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Farmers targeted in Minnesota River water quality report

Minnesota farmers are back in the crosshairs of state government following a report on the health of the Minnesota River.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has released its evaluation of the River and its tributaries, which stretches from the Mississippi River near the Twin Cities to far western Minnesota.

Minnesota Soybean Growers Association director of public affairs Joe Smentek says MPCA unfairly targets agriculture in their analysis.

“I was really disappointed in the report and the amount of finger-pointing that it does.  (finger-pointing) isn’t going to solve anything (as) this is a Minnesota problem, not a farmer versus city or ag versus urban problem.  This is a Minnesota problem.”

In its report, MPCA says runoff and artificial drainage from farmland are primary causes of sediment and unhealthy nitrogen and phosphorous levels.

Smentek contends the Minnesota River was dirty long before modernized agriculture and calls the study incomplete.

“Since settlers originally got here 13,000 years ago it’s been a dirty river.  And we fund research with a group at the University of Minnesota doing the exact same thing that the PCA is looking at.  And one of the big things that (the University) finds is that the primary driving force of these increased flows is Climate Change.”

He tells Brownfield that research shows seven out of the last ten years Minnesota has experienced above-average rainfall, making Climate Change the leading cause of most of the River’s water quality issues.

Smentek says while no action-steps were proposed by the agency, farmers should brace for potential regulations and proactively seek to be part of the solution. Adding, many already are.