Thread by @jrupprecht_mn

This is absolutely not needed & not in the best interest of family farmers, other rural people, the water or the land. It’s also illegal under Winona Co. ordinances. Our local gov’t shouldn’t even consider changing the rules to let the biggest factory farm in the area get bigger.

https://twitter.com/winonadailynews/status/1047177632037535744

And it’s ridiculous that the proposer is not willing to acknowledge the role of factory farms like his in driving small & mid-size family farms off the land. Of course there’s a connection. It’s simple math: we can have more farms or bigger farms. Not both.

And nothing about consolidation in agriculture is inevitable. It’s all a matter of public policy choices. Let’s make the right ones.

And when the proposers talk about “bringing jobs” to the community, they need to be asked about whether they would pay those workers the full wages they’d be owed. This operation had to be ordered to pay $86,000 in back overtime wages several years ago. landstewardshipproject.org/posts/news/381

Cutting costs by using exploited, underpaid labor is part of how factory farms can drive small family farms out of business.

The article cites how Daleys have been farming in the Lewiston area for over 100 years — as if that gives them any right to have a factory farm? Lots of other families have been doing the same & aren’t interested in getting so big the whole rest of the county has to work for us.

Their model is basically feudalism. It is not a family farm. There are plenty of other families who would have been farming here for 100+ years if they hadn’t been driven out by industrialized, consolidated livestock agriculture. Like the Daleys’ model.

AND, of course, this was Native land long before any of our families got here. 100 yrs is a drop in the bucket. The length of time a family has been farming somewhere has no bearing in itself on whether their farming practices are good or whether they should be allowed to expand.

It DEFINITELY has no bearing on whether they should be allowed to break the law — that’s what they’re asking to do by asking for a variance — and go almost 4 times the county animal unit cap. Zoning exists for a reason; to protect the public good, for people, land and water.

Factory farms of over 1,500 animal units have absolutely no place in karst topography. Winona County has recognized that for 20 years. No individual business has any right to make a profit by putting public resources at risk. There are other ways to make a living in agriculture.

There are multi-generational family dairy farms in this county that make their living milking small herds of pasture-fed cows. It’s possible. It takes hard work. But the farmers and the cows have good lives. Diversifying farms is also possible.

Factory farm proposers and proponents always want to create a sense of inevitability, that this is the only thing they could possibly do. That’s NEVER true. There are other choices and other ways to farm.

One of the Daley farm owners is the Vice President of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. The commodity group that claims to be the voice of all dairy farmers while actually promoting the biggest of the big. @mnmilk’s hired economist told #mnleg to let small dairies die.

If allowed, this expansion would make the operation one of the biggest dairies in the state. Is that the future we want for rural Minnesota? Corporations and a few large extended families own the only farms and everyone else has to work for them?

There is no having it both ways. There are sides. You need to pick one. ESPECIALLY if you are an elected official or candidate. Especially if you want to represent rural MN.