Green Acres Repeal Advances
by Brian DeVore, Land Stewardship ProjectIt’s early in the 2009 session, and the Minnesota Legislature has already taken some serious steps towards fixing the disastrous problems it foisted upon the Green Acres program in 2008. But there’s still a lot of work to do, and calls to lawmakers are needed in coming days to ensure they get the message loud and clear: repeal the 2008 changes now, and fix the program the right way this time.
Bills to repeal last year’s Green Acres changes (House File 10 and Senate File 386) have passed both the House and Senate Agriculture Finance Committees. Click here to learn more about how to get lawmakers to sign on to these bills and add to the growing support for repeal.
You can also learn more about how Green Acres can be fixed the right way, and how to get that message to your legislator, at LSP’s Fourth Annual Family Farm Breakfast at the Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 17.
Timing is everything. Serious attempts are already afoot to water these bills down or otherwise modify them so repeal of the 2008 changes is off the table. If anything short of repeal happens, farmers will be forced to make land use decisions that will not be good for conservation, agriculture, and those natural corners and back forties where the two meet.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:38 am
[...] As we’ve reported here recently, changes made to the Minnesota Green Acres program by the 2008 Legislature have raised havoc with farmers, assessors, environmentalists and anyone else who cares about the future of our rural landscape. One way to fix this debacle is for farmers to convey to lawmakers their passion for the land and how these changes are threatening their ability to produce food while being food stewards. Scott County farmer Heidi Morlock recently shared her farm’s story on Episode 61 of LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast. You can almost hear the frogs singing in her wetland. [...]