We continue to struggle under the tyranny of tomatoes and peppers, though the extended forecast into October suggests this too will pass--but we'll not worry about food security here at Bluestem world headquarters after all the vegetables we've processed.
From our reading.
Riverview Dairy's Arizona operations alfalfa mention
We're always fascinated by the operations of Riverview Dairy, which has sprawled across the country from its Stevens County origins. At Civil Eats, Riverview puts in a cameo appearance in Greta Moran report, Could Climate Change Put an End to Arizona’s Alfalfa Heyday?:
Some dairies grow their own alfalfa to control their supply, including the mega-dairy Riverview LLP, which was found to be draining southeastern Arizona’s groundwater, pockmarking the desert with wells 1,000 feet deep. Other dairies have long-term contracts with farmers to maintain a supply of the herb that his highly nutritious for cows, and therefore, generally considered indispensable.
Walz drought relief plan announced, details sketchy
At the Star Tribune, Jessie Van Berkel reports in Gov. Walz announces $10M farm relief plan, but aid could get held up in political deadlock:
Minnesota farmers staring down financial losses from one of the driest seasons in decades could get grants or loans through a $10 million farm aid proposal Gov. Tim Walz laid out Friday.
. . .The drought's impacts have been uneven, with producers in some parts of the state looking at significant losses or even closing their business while other areas have been spared.
Many farmers have crop insurance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture or have received other federal aid to help them through the difficult season, but state officials stressed that federal programs are not sufficient.
Livestock producers and people with specialty crops are among those who have been left out of the federal help, Walz said.
"There are no safety nets for people like me," said Kathy Zeman, director of the Minnesota Farmers' Market Association who has a certified organic livestock operation. "Little ag in this state is a $1 billion industry that nobody knows about that we need to uplift. That's what this is doing. It's saying, OK — not going to make you whole — but it will help. But it recognizes your value."
The Walz administration's plan would entail $5 million in grants, giving livestock and specialty crop farmers the first shot at applying. The dollars could be used to cover needs like water tanks, irrigation equipment and wells. Another $5 million would be distributed as zero-interest loans through the Rural Finance Authority's Disaster Recovery Loan Program to help with lost income due to the lack of rain, or with expenses that insurance did not cover.
The state is looking at providing anywhere from 500 to 1,500 grants depending on how much money people apply for, and the grants would be up to $5,000, said Department of Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen.
"The nice thing about this is it's scalable," Petersen said. "If the legislators want to help more farmers we can go higher, if they want to help a little less we can go less."
While the path forward on a special session is uncertain, both Republicans and Democrats expressed a desire to assist farmers on Friday.
The success of the agricultural economy is critical for the rest of the Minnesota, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said in a statement after Walz's announcement.
"House DFLers will continue to work with Governor Walz and Senate Republicans to put together a package that will help the members of our agricultural community that have been negatively impacted by this historic drought," Hortman said.
Petersen reached out to the Legislature to put together the relief package, GOP Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, of Winona, noted. And Sen. Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake, said he is working on farm relief that could include rapid response grants and property tax rebates. The chair of the Senate agriculture committee, Westrom emphasized that livestock farmers are in a particularly tough situation with their lack of crop insurance and a shortage of the forage they feed their animals.
"In the meantime, their property tax bills will still become due this fall, along with other fixed expenses," Westrom said in a statement. "So any one-time assistance package would help demonstrate our appreciation for the important role the agriculture community plays in our state."
Which farmer will benefit from the package? Property tax relief, if any? Details are sketchy.
Chronic Wasting Disease meetings in Beltrami County area
The Bemidji Pioneer tells readers in the staff report, DNR to hold public meetings about chronic wasting disease in Beltrami County area:
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has scheduled two public information meetings for Tuesday, Sept. 28, and Wednesday, Sept. 29, to discuss chronic wasting disease in the Beltrami County area.
The meetings will be held at:
- Bemidji High School commons (2900 Division St. W., Bemidji) from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 28. People can attend the meeting virtually by registering in advance.
- Kelliher High School commons (345 4th St. NW, Kelliher) from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 29.
Officials from the Minnesota DNR’s wildlife health and big game programs, along with partner representatives from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Prion Research and Outreach, will present information and answer questions about CWD at each of the meetings.
Deer hunters will learn about the steps they will need to take if they will be hunting in the Beltrami County area.
Details of the events, virtual participation options and additional CWD information are available at mndnr.gov/cwd. Organizers advise attendees to check the webpage for any changes based on the evolving COVID-19 response.
South Dakota Social Studies Surprise
As part of the Forum Communications chain, the Worthington Globe picked up Christopher Vondracek's story, Removal of new references to Native Americans in South Dakota's history and civics curriculum surprises group members. He reports:
Earlier this week, Gov. Kristi Noem acknowledged that various "constituencies" had complained about her Department of Education's intervention in a teacher working group's draft proposal of new social studies standards for the state and pressed pause on public hearings to adopt the standards.
This summer, teachers met from around the state to rework South Dakota schoolchildren's learning standards for fine arts classes such as pottery and music and dance.
It was cordial. The group work was fastidious. And the group produced standards that'll eventually go before the Board of Education Standards.
In a lot of ways, the social studies standards revision looked just like the fine arts revision, group members say. Until it didn't.
The telling of South Dakota's history is maybe as old as the state itself: How to balance the story of westward expansion and home-making by agrarian settlers with the illegal taking of the Black Hills and breaking of treaties with Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota tribes.
But the nearly once-a-decade rewriting of standards covering world history to geography to U.S. and state history has gotten downright volatile over the last two months.
At the beginning of 2021, Gov. Kristi Noem vowed to rework the state's civics curriculum, which she characterized as part of a national crisis in civics literacy that led to the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by supporters of President Trump.
But midway through the legislative season, Noem's office softened talk of a politically driven override of state civics classes, with her own Department of Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson stumping for a $1 million request for financing grant opportunities and a state history project. Any changes to civics standards, officials said, would come through a routine, even mundane work group that was to be convened — on a seven-year schedule — that summer.
In June, that group of teachers, professors, legislators, and community members met for two weeks in Pierre. The work was grueling and technical, but collaborative with ample opportunity for consensus. While two politically conservative members left their names off the final report, members said the group — at the behest of administration officials — understood to avoid embedding highly charged concepts around race or class into their final proposal, such as Critical Race Theory.
Nor did they need to be told to do so.
"It is not taught," said retired Yankton High School history teacher Paul Harens. "I went home that night and made calls — Watertown, Sioux Falls, Huron — they all got back to me and said, 'Nobody teaches it.'"
In late July, the work group submitted their final product. It largely resembled the past standards, with renewed emphasis on the role of women and Native Americans in the state's historical fabric.
But in early August, when Noem's Department of Education gave the first public look at the proposed standards for world history, geography, state history, and U.S. government, they veered — in word and emphasis — from the report prepared by the working group.
Gone were recommendations for elementary students to learn the names of the nine tribal nations comprising reservations on the state's boundaries. Gone, as well, were dozens of new references to Indigenous history and culture, including attention to tribal financial and political systems. Even a recommendation to analyze the Electoral College had been axed. More structurally, an entire category based on "inquiry" had been removed from each grade level. The final draft left members of the working group stunned.
Some members of the working group requested their names be removed. Some went public, while others fumed in private. Since then, members of the public, as well, have filed 82 pages of comments, almost universally opposed to the removal of the Indigenous learning goals for the standards by DOE.
"I hope you will consider adopting the standards as the committee wrote them," wrote K-12 educator Laura Cooper. "Many years of expertise and hours of work are represented in their proposal, and the state standards should represent the workgroup's efforts."
"I want the Indigenous section put back in the curriculum," wrote Denise Red Horse, a parent.
In an interview earlier this month, Stephen Jackson, a Ph.D. in history who teaches at the University of Sioux Falls and participated in the world history panel, said it's not only the removal of any one standard but the violation of a process that particularly bothered work group members.
"Especially in a time when social studies are in the national eye, the integrity of the revisions process Is very important," Jackson said in an interview on Tuesday, Sept. 14. "But in this case substantive revisions were made outside of the normal parameters for revisions."
There's more in the article. We hope Noem surrenders on this latest bit of nincompoopery.
We'll have more tomorrow afternoon.
Photo: Whitetail deer.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments