The Minnesota Independent

Agriculture/trade - Latest Stories

Sick cows abused, slaughtered and sent to schools for lunch

By Tom Elko | 01.31.08 | 9:33 am

A California slaughterhouse is under intense scrutiny after the Humane Society obtained video of workers using forklifts, electrocution, high-pressure water and sticks to get sick cattle to stand…

America Dries Up

By Jeff Fecke | 10.23.07 | 1:58 pm

Jeff FeckeWhen people talk about the risks of global warming, the discussion usually centers around rising ocean levels.  We are all of us, skeptics and believers alike, aware of the images of Florida half-submerged, the Pacific islands obliterated,…

Step Right Up, It’s Wild, It’s Mind-Boggling, It’s Fantastical. Read It Here, Now

By Joe Kimball | 08.21.07 | 2:22 pm

OK, that headline will be the last of the side-show banter, I promise, but I do want to welcome you to the annual Joe Kimball State Fair Blog, a compendium of the interesting and odd, the unusual and…

Pawlenty to Request Drought Aid

By Jeff Fecke | 08.01.07 | 10:10 am

tpawMinnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will ask for federal aid for farmers facing a loss of crops due to drought, according to a release from the governor’s office.

Pawlenty, a Republican, made the statement after visiting Morrison county…

A Bin is a Bin

By Sara Reller | 03.24.07 | 9:34 am

If it looks like a grain bin and it smells like a grain bin, it gets taxed as a grain bin. The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed with a lower court’s decision that Custom Ag Service of Montevideo’s grain bins should…

Farm Subsidies and Political Contributions

By Leigh Pomeroy | 03.20.07 | 8:49 pm

Giving to your congressman does pay off, but measuring the results is not that simple

It stands to reason that those politicians whose districts most benefit from agriculture receive the most political contributions from the agribusiness sector. But…

Who’s Benefiting from Farm Subsidies? A Primer

By Leigh Pomeroy | 03.16.07 | 11:39 am

Minnesota farmIn the coming weeks Minnesota Monitor will be looking at farm policy. We will attempt — and this is a grand challenge — to make this information understandable to regular folks living in the city,…

Ag interests cry ‘foul’ over DM&E loan rejection

By Leigh Pomeroy | 03.06.07 | 6:35 pm

The wailing and gnashing-of-teeth reaction to the Federal Railroad Administration’s rejection of a proposed $2.3 billion loan for the DM&E railroad has strangely not come from Powder River Basin coal interests or coal-fired utilities in the nation’s midsection, both…

Trivia Question for Today: What is a grain bin exactly?

By Sara Reller | 02.02.07 | 9:51 am

That was the question before the Minnesota Supreme Court Thursday in the case of Custom Ag Service vs. Commissioner of Revenue. The commissioner had taxed Custom Ag for a use tax on bins that had been brought in from…

Minnesota in the News, Feb. 1

By Leigh Pomeroy | 02.01.07 | 11:17 am

Part I: Election 2008, Farm Subsidies

Lots of Minnesota related news today, so this will be a series of short takes in several parts:

Robert Novak reports on the 2008 Senate race and the 1st Congressional District race…