Buffer law: New legislation frustrates some, but lawmakers urge compliance

REDWOOD FALLS - Many farmers are skeptical and upset by the state’s new buffer legislation, but one of the state’s largest farm groups and legislators involved in drafting the bill are urging them to comply with it.
Anna Boroff, with the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, told an estimated 40 or more farmers attending a meeting Wednesday in Redwood Falls that the organization does not plan to challenge the buffer legislation in the courts, as some of those present urged. The meeting was offered to provide information on the law’s requirements.
“It is our land. Our government is taking our land rights away from us,’’ said Don Swoboda, a Renville County farmer.
His objection to what some see as illegal was among a number of concerns raised by those attending the meeting. Some questioned whether the legislation would do much to improve water quality. Others voiced opinions that the law represents an unneeded burden that will stymie innovation and real progress towards improving water quality.
“I know there is a little bit of pain here for some guys, that’s absolutely true, but I tried to share the pain equally across the landscape, ’’ said State Representative Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, the bill’s chief author, in addressing the concerns expressed.
He emphasized that the bill maintains local control and represents a much better outcome for farmers than the legislation the governor proposed.
Senator Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, said many in the farming community view the legislation as a matter of losing 16.5 feet of cropland along every dredge ditch. Yet he and others noted that the one-rod buffer requirement has been in place since the late 1970’s, but until now, has only been triggered when there is a re-determination of benefits in a ditch system. The new law moves the requirement up to November 2017 for all systems.
Dahms told the audience that many environmental groups in the state believe they got very little from the law, and will be back at this “hard and heavy.’’ He anticipates a call for the original 50-foot buffer requirement proposed by the governor.
“We have a fire on our hands. We can’t afford to turn our backs on this,’’ said Dahms.
Representative Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, said he too is concerned about “mission creep’’ and the possibility of future demands for larger buffers.
He was among those who warned that agriculture faces a public image challenge when it comes to water quality. “You cannot understand the misperception of what you’re doing out here,’’ said the legislator. Miller said there are those who think “we have a love canal out here’’ and “cesspools” and “refuse floating down your ditches right now.’’
Warren Formo of the Minnesota Agriculture Resource Center presented much of the information on the new law’s requirement. He noted that buffers already exist along many waterways. Research indicates that the main benefits will be seen in those places where buffers can filter water that runs over land to a waterway.
“Where they’re needed, properly installed, managed and designed buffers can be very effective,’’ he said.
Formo said the agriculture community risks a public relations “backlash’’ and urged those present to be careful about how they respond to the law.
Doug Albin, former president of the Minnesota Corn Growers, was among those who cautioned against challenging the law in court, calling it a “crap shoot’’ as to the outcome.
He too expressed his concern about the regulatory burdens.  “The people who want to move the world ahead are stymied and frustrated by rules and regulations that hinder them. They put us all in a little box and make us all look alike,’’ he said.
But he also cautioned against allowing frustration and anger to become agriculture’s public response to the law. He said water quality in the Minnesota River watershed has improved dramatically over the last 20 years, and that farmers have and continue to make changes that positively impact water quality.  “The biggest challenge now is not communicating the positive results of things we are doing, the things that are on the ground already,’’ he said.