Agriculture

Minnesota farmer wins appeal in Pineland Sands irrigation dispute case
The Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected arguments that Sebeka farmer Tim Nolte was acting as a front for R.D. Offutt Co. in seeking irrigation permits for 300 acres he bought from the giant potato-growing company. The court upheld the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources decision not to require an extensive environmental review for the irrigation project.
Black entrepreneurs sow seeds of healthier eating during pandemic gardening boom
Denver-based rapper DJ Cavem Moetavation started pushing beats and beets by distributing free seeds. Black-owned companies like his are trying to encourage more people of color to grow their own food.
Last year, some of the largest slaughterhouses in the region temporarily closed after COVID-19 outbreaks. Those closures meant local farmers faced the prospect of having nowhere to send their livestock for processing, and no way to get their food to market. An East Bethel, Minn., woman decided to do something to help.
Combating the ag industry's history of discriminatory practices
A lawsuit filed by a group of white farmers from the Midwest asks a federal court to declare a program that erases USDA loans for farmers from “socially disadvantaged groups” discriminatory and unconstitutional. But there's a long history of discrimination against women and people of color in agriculture — and the effects continue to impact the industry today.
Black farmers have long faced discrimination. New aid aims to right past wrongs
Generations of systemic discrimination have decimated the number of Black farmers in the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talked with NPR about provisions in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill that are meant to help Black farmers.
New evidence shows fertile soil gone from Midwestern farms
One-third of the cropland in the upper Midwest has entirely lost its fertile topsoil, according to a new study. Other scientists doubt that figure, but agree that soil loss is a big problem.