Ground Level Blog

Water scarcity presents opportunity for Minnesota companies
Although concerns about sustainable water use is usually considered a problem, they also can present a business opportunity. That’s the topic for a “water technology summit” the state Department of Employment and Economic Development is holding on Tuesday.
Health facilities could use more local food than schools
Two studies in northwestern Minnesota show the health care institutions can be a bigger market for local food than schools but that so far most producers of specialty crops prefer to stick with direct sales like farmers markets.
A Department of Natural Resources request for a bigger stick to deal with irrigators and other big water users who violate permit requirements has run into both backing and criticism at the Legislature.
Why would a farmer drain land and irrigate it?
The short answer is he or she doesn’t very often. • Beneath the Surface: Minnesota’s Pending Groundwater Challenge To a number of questioners in the Public Insight Network, it seems an anomaly that Minnesota experiences two things that seem contradictory: a lot of irrigation and a lot of land drained to dry it out. A Read more →