Buffer strips were a signature environmental policy win for Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. Ten years later, this policy is causing heartburn in farm country. “We feel farmers should be compensated for the establishment of those buffers and the maintenance,” said Doug Albin, who farms in Yellow Medicine County. “We’re ten years into this program and those strips need to be maintained and probably be reseeded.” Minnesota farmers have a 99 percent compliance rate with this policy. With this policy, farms must leave a 16.5-foot buffer along a judicial ditch. The land adjacent to a river or a natural creek must have a 100-foot buffer on each side. Albin argues the compensation doesn’t need to go directly to farmers, it could go back to the counties. In turn, the farmers could receive a tax reduction that doesn’t cost the county funding. Hear more details in this RRFN report.
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