Minnesota Farmers Union

From Cygnus Farm Shows:

From the Board of Animal Health (BAH):

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota producers moving beef cattle, goats, and camelids into North Dakota will have less TB-testing requirements effective immediately. North Dakota’s Board of Animal Health removed its TB testing requirement for most cattle crossing state lines on June 23 at a quarterly board meeting.

“We want to thank the North Dakota Board of Animal Health for acknowledging Minnesota’s TB eradication efforts which was shown by their recent decision to lift test restrictions on the majority of Minnesota cattle entering their state,” said Minnesota Bovine TB Coordinator Joe Martin. “In conversations with the Board, we reiterated that it’s in everyone’s best interest that Minnesota continues to be vigilant in deer surveillance
and testing and controlling the movement of cattle in our disease management area.”

Beef cattle producers in Minnesota’s Modified Accredited Advanced Zone will no longer need to TB test their cattle herds prior to moving animals into the neighboring state. Dairy animals will still need a TB test for importation, a requirement North Dakota has in place for all states. Requirements for animals from the Modified Accredited (MA) Zone in northwestern Minnesota remain in effect.

St. Paul (June 24, 2010) - On Friday, June 24, Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) Vice President Gary Wertish and MFU Government Relations Director Thom Petersen will be attending the Department of Justice and the United States Department of Agriculture's workshop about the dairy industry.  The workshop will be held at the University of Wisconsin - Madison at the Union Theater in Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street.

"Fair competition and price discovery are hampered by the concentration of the dairy industry in the hands of a few," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President.  "This concentration serves the bottom line of the companies, not the family farmers or the consumers.  I hope these hearings will start to pinpoint solutions for fairer competition and price discovery so our family farmers can compete and stay in business."

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."

St. Paul (June 8, 2010) - Minnesota Farmers Union President Doug Peterson will be testifying in front of the Subcommittee on Water and Power of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources at 2 p.m. central time on Wednesday, June 9 in Washington, D.C. about S. 2779 which is a bill to promote Department of the Interior efforts to provide a scientific basis for the management of sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

"This is a great opportunity to stress the need for farmer participation in this process to ensure that implementation plans contain pollution reduction strategies that consider local needs," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President.  "MFU is especially interested in inventory efforts to establish parameters around "natural" background loading in waters, and this legislation would hopefully work to address that."

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has identified 2,500 surface bodies of water as impaired which means they currently do not meet water quality standards for their designated use.

St. Paul (June 3, 2010) - Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) offers educational, leadership camps where kids from all across the state can go to learn about cooperatives; how legislation is formed; the importance of being an active and responsible citizen; and leadership skills as they learn more about themselves and from the other campers in attendance.

"MFU prides itself at providing an educational and enjoyable camp experience at an affordable rate," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President.  "The campers learn while having fun, and according to a recent testimonial from a camper who attended last year, she gained a tremendous amount of independence and confidence out of the experience; which is what we strive to do for all the campers.  Come and check it out!"

Farmers Union camp schedule is as follows:

Grades 3-5 ($70):

• June 21-25: Northern Elementary Camp at Lake Sarah Campground in Erskine
• June 28-July 2: Southern Elementary Camp at Sibley State Park in New London

Grades 6-8 ($95):

• July 12-16: Northern Junior High Camp at Lake Sarah Campground in Erskine
• July 27-31: Southern Junior High Camp at Sibley State Park in New London

Grades 9-12 ($95):

St. Paul (June 2, 2010) - Minnesota Farmers Union and Farmers Union Agency are having their 3rd annual golf benefit for Lake Sarah youth camp on Wednesday, June 23 at the Mahnomen Country Club Golf Course.

"We have a beautiful campground that we use for youth education and leadership camp on Lake Sarah, and there are some renovations that need to be done," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President.  "The last couple years this golf benefit has helped us raise money for the camp ground at Lake Sarah.  Farmers Union and our campers appreciate the past support and continued generosity in raising money for agricultural education and leadership at Lake Sarah."

Registration is from 1 p.m.-2 p.m., with a shotgun start of 2:15 p.m.  There will be a break for dinner and prizes from 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m., with a second nine holes beginning at 6:15 p.m.  You can golf nine or eighteen holes for $30 or $40 respectively.  Dinner is included with golf, however, you can purchase dinner for $15 if you choose to not golf.

If you are interested in golfing; sponsoring a hole; or donating a prize to the golf benefit, or to the Lake Sarah campaign fund, please contact Ken Pazdernik at 218-206-4499.  All donations are tax deductible. The Mahnomen Country Club is located at 2267 155^th Avenue in Mahnomen.

St. Paul (June 2, 2010) - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is working on a label for ethanol blends at the pump.  Minnesota Farmers Union is urging the FTC to use labels that are accurate, descriptive, and not harmful to the ethanol blends so that consumers who drive flex-fuel vehicles can have a real, home-grown, domestic fuel choice.

"Currently, the ethanol industry replaces 364 million barrels of imported oil each and every year," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President.  "A major study by the Windmill Group identifies 645,000 jobs created by ethanol, and $92 billion to our country's Gross Domestic Product."

A study by Yale University's Journal of Industrial Ecology states that grain ethanol has 59 percent fewer Greenhouse Gas Emissions when compared to conventional gasoline, and the use of ethanol reduces carbon emissions by 16.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.  Cellulosic ethanol, the second generation of renewable fuels, is 90 percent cleaner than gasoline, and with the current feed stock of biomass, there is enough biomass in the country to produce 85 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually!