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| Livestock Friendly Counties |
| The Livestock-Friendly County Program, initiated by the Minnesota Milk Producers Association (MMPA), was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2002 (HF3183), and a similar program in Nebraska was signed into law (LB754) on May 28, 2003. The program is designed to promote agriculture throughout MN and NE by recognizing counties that value the economic contributions of agriculture and are willing to take steps to provide an economically friendly environment for long-term success. MMPA initially created the program with a financial incentive for designated counties, however due to financially tight times the financial incentive was eliminated. The voluntary program, on the face of it, seems to promote the agricultural industry in a positive way. However, the devil is in the details, as many opponents of the program have pointed out. An unfunded program gives little incentive for counties to join on. The most disturbing portion of the program requires counties to be "governed by a regulatory framework conducive to a viable animal agriculture sector". The Minnesota Department of Agriculture website labels counties as anti-livestock if they limit the size of an operation that can be built, place moratoria on feedlots or expansions of current feedlots, and prohibit earthen basins to store manure. To be ‘livestock friendly', counties cannot have these kind of regulations. The program also eliminates local zoning control and forces counties to accept farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations. This is a backdoor attempt to foster unsustainable agriculture, while eliminating family farms and polluting the environment. To further demonstrate the needlessness of the program, no counties in Minnesota have taken the steps to be designated, two bills (HF 861 & SF1027) were introduced in 2003 to repeal the law, and officials have publicly stated if no county is designated the program would be eliminated. There are more pressing issues in agriculture that states should be dealing instead of developing a harmful and unpopular program. |
For
more information about SERC, or to use our services, contact our national
headquarters at:
State Environmental Resource Center
106 East Doty Street, Suite 200 § Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-252-9800 § Fax: 608-252-9828
Email: [email protected]
106 East Doty Street, Suite 200 § Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-252-9800 § Fax: 608-252-9828
Email: [email protected]
