As a family dairy farmer I’ve always thought of myself as real ag. Along with my daughter and son-in-law, I farm 240 acres and run a 48 cow dairy operation in Renville County. We are among the 85 percent of the state’s dairy farmers who milk 200 cows or fewer. Only 30 dairies — less than 1 percent — have over 1,000 cows. But from what I have read lately, it looks like some legislators think that it’s only the largest 1 percent that deserve any attention. 

Rural legislators should focus on legislation that helps all family farmers, not just the biggest of the big. By trying to curtail reasonable oversight of the development of a proposed 8,850 cow mega-dairy in Stevens County, some legislators are effectively embracing proposals that would gut local control and citizen review of a project. The neighbors who are worried about the impact that using over 100 million gallons of water at one site would have on their wells, or where all the waste from this mega-site would be stored and applied, are family farmers also. The MPCA Citizens’ Board through these key concerns expressed by neighboring citizens and farmers deserved answers and ordered a more in-depth environmental review analysis.

Did this stop the mega-dairy from going ahead with their plans for expansion? No! They are simply relocating to another site that had already been pre-approved for development. As part of a huge 50,000 cow operation, they can simply change their location and proceed. On the other hand, most family farms can’t move and are at real risk if they suddenly have a gigantic factory farm for their neighbor. So it is important that we keep in place those reasonable citizen controls and regulatory oversight for their protection.

I feel that legislators like Sen. Julie Rosen of Fairmont, who compared a 320-diversified crop and livestock farm to this mega-dairy, saying, “that’s not real ag, this is,” are playing favorites and putting real family farmers down. It would be a nice change of pace if we had representation that was looking for ways to increase the number of family farmers instead of carrying the water for Agri-Growth, whose policy initiatives seem designed for the detriment of family farmers.

At this time dairy farmers across the state are under market pressure that will make it difficult to continue. We shouldn’t be looking at ways of streamlining the process for mega-dairies so they can out-compete us. The benefits of dairy to the state are undisputed, but those benefits accrue from many small to medium-size farms supporting their surrounding communities and businesses.

 

James Kanne

Franklin