conservation
MFU President Peterson calls for farm bill extension
ST. PAUL (December 31, 2012) – Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) President Doug Peterson urged Congressional leaders in the United States Senate and House of Representatives to pass an extension of the current farm bill for nine months and continue to work on and pass a responsible five-year farm bill in the new Congress.
"With Congress at an impasse, a nine-month extension may be the only path to a five-year farm bill in the new Congress,” said Doug Peterson, MFU President. “An extension must be responsible and protect baseline funding and continue vital farm and consumer programs such as the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC), crop insurance, child and elderly nutrition, and conservation.”
Minnesota Farmers Union, standing for agriculture and fighting for farmers.
MFU to hold Focus on the Future retreat
St. Paul (June 18, 2012) – Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) will be holding its second leadership retreat aimed at focusing on the future of farming and rural communities. The retreat will be held at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, June 25-27.
“A couple years ago we brought together our Farmers Union leaders and some newer members to discuss the paths needed to keep family farmers and Farmers Union strong. Our first retreat was successful and our second retreat will intensify focusing on the future of farming and Farmers Union,” said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “Our discussions will surround the Farmers Union organization successes and building on those successes to keep Farmers Union families and farms strong and prosperous as rural people."
Thank you to the Minnesota Corn Growers Association and Minnesota Soybean Growers Association for their sponsorship of the retreat.
During this retreat, attendees will get to look at MFU’s rich heritage as a farm organizaion; its present role for advocating for rural people and rural policy; and will get insight from Don Davis of Forum Communications and Tom Rothman of Minnesota Farm Network as to the ‘why’ and ‘what’ makes rural news, and how it becomes published.
MFU's Full Board of Directors acts to protect township rights
ST. PAUL (February 16, 2012) – The Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) full board of directors recently met to discuss agriculture policy. The full board consists of all the MFU county presidents throughout the state.
“The full board meeting gives our county presidents a voice on federal and state issues, and allows them to hear about developments at the federal, state and local level,” said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “Minnesota Farmers Union is a grassroots organization and this meeting gives us all a chance to discuss hot button issues within our organization and to express any concerns we know of in our area, which is one of the great things about being a Minnesota Farmers Union member – getting your voice heard!”
Global warming is happening: How should farmers respond?
(February 4, 2011) - There was a time when one could legitimately argue that there was a lack of scientific agreement over the issue of the role of humans in global warming and even whether we were in a cooling or warming period. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the scientific evidence.
Scientists have long known that carbon dioxide traps heat. There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than anytime in the last 800,000 years—that’s based on measurements of air bubbles trapped over the centuries in Arctic and Antarctic ice, not conjecture. The rise in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere coincides with the beginning of the industrial age and the widespread use of fossil fuels. And as our use of fossil fuels increases, so does the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide.
In addition, research has shown that two additional compounds, methane and nitrous oxide also contribute to global warming. Both of these chemicals are more potent than carbon dioxide in retaining heat in the atmosphere. The amount of methane now in the atmosphere is 121 percent above its highest level prior to industrialization.
Minnesota Farmers Union President Testifies on Upper Mississippi River Water Quality
From National Farmers Union:
WASHINGTON (June 9, 2010) - Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) President Doug Peterson testified today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power on the status of Upper Mississippi River water quality.
"This was a great opportunity to stress the need for farmer participation in this process to ensure implementation plans contain pollution reduction strategies that consider local needs," said Peterson.
The hearing was held as the subcommittee is considering S.2779, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act. Given the vast landscape over which water quality information will be gathered, implementation of data collection as proposed under this bill will require an extensive network of monitoring stations, equipment and personnel. With more than 60 percent of the Upper Mississippi River Basin in cropland or pasture, private landowners are logical partners in the establishment of a nutrient and sediment monitoring network.
"Private property rights should be recognized as a monitoring network is established and maintained," said Peterson. "It is absolutely critical that any data collected should be sensitive to landowner privacy as provided for in the legislation."