Freshwater Society

Minnesota FarmWise, an innovative program to encourage conservation and protect clean water in the Minnesota River Valley, has won a $15,000 challenge grant in the Minnesota Idea Open.

The Freshwater Society and the National Park Service will use the grant to form a farmer-to-farmer mentoring program to encourage practices aimed at reducing soil erosion and the runoff of fertilizers and pesticides into the streams and rivers that lead to the Mississippi River.

View a video about the mentoring program. Read the Minnesota Idea Open announcement of the grant.

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The Freshwater Society and the National Park Service have a great idea! Join us in making the Minnesota FarmWise program a success.

The MN Idea Open — a unique, public, grant-making competition — is focused on Water Issues in Minnesota. Over 100 ideas were submitted in this year’s MN Idea Open and have been narrowed down to three finalists. Ours is one of the three! YOU decide who gets the $15,000 prize by voting online.

Here’s our idea — Water resources in Minnesota are at risk due to how we use our land. The Minnesota River Valley is particularly endangered by both urban development and agricultural practices. Soils, manure, fertilizer, and other chemicals run off streets, farm fields and livestock yards, polluting our lakes and rivers, including the Mississippi, into which the Minnesota River drains. In turn, we send our water further downstream. The “dead zone” that is seen in the Gulf of Mexico most years starts with the Mississippi River here in Minnesota. The Minnesota FarmWise program will focus on agricultural influences on the watershed.

The Minnesota FarmWise program will identify the most vulnerable areas in the Minnesota River Valley, and work through existing community relationships to mentor, advise and implement farmer-proven and farmer-approved water-friendly practices that protect these critical, high-priority areas.

To learn more about our Minnesota FarmWise program, take a look at this video.

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Every five years, a massive federal Farm Bill allocates tens of billions of dollars to food programs for the poor, subsidies to farmers producing many crops, a fast-growing crop insurance program and incentives for farmers to practice conservation.

The Freshwater Society is joining the Izaak Walton League of America in planning and organizing a Monday, Aug. 22, forum in West St. Paul that will focus on the next Farm Bill to be considered by Congress. The event at the Dakota Lodge in Thompson Park is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required.

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