ST. PAUL, Minn. – Five Minnesota counties are responsible for providing more than $10 million dollars in loans for farmers and rural communities to implement agricultural best management practices (AgBMPs) that help prevent pollution.
Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau counties make up the Northwestern Minnesota Joint Powers Board and this government unit has become the first in the state to achieve this milestone with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) AgBMP Loan Program. Under this program, farmers and landowners have been able to stop runoff from feedlots, prevent soil erosion, and upgrade home septic systems.
The $10 million in loans issued by the Northwestern Minnesota Joint Powers Board provided funds for a total of 319 agricultural best management projects including more than $9 million for conservation tillage equipment. The five counties are administering these loans out of their own budgets.
Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson says the Northwestern Minnesota Joint Powers Board has been an active participant in the AgBMP loan program since it began in 1995.
“The board has done a remarkable job promoting and supporting best management practices on farms in these counties,” said Frederickson. “To date, conservation tillage practices have been implemented on more than 600 square miles of farmland in the northwestern region of the state.”
Several other Minnesota counties have surpassed the $5 million mark in loan activity, including Waseca - $6,819,000, Watonwan - $5,566,000, Murray - $5,296,000, and Goodhue - $5,295,000.
The MDA’s AgBMP Loan Program was established to provide reliable funding to all counties to help individual landowners prevent pollution. Any farmer or rural landowner is eligible to apply.
