I talked to a  southern Minnesota crop farmer last night who was pretty upset over the gutting  MDA’s sustainable ag program received at the hands of the Legislature and the Governor this spring. I’m guessing a lot of folks were reminded of the damage done when they got notice last week that the 20th anniversary edition of the Greenbook is now available. (more…)

The other evening I walked a western Minnesota farm that had a certain “feel” to it. LSP podcast episodes 66 and 67 provide a sense of how we can help nurture more of these kinds of farms that not only feel good, but also provide a good livelihood. (more…)

If you cannot attend the August 4 meeting in Duluth to make your views known, there’s an easy way to comment: through this EPA on-line form.

Details on the Duluth meeting:

August 4, 2009, 4-6pm CDT
EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Laboratory
Gitchee Gumee Conference Center
6201 Congdon Boulevard
Duluth, MN 55804

Directions:
Website.

The proposed $475 million in President Obama’s 2010 budget would be the biggest federal commitment to the Great Lakes in decades.

John Tuma’s Capitol Update – The Summer Version
The Recount Recounted: Minnesota Nightmare

Lobbyist John Tuma compares this year’s seemingly endless U.S. Senate recount to another in Minnesota’s past, and the conservation hero who emerged from it.

Even the most junky of the political junkies grew weary of our 2008 senatorial recount. When it finally concluded this summer, it was more like waking from a bad dream than the usual drama of a campaign conclusion. We knew it was over because we have all seen pictures in the news of Sen. Franken sitting at a U.S. Senate committee table asking questions of a Supreme Court nominee. Interestingly though, the above title, “The Recount Recounted: Minnesota Nightmare” was actually from 1963.*
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As the current issues of the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer and Land Stewardship Letter make clear, pollinators are the kinds of keystone critters we all can play a role in helping—or hurting. As I realized while producing LSP podcasts (episodes 54 and 60) on the subject, everyone from beekeepers to entomologists agree on that one. We need to keep that in mind even when doing things that are seemingly unrelated to the lives of bugs. For example, when buying a potted plant or figuring out how to control the growing emerald ash borer menace, we may want to think twice about the unintended consequences when it comes to the health of our apian workhorses.

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There has never been a more important and urgent time to contact members of Congress on federal climate policy. For the first time in history, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would place limits on global warming pollution and require significant investments in clean energy technology and energy efficiency. The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), sponsored by Congressmen Waxman and Markey, is a strong federal climate policy to limit and lower global warming pollution that will create economic opportunities for the Midwest while protecting Minnesota’s precious natural resources from the worst impacts of global warming. (more…)

I once served on a land grant college committee that was trying to figure out ways to develop a marketing manual for farmers involved in alternative production practices such as organic vegetables or grass-fed livestock. Being the only journalist on the committee, I suggested that the publication take the form of a series of stories describing how different farmers had tackled alternative marketing endeavors and what they had learned from the experiences. (more…)

A Congressional hearing yesterday is generating national headlines today. As the Associated Press puts it, “Consumers know less about the water they pay dearly for in bottles than what they can drink almost for free from the tap because the two are regulated differently, congressional investigators and nonprofit researchers say in new reports.”

That’s no surprise to those who’ve followed the issue for years. The double standard is one of the reasons for the surge in popularity of bottled water. The Minnesota Legislature should correct that for in-state bottlers if Congress won’t act nationally.

Marketing is another reason for the surge. Bottled water is sold to consumers as a lifestyle choice, an accessory, like a cell phone. Sometimes that marketing gets out of hand. At yesterday’s hearing, Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak noted an example: Aquamantra Spring Water explains that the words written on its labels — mantras such as “I am healthy” and “I am loved” — “permeate the liquid influencing the taste and beneficial properties of the water.” The company also claims that “Aquamantra uses the design on its labels to affect the molecular structure” of the water.

The question not discussed at the hearing is this: What happens to public control of groundwater, lakes and streams when private parties are allowed to claim ownership of and make enormous profits from this public trust resource? Water-rich Minnesota needs to think this through carefully.