This week’s update from lobbyist John Tuma:

“This place is now feeling the pressure of hard times… they have not found bottom yet, by considerable…they have recently voted to loan the credit of the State for $5.000.000 & have thus hung a Millstone around their Neck, which they will doubtless have to bear for [m]any years to come…”

-John P. Bardwell
Agent of the American Missionary Association
From St. Paul on May 7, 1858*

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With a winter like this, one begins to wonder if anything green will emerge come April and May. Of course, on farms and in gardens, we force the issue by planting seeds as soon as the soil warms. But for a growing group of farmers, spring is a time to watch orchards, berry patches and woodlots come back to life without being plowed, seeded and weeded anew each year. These farmers are practicing permaculture, an exciting agricultural endeavor that produces food and other products without working the tired soil year-after-year. You can learn more about it at LSP’s “Designing a Perennial Farm” workshop on Feb. 7. (more…)

This week’s update from lobbyist John Tuma:

“I thought all he would be good for would be hauling a delivery wagon.”*
- Dan Messner, the early 1900s

Mr. Messner was the original owner of the renowned harness racing horse Dan Patch.  As a young colt, Dan Patch was personable and trainable, but clearly not striking enough to be considered a great racer.  Fortunately for the little colt, his stable owner took a liking to him and started training him for the track.  Dan Patch rewarded the faith of his trainer by going on to never lose a race in his career in which he set 14 world records.  He was so dominant on the harness racing circuit that soon other owners refused to race their horses against him.  Therefore, for most of his career he only paced in exhibitions against the clock.  He was eventually purchased by Minneapolis businessman Marion Savage, who skillfully took advantage of the publicity around the world champion harness racer to promote his livestock feed business.  Though Savage was originally ridiculed for paying an exorbitant price for the horse, he was soon rewarded when his company saw a fivefold increase in profits the first year after making Dan Patch the star in his company’s feed promotionals.

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As the Governor and Legislature prepare to close a $5-$6 billion state budget deficit between now and scheduled adjournment in May, one question is whether they will attempt to raid conservation funding. The estimated $250-$300 million annually in conservation funding approved by voters via the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment last November, by law, is supposed to be on top of traditional funding, not to replace it. Conservation Minnesota has created a website to help track what state officials are doing. The Governor’s budget release next week will be the starting point in a major test of how the Amendment is interpreted, and whether the intent of the voters is respected.

Minnesota Agri News has a new reporter cranking out copy. He loves writing about how great it is to spend public funds helping CAFOs put in pits full of liquid poop. He’s a good writer. Trouble is, he’s got a bit of a conflict of interest, one that Agri News has neglected to mention: tax dollars pay his salary. See your money at work in the Jan. 15 edition of Agri News.

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This week’s update from lobbyist John Tuma:

“Ya, and I used to be the Queen Elizabeth!”
- A Montana shop clerk in the little hamlet of Elliston on the Continental Divide, July 20, 1983.*

During Al Quie’s four years as governor of Minnesota, he presided over the state’s most brutal government fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.  During 1981 and 1982, his last two years as governor, he presided over six special sessions that strained the patience of this kind and gentle Lutheran farm boy who earned a reputation as a statesman during his long service in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The political strife was so deep he chose to forego seeking reelection after only serving one term.  The political strife simply just wore him out.

The choice not to seek reelection allowed him to fulfill a personal goal he had dreamed of for years.  He grew up riding horse on the rural landscape of Rice County where his imagination would often take him to the long trail rides of our pioneer forefathers on the western frontier.  From the seeds of this imagination grew a dream to someday ride the Continental Divide from Montana to New Mexico.  Taking several weeks at a time over a nine-year period, he was able to accomplish this astounding goal, riding with many of his old boyhood and newfound horse enthusiast friends.  You can read about this journey in his self-published book Riding the Divide.  As a review, it is a delightful read if you’re into trail riding.

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As we launch into the 2009 Minnesota state legislative session, talks of the budget crunch continue to dominate. However, last week’s Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP) legislative forum provided a number of key legislators the opportunity to talk about some important policy issues that have a good chance of finding their way through the capitol and to the Governor’s desk this year: (more…)

Organic and sustainable farming systems are a luxury only well-fed countries like the U.S. can afford, right? Actually, recent United Nations research shows that such natural systems may be the only hope for attaining true food security in places like Africa. It turns out sustainably raised food isn’t just for First World yuppies. (more…)

This week’s update from lobbyist John Tuma:
“Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20th, for a brief moment in this great expanse of human history he will embody America’s desire for change.  Certainly the best comparison to the Obama inauguration would be that of Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Americans had an immense hope that the FDR presidency would bring a new future despite the shadows of the Great Depression and simmering world turmoil.  No one, except maybe a crusty old Libertarian hermit, would deny Obama’s inauguration as one of the most historic in our nation’s life, and it represents a hope for a better future.  It certainly made scheduling appointments with DFL legislators for the week of the inauguration nearly impossible as many scrambled to find tickets to events and a couch to crash on in Washington, DC. (more…)