CONTACT: Paul Sobocinksi, 507-342-2323; 507-430-1509
Alan Perish, 320-594-6586

5/20/04
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Despite pressure from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and one of the state’s largest corporate agriculture lobbying groups to weaken local government, township powers survived the 2004 Legislative session. None of the half dozen bills introduced to weaken township rights passed in forms that had any significant impact on township local control. An unusual mix of farm, conservation, environmental and local government groups made protecting local control one of their top priorities during the Legislative session.

“In Minnesota, we believe in local democracy,” said Alan Perish, an official in Todd County’s Hartford Township who is also a Land Stewardship Project member. “Township government is closest to the people and should not be weakened. A majority of legislators realized that and chose not to weaken the principle of local control.”

In Minnesota, townships and other local governments have the right to enact ordinances to protect the community. These ordinances must be more stringent than state and county regulations. Townships have used this right to place common sense limits on large developments such as large-scale industrial-style livestock operations, often referred to as factory farms. As a result, township rights have been targeted by proponents of factory farms.

By early March, six bills that would have dramatically weakened township rights had been introduced at the Legislature. As a result, on March 15 over 200 township supervisors, farmers and rural residents gathered in Willmar to learn about the attacks on township rights and to take action. The event, “Protecting Township Local Control and Independent Livestock Producers,” was organized by the Land Stewardship Project, Minnesota Farmers Union, and Minnesota National Farmers Organization.

“I felt like the meeting in Willmar was a turning point for us,” said Jim Falk, a Land Stewardship Project member from Swift County’s Camp Lake Township. “We came together to learn about our rights and left knowing that if we want to keep those rights, we were going to have to fight for them by making our voices heard at the Capitol. I left that meeting with 200 others ready to fight for our township rights.”

Even before the 2004 Legislative session began, a Minnesota Department of Agriculture official attempted to blame problems in the livestock industry on local governments, saying in Agri News on Nov. 27, 2003, that local governments need to be reined in and given parameters in which to operate. In addition, the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council released a report before the session began which attempted to argue that local government was a major reason for the decline in the state’s livestock industry (http://www.agrigrowth.org/livestock.html).

“Corporate interests don’t like local control,” said Perish. “They want to take township rights and give them to bureaucrats in St. Paul. They don’t like the fact that township officers are looking out for family farmers and local interests, instead of corporate interests. We’re concerned about what’s best for our individual communities.”

Proponents of township rights are concerned about future attacks on township democracy and local control. Governor Tim Pawlenty’s recently created Livestock Advisory Task Force is made up of representatives from the Agri-Growth Council and other corporate agricultural interests. Paul Sobocinski, a southwest Minnesota hog farmer and Land Stewardship Project organizer, said he expects the Task Force will recommend that township rights and local control be weakened or eliminated.

“The makeup of the Livestock Task Force shows that the Pawlenty Administration is not committed to local control,” he said. “The Agri-Growth Council and other proponents of factory farms see township rights as an obstacle to their plan for promoting large-scale industrial agriculture in Minnesota, and they will keep pushing no matter how unpopular it is among farmers and other rural residents. We’re glad we won this round at the Capitol, but we’re still out talking about the issue and preparing for next year.”

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