I don’t recall ever seeing so many patches of the invasive Canada thistle going to seed along our roadways. Judging from my unofficial drives around the district and state, township and county roads aren’t too bad. At least it appears that spot spraying or cutting has taken place, and areas which probably contained noxious weeds have been eliminated. But our state highway and freeway right-of-ways have significant areas containing plants with the white, cotton-like seeds just now beginning to blow around with the wind. If we can’t control these weeds on state land, how can we expect private land owners to do any better? In fact, many of the weeds moving onto private land and farm fields are originating from our highway ditches.
I realize that MnDOT is in a bit of a predicament. They came out last year with tough, new rules about the private mowing of their road ditches, with one of the main regulations reaffirming that cutting couldn’t begin until the first of August. Well, that’s just too late if there is to be any attempt at keeping these weeds from going to seed. So, except for the safety cut along the top of the ditches, I’ve observed relatively little mowing done in state ditches.
I visited with a MnDOT official from the Brainerd-St. Cloud area, and he said they were doing what they could and that maintenance budgets were tight. I get that. Their districts are large and mowing or spraying take time and manpower. So, with those considerations in mind, shouldn’t all the state highway ditch mowing done by farmers be more appreciated? Where cutting has already taken place, the ditches are neat, they are safer and the weeds have been taken care of. It seems to me to be a win-win situation. The farmer mows and bales the ditch, thus saving on the amount of cutting that MnDOT needs to do.
The new rules proposed last year were met with a great deal of opposition, so implementation was pushed back a year. In the meantime, the parties involved were to get together and come up with rules that will work. To me, the biggest negotiation item involves the time when mowing can start. Granted, we have the statute already on the books that delays mowing until August, but we also have noxious weed laws saying those weeds must be controlled and cannot be allowed to “go to seed.”
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Minnesota’s largest outdoor ag show is scheduled this week as Farmfest makes its three-day run at the Gilfillan Estate near Redwood Falls. It goes Tuesday through Thursday and, in addition to displays set up by hundreds of ag suppliers, a series of forums and panel discussions is also scheduled. I will take part in two of them on Tuesday afternoon. The first deals with the challenge of farming in these difficult times, while the second will focus on farm safety.
A major highlight Thursday will be a listening session conducted by the chair of the federal House Agriculture Committee. A new farm bill is being worked on, and this session will allow testimony from Minnesota folks about what they feel needs to be included in the next bill, scheduled to go into effect in 2018.
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Lots of local activities also on tap this week. The Pope County Fair in Glenwood runs Wednesday through Saturday. In addition, several celebrations are also scheduled with parades in Albany and Forada on Saturday and Greenwald’s Barley Days parade set for Sunday morning.
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