Contact: : Paul Sobocinski, Land Stewardship Project, 507-342-2323, 507-430-1509 (cell)
Mary Jo Forbord, Sustainable Farming Association of Minn., 320-760-8732
Thom Petersen, MN Farmers Union, 612-860-9462
Alan Perish, Milk Power, 320-760-2516

3/5/04
ST. PAUL, Minn.—A livestock industry based on perennial plant systems such as pasture and alfalfa could have a major positive impact on Minnesota’s water quality, said a University of Minnesota researcher during a special presentation to the Citizen Task Force on Livestock Farmers and Rural Communities on March 1.

“Let’s get out of the mind-set of just what can we do with corn and soybeans,” said Steve Morse, Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems at the University of Minnesota. “As you guys are thinking about the livestock industry…livestock can play such a big role in dealing with water quality problems.”

Morse is working with “Green Lands, Blue Waters: A Vision and Roadmap for the Next Generation of Agricultural Systems.” This initiative involves land grant universities, non-governmental organizations and government agencies in seven states, including Minnesota. Green Lands, Blue Waters is working to improve water quality by promoting agricultural systems that establish more perennial plants on the landscape. Morse said the initiative’s approach is to do this in a non-regulatory way that “keeps working lands working” and improves economic diversity in rural areas.

During the past 25 years in Minnesota, perennial plant systems such as alfalfa hay and pasture have been systematically replaced by annual crops such as corn and soybeans, said Morse. Alfalfa acreage alone has dropped by 25 percent since 1975. As a result, in many parts of the state, much of the landscape is devoid of green plant growth during all but a few months during the summer. This leaves the land vulnerable to erosion and excessive nutrient runoff. Nitrogen contamination of water is 33 to 50 times higher on land planted to annual crops such as corn and soybeans when compared to fields growing perennials such as grass and hay, according to University of Minnesota research being conducted in the southern part of the state.

As a result, states like Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa are the leading sources of the kind of nutrient pollution that is killing fish life in the Gulf of Mexico. A federal task force has set a goal of reducing nitrogen runoff by 30 percent. If perennial plant systems became a bigger part of Minnesota's landscape, reductions in water contamination can come about through a non-regulatory, non-threatening manner, said Morse.

“Modeling shows that if you replace just 15 percent of the corn and soybean acreage with perennials, you can reduce nitrogen runoff by 30 percent,” he said.

Morse said such systems as rotational grazing, use of cover crops and energy crops for biomass production would not only help water quality, but also diversify the rural economy and improve human health.

The Citizen Task Force on Livestock Farmers and Rural Communities is studying the challenges facing livestock farmers and rural communities and is making policy recommendations to state officials and the legislature. The four founding farm organizations are the Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota National Farmers Organization, the Land Stewardship Project and the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. The groups have invited religious organizations, consumer groups, Main Street businesses and local government representatives to be a part of the task force.

The task force’s working guidelines call for a strong commitment to strengthening the viability of independent livestock producers while protecting the environment.

“Solutions that protect and enhance the environment and increase profits for existing independent producers is the focus of this task force,” said Alan Perish, a Browerville, Minn., dairy farmer and a member of Milk Power. “It’s exciting to see through Green Lands, Blue Waters the University taking seriously alternatives that aren't just focused on corn and beans, or get big or get out.”

The task force’s working guidelines also call for meeting consumer demand for high quality, safe food.

“This research being done by Green Lands, Blue Waters shows that diversifying our agricultural systems has many positive impacts, and not just on the environment,” said Mary Jo Forbord, Executive Director of the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. “I'm a farmer but also a registered dietitian, and increasingly we're seeing the connection between a diverse landscape, a diversity of foods and good human health.”

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NOTE: Below is the Citizen Task Force on Livestock Farmers and Rural Communities statement of purpose.

Citizen Task Force on Livestock Farmers & Rural Communities

The task force will make recommendations to policy makers and community leaders on how to increase the number and profitability of Minnesota livestock farmers in ways that benefit rural communities. The task force recognizes that livestock farmers and vibrant rural communities are directly related and the health of one affects the other.

The task force’s solutions will be based on:

• Economic models that are sustainable and benefit rural Main Streets. Many economic models take into account only profit for investors and not the negative impacts on the local community and environment. Economic models should take into account such factors as benefits or harm to schools, Main Street businesses and the environment.

• Private enterprise as opposed to corporate investment. When capital and ownership come from private, local sources, control and profit stay local. When capital and ownership are from distant corporate sources, control and profit leave the community.

• Benefiting existing livestock farmers and encouraging beginning farmers. Too often existing livestock farmers are not considered in the rush to attract corporate investment into Minnesota’s livestock sector. The truth is Minnesota’s existing livestock producers are the starting point for solutions and should be the first considered.

• A commitment to promoting a family farm-based system of agriculture. The family farm based-system of agriculture has made this nation strong and is the most efficient means of production.

• A commitment to stewardship of the land. Livestock agriculture in Minnesota can be practiced in a way that protects and even enhances our state’s natural resources for the long term, especially by protecting water and air quality, reducing erosion, and building soil quality.

• Increasing farmers’ access to capital. Access to local capital at reasonable terms is critical to existing and beginning farmers.

• Consumer demand for high quality and safe food. Consumers have made it clear that they want high quality, safe food. Opportunities exist for farmers to achieve a better price by meeting these needs.

• Promoting competition and fair markets. Markets for livestock have become so concentrated that price manipulation is possible. This is bad for consumers and producers, as packers are able to pay independent producers low prices and overcharge consumers.

• Increasing profit to producers. Policies that increase economic activity without increasing profit to producers are ultimately harmful by increasing concentration in our food industry.

• Respecting local forms of government to make decisions about development. Townships and counties are best suited to react to the needs of local residents. A strong livestock industry need not come at the expense of democracy. Local forms of government should maintain the right to
create standards that are higher than the state’s standards.

Founding organizations: Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota National Farmers Organization, Land Stewardship Project, Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota

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