A coordinated state and federal response to the avian influenza outbreak in Minnesota is headquartered at the Kandiyohi County Law Enforcement Center in Willmar. The presence of the Minnesota Poultry Testing Laboratory in the city also greatly augments the ability to the manage the threat the disease poses to turkey and poultry flocks.
The proposal is not final, it will now come before a panel of House and Senate members to iron out differences before it could come up for another vote.
North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D., an hour south of Moorhead, started a meat-processing program last fall. Two Minnesota technical colleges plan to start meat-cutting programs later this year, and according to one official, there is strong student interest.
On land that was farmed as a dairy for over 50 years, Tiffany Tripp and Andy Olson run Graise Farm, where they raise a few hundred ducks for eggs, chickens for eggs and farrow-to-finish pastured pork.
A Nov. 18 virtual event which included speakers Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, State Representative Samantha Vang, Union Hmong Kitchen Chef Yia Vang and HAFA co-founders Pakou and Janssen Hang, celebrated the association reaching its funding goal to purchase the 155 acres it now farms on.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz led the trade mission to the United Kingdom and Finland Nov. 13-19. Accompanying Walz on his trip was a farmer from Crookston, Minnesota: Tim Dufault, a board member of the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotional Council.
After two failed farmland purchase agreements, Naima Dhore recently signed a lease to begin farming land in Alexandria, Minnesota, which she'll transition her small-scale organic operation to in February.
Gov. Tim Walz, who is leading the group of more than 50 state officials and business leaders, said their early interactions with foreign leaders had been 'incredibly positive.'
