan for Largest Dairy in Minnesota History Raises Water and Pollution Concerns (4/1/26) Sentient reports on Riverview’s expansion proposal that would crate the largest dairy CAFO in Minnesota. Highlights: The expansion would more than double the capacity of an existing Riverview LLP dairy facility near Morris,…  Read More →

Category: Blog
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