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Gov. Mark Dayton and Ag Commissioner David Frederickson on Tuesday introduce their new plan to lower the nitrate levels in Minnesota's groundwater. The plan calls for farmers to "look twice at their practice of spreading nitrate… on their land in the fall."
We can hear the local farmers in the area, who oppose the idea of the state telling them how to farm, getting ready to say, "We told you so!" Back in December the Brown County Board of Commissioners let a motion to accept free well testing from the state die without a second. The board, with the approval of local farmers and farm groups, were afraid the state would take the information gleaned from those tests and use it to justify more regulations on fertilizer use.
At the time we said it was bad policy to turn down free well testing that might give local residents the information that could help them avoid a health hazard. We still think a free service that could protect the water quality of area farm families is worth a second to the motion, at least. (Yes, we know that "free" well testing from the state means the taxpayers are paying for it, but why not get back some of the tax money we've already paid.) But we have to admit that the farmers' fear of more state regulation wasn't unfounded.
The state held 17 public meetings with farmers and landowners after Dayton's initial plan was proposed last summer. It will have to hold a lot more, and listen to what farmers have to say, before its proposed plan is accepted.
Everybody, especially farmers, wants the state to have clean water. It is farmers' wells that are most likely to have nitrates, after all. But if farmers are to be subjected to the regulations that are supposed to clean up the water, they will have to be included in the decision making.