And there go the prairie potholes....

We restored a wetland on our property two years ago. It included a conservation easement. Last year we had broods of mallards, bluewing teal, wood ducks, and hooded mergansers raised on it. Muskrats, mink, cranes, and a million frogs moved in. The neighboring farmer didn’t like it and installed a drain tile up to the property line. This year we have a big mudflat with a tiny puddle in the middle. Zero ducks. Makes me sick.
 
The farmers run tile to dry the land out earlier in the spring to plant when they want, then sink irrigation wells to put water on the ground to make up for what they drained with the tile. All so they can farm places that never should have been cleared and farmed in the first place.

I don’t blame them- they are using whatever legal tools at their disposal to stay in business. It’s tough, I get it. But at some point, we need to recognize the negative effects of this and curtail the bad practices.

The aquifer is depleting at an incredible rate, runoff is at an all time high, and nobody seems to want to do anything about it. Plus nitrate pollution in the waterways leading to big fish kills, and nitrate pollution rising in the groundwater.

We need to change how we do agriculture, and we need to do it fast. Because wildlife suffers first, but we will suffer not long after.
 
Tons of tile around me also. The area was historically great upland hunting but it’s nearly completely dead now. We have all sorts of water concerns from steelhead and salmon streams to short but super high water events almost every spring. The ground water is disappearing and just leaving as quick run off
 
NoWiser said:
We restored a wetland on our property two years ago. It included a conservation easement. Last year we had broods of mallards, bluewing teal, wood ducks, and hooded mergansers raised on it. Muskrats, mink, cranes, and a million frogs moved in. The neighboring farmer didn’t like it and installed a drain tile up to the property line. This year we have a big mudflat with a tiny puddle in the middle. Zero ducks. Makes me sick.
Click to expand...
I did learn that there are ways go fight back on this. When tile goes in, part of the approval process to do this is supposed to verify and check that it will not impact neighboring properties water rights. Im battling this right now and working on getting my neighbors tile permit revoked with the help of DU and we should win and he will need to remove it.

You seem to have the exact same scenario as me and should be able to do this
 
seeth07 said:
I did learn that there are ways go fight back on this. When tile goes in, part of the approval process to do this is supposed to verify and check that it will not impact neighboring properties water rights. Im battling this right now and working on getting my neighbors tile permit revoked with the help of DU and we should win and he will need to remove it.

You seem to have the exact same scenario as me and should be able to do this
Click to expand...
I learned that our wetland is not a considered a protected wetland due to it being restored on former ag ground.

It’s a complicated situation. The state designed the restoration. They then designed the tile line that destroyed it. I warned them it would happen and the engineer dismissed my concerns. So, I’m going after them to fix it now. I’m hitting resistance, but I do have the local SWCD on my side and don’t plan on giving up.

But, hey, at least the farmers tractor tires aren’t getting muddy in that <1/10th acre low spot. That’s worth draining a 4 acre wetland that was created with taxpayer dollars.

I used to have a lot of respect for the local farmers. In the last 20 years (and especially the last 10 years) that has mostly vanished. It seems they won’t quit until every square foot of land they own or rent has a tile line under it.
 
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Gellar said:
It is nothing short of amazing to watch a poor farmer plow up CRP grassland, bulldoze forest, or drain a wetland to plant more acres of corn on ground that will never pencil out on paper followed by complaining about the price of inputs, diesel fuel, rent, land prices, and the price of corn.
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Seems to be the same every where there are farmers.
 
I try not to lump them all in the same boat, but as a group they are very hard to defend.

We recently had an audit of a farm program in our state. It was designed to help farmers implement conservation measures. State payment if they AGREE to. Which can be before they do it.

The audit found that some of them took the payment, still have not implemented the measures they agreed to...one had not 5 years later....and there is no one planning to penalize them or claw the money back.

Thats a fraud story in MN that I'd like to see get national attention!
 
Bonasababy said:
I try not to lump them all in the same boat, but as a group they are very hard to defend.

We recently had an audit of a farm program in our state. It was designed to help farmers implement conservation measures. State payment if they AGREE to. Which can be before they do it.

The audit found that some of them took the payment, still have not implemented the measures they agreed to...one had not 5 years later....and there is no one planning to penalize them or claw the money back.

Thats a fraud story in MN that I'd like to see get national attention!
Click to expand...
Farmers are untouchable in this state, sadly.
 
The old “farmers feed America” trope is true to some degree, but I wish they’d feed people a little less for several different reasons.
 
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